Series Talk: PENS vs Montreal Canadiens Round 1 (Best Of Five) - Episode II: On a peur, très peur!

[EightyOne]

Human nature. You think you're a badass and so you ease up. Then you struggle a bit, then you second guess yourself, confidence spirals. And you fight that all year before realizing you gotta focus more next year. Lol

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Because more players have them than not. With the Penguins, all of Guentzel, Dumoulin, Pettersson and Murray had sophomore slumps.

Guentzel did?

He scored 48 points (sure a drop from his pace from the previous season, but it was a partial season for him, 33 points in 40 games)and then 21 in 12 games in the playoffs.

 

[chethejet]

It will be interesting to see if the Schultz, JJ pairing is good enough. Schultz has to play better and his motivation to get the next deal is super critical with the cap flat for the next couple. He is almost 18 months removed from his broken ankle and hopefully he is back to 90 to 95%. Marino was an absolute steal for a 6th rounder in hindsight. With him and Petts, you have that benefit of youth and upside that the Pens need to balance things out.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm not sure if it has been posted here or not, but the Penguins have an exhibition game against the Flyers on July 28th as a warm-up for the play-in round. First NHL game back



I also like how Recchi says that ZMR is a 1st line on any other team in the NHL here

Guentzel did?

He scored 48 points (sure a drop from his pace from the previous season, but it was a partial season for him, 33 points in 40 games)and then 21 in 12 games in the playoffs.

48 points over a full season for Guentzel was definitely a sophomore slump, considering what he did in his rookie season and what he has done since. Over a full season, rookie Guentzel probably would have hit 60 points fairly easily. Dropping by over 10 points over a full year in the second year is definitely something I'd consider a sophomore slump.

It's the same way with Dumoulin. Dumoulin certainly wasn't bad in 2016-2017, but I think he was better in 2015-2016.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I’m not feeling this. That’s a pretty meh third line. Meh third line, dumpster fire third pairing, ? Goaltending, everything else pure fire.

Could very well spin out that way. I like that third line but maybe McCann can't put things together and as the center the rest of the line suffers. Maybe Marleau just doesn't have anything left. And frankly you aren't going to get me to go out of my way to defend that third pairing, either. Finally as much as I'd like to just handwave away the goaltending question marks... they are undeniably there. But like you said... man the rest of the roster is tough to argue with. And even if I'm usually pretty cynical I think that top six alone can do a lot of damage.

Guess we'll have to see. I mean... if we even get that far.

 

[Ms Maggie]

Guentzel did?

He scored 48 points (sure a drop from his pace from the previous season, but it was a partial season for him, 33 points in 40 games)and then 21 in 12 games in the playoffs.

Wonder if this sophomore slump thing is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. You're no longer agog at how good this rookie is, so you expect more. FWIW.

 

[PensandCaps]

Guentzel did?

He scored 48 points (sure a drop from his pace from the previous season, but it was a partial season for him, 33 points in 40 games)and then 21 in 12 games in the playoffs.

don't remember Dumoulin having a slump lol.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The only upside of a JJ-Schultz pair is while the pair sucks, I believe Sullivan will ride the top-4 D hard if that pairs is too bad to give regular minutes. I also think that while the pair will give horrible results, them getting sheltered minutes will at least keep the damage to a minimum, as in only being at a -1 or -2 expected goal differential over an entire series. The rest of the Penguins lineup should be good enough to make up for that -1 or -2 that the bottom pair will be providing every series.

 

[Peat]

There's slumps and there's slumps though.

I think it's fair to say Guentzel slumped and the much publicised lifestyle changes are a pretty clear indication as to why - he simply wasn't ready to be a full time pro player inside his head. We could see him figuring out at the end of the season and from there it's all been gravy. Murray had a slump post b2b, that much is indisputable, and part of that is maybe about injuries/incipient mortality of his father. Also maybe pressure. Who knows.

Pettersson's slump is best explained by going from getting Phil Kessel level match-ups to McCann/Hornqvist level match-ups. That he did so while maintaining his 5v5 production numbers and still having decent xGF% stats relative to the team (if not as good) make me kinda question to what level it really was a slump and wanting to see a full video breakdown. He certainly didn't do some things as well but in many ways I think people exagerrate it. I don't have Dumo's QoC stats from 15-16 but in 16-17 he ended up carrying the biggest responsibility on the team so same thing.

Marino? Well, we'll see. There's really not a lot of extra responsibility for him to take other than PP time so I'm not sure he'll have a Pettersson one. Maybe his focus will slide and he'll have a big one but we'll see.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

The only upside of a JJ-Schultz pair is while the pair sucks, I believe Sullivan will ride the top-4 D hard if that pairs is too bad to give regular minutes. I also think that while the pair will give horrible results, them getting sheltered minutes will at least keep the damage to a minimum, as in only being at a -1 or -2 expected goal differential over an entire series. The rest of the Penguins lineup should be good enough to make up for that -1 or -2 that the bottom pair will be providing every series.

JJ will get PK time. He is fine at it.

Schultz will get PP2 time.

I do agree that their 5v5 minutes will be very limited.

 

[Peat]

The mere thought of JJ-Schultz makes me want to see a new stat for measuring how shifts end and what comes next - like, how often does a pairing do a crap clearance, skate off, then watch the next pairing concede a goal because the other team still had momentum? Because I refuse to believe their evil ends the moment they leave the ice and I need the truth measured.

 

[PensandCaps]

Didn't really like Marleau so far. id play Lafferty.

 

[PensandCaps]

playoff Schultz is usually a better player. here's to hoping

(24 points in his past 37 playoff games)

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Andy99]

 

[LOGiK]

Anyone have any jake action? How does he look with his shoulder?

I will never forget:

For a goal that meant absolutely nothing.

 

[Andy99]

I’m assuming McCann is in there for Horny...

 

[Empoleon8771]

I’m assuming McCann is in there for Horny...

HFPens is in shambles when reading this

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[EightyOne]

Lol making saves in practice as if that matters

Practice

Not the game

Practice

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Andy99]

Lol making saves in practice as if that matters

Practice

Not the game

Practice

We’re talkin’ ‘bout practice, man?! Practice....

 

[LOGiK]

I'm kind of bored lately, well not really.... let's just say having plenty of time to think.
So, I been thinking about hockey and dumb stuff about it.... I thought, why don't teams just use the regular lines on the power play. Why scramble lines up when it's basically L1 and L2 for all the power plays... outside of entering the attk zone and positioning - players know what to do and wouldn't require all new lines to practice and have more players have to gel with on top of their own line.....why throw (pass) the puck around 25 times before shooting?
Why not use a different tactic with a man advantage....

If you watch other teams --- they all have that prime puck carrier that lags behind a secondary player who gets to center (ish) ice and just leaves the puck there or softly drops it to the following primary zone enter man. Since when did this become power play status quo?

Like sully and crew changed the face of the game with speed over brute caveman tactics - I think the power play is going to be next in line for a coach taking a radical new approach to take advantage of having a whole two minutes with an extra man.

 

[EightyOne]

It's about balancing skill sets

Like, you have Horny on L3 but....you probably want a guy like that on a PP line, too...Even if your top two lines are better without him

Shooting or lack thereof is totally different lol the pens are very frustrating at times...for no reason

 

[Jaded-Fan]