Post-Game Talk: Pens vs Wild: Won it for MAF!

[Big Friggin Dummy]

"Complete player" is just a euphemism for "doesn't do anything particularly well" when it comes to this team. It's the new "swiss army knife".

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

"Complete player" is just a euphemism for "doesn't do anything particularly well" when it comes to this team. It's the new "swiss army knife".

"He does the little things and plays with heart."

Translation: He's pretty terrible but the coaching staff loves him.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Fancy-stats-wise it doesn't look like Rakell did too well. But I didn't watch the game. How did he do?

He was just kind of "there" on L1. Didn't do anything to support play or hinder it.

Prior to his injury he was doing the little things well, the puck just wouldn't go in

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

You gotta give Raks some time after coming back from injury.

Then again... I feel like we've been in "wait and see" mode with him even when he was healthy.

As for the game itself... can't complaint about a win even over a bad team which are the only types the Penguins seem capable of accruing points from. Don't really care about the whole MAF controversy. Nice to see the powerplay continue to click and Puus make an impact. Like I said in the GDT last night having a guy like Puus pan out would take a lot of sting out of a year that looks like it's spiraling down the crapper.

 

[Darren McCord]

The funniest thing would be for Sullivan to coach this team on a completely unexpected Cup run this year. This board would self destruct.

Lol ya the guy who continues to play harkins and refuse to play puustinen until his hands were tied.

At this point it still would surprise me if he is sent down so harkins can stay up.

Something about toughness or whatevrt

 

[Icarium]

Yohe claims that Sullivan is telling the team to play more conservatively but those pesky players often refuse to listen. Always somebody else's fault, imagine that.

Oh and what a sacrifice it must have been for him to wait for MAF for thirty minutes after the game and therefore, gasp, miss, his hero Sullivan's press conference. My heart bleeds for him.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yohe claims that Sullivan is telling the team to play more conservatively but those pesky players often refuse to listen. Always somebody else's fault, imagine that.

Oh and what a sacrifice it must have been for him to wait for MAF for thirty minutes after the game and therefore, gasp, miss, his hero Sullivan's press conference. My heart bleeds for him.

To my mind this is actually STILL the coach's fault.

Besides they definitely have been playing more conservatively. Yohe wouldn't have any idea what he's watching out there though so I forgive him for missing that.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

So good to see Puustinen playing, and playing well.

The only way he'll stick is if he PK's

 

[SEALBound]

Next game, they need to feed Rakell 1PP time and the PP should feed him non-stop and tell him to shoot. The guy needs to get that first one out of the way. Anyone who played forward knows that angst. It sucks.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

To my mind this is actually STILL the coach's fault.

Besides they definitely have been playing more conservatively. Yohe wouldn't have any idea what he's watching out there though so I forgive him for missing that.

Yohe doesn't watch the games. Or at least, he doesn't watch and comprehend what he's seeing.

Anything and everything he writes is basically what's told to him or that he hears from the other dweebs who cover the Pens.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Next game, they need to feed Rakell 1PP time and the PP should feed him non-stop and tell him to shoot. The guy needs to get that first one out of the way. Anyone who played forward knows that angst. It sucks.

No, I'm not breaking up a newly successful PP to feed an average scoring RW.

 

[ncm7772]

Kind of glad the Yinzer maniacs didn’t get to see the Yinzer Jesus!

Unsurprising blown lead, but I’ll take 2 points via whatever means necessary with this group. Man, imagine how bad they’d be without Sid?

 

[PensandCaps]

Well he is starting the sub .900 goalie tonight against Bruins on the end of a back to back.
Might want to have reversed that call. duh

Yah. Which is why you can't predict the future.

Makes complete sense to start your best goalie vs the weaker team.

 

[PaulD]

Yah. Which is why you can't predict the future.

Makes complete sense to start your best goalie vs the weaker team.

to you

and they lost in regulation to the weaker team......much weaker team

 

[PensandCaps]

to you

and they lost in regulation to the weaker team......much weaker team

That's hockey for ya.

And Gus played pretty well.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Yohe claims that Sullivan is telling the team to play more conservatively but those pesky players often refuse to listen. Always somebody else's fault, imagine that.

Oh and what a sacrifice it must have been for him to wait for MAF for thirty minutes after the game and therefore, gasp, miss, his hero Sullivan's press conference. My heart bleeds for him.

So what Yohe is saying is that Sully has lost the room

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

Re the whole MAF thing, Rossi did an article -

Edit: Wasn't paying attention. Thought it was Russo, it's Rossi. Slightly different levels of credibility. That said, it does still ring true.

Rossi: Marc-Andre Fleury not playing against the Penguins in Pittsburgh is best for everybody

Fleury has amazing memories of his time playing in Pittsburgh — and that should be enough.

theathletic.com

TLDR/no access - Rossi believes Flower didn't want it

That Flower didn't want to repeat the Montreal experience and doesn't particularly enjoy playing as the away goalie in Pittsburgh, where his numbers aren't great and he finds it weird going against Sid/Geno/Tanger

I get fans wishing otherwise, but I doubt Hynes did Flower dirty at all

You're too hard on yourself, you had it right. Michael Russo also commented on the Fleury/potential last game in Pittsburgh as well, and he also believes Flower didn't want it (good luck convincing some of the folks in here):

"And Fleury himself says he’s not necessarily retiring after this season, he doesn’t love playing there as a visitor and his emotional return “night” to Pittsburgh will come when his HOF career is over...He said this isn’t like going back to MTL for him."

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

No, I'm not breaking up a newly successful PP to feed an average scoring RW.

Yeah I like Raks and want to see him succeed but now isn't the time.

I don't really love Rakell on the powerplay anyway.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

You're too hard on yourself, you had it right. Michael Russo also commented on the Fleury/potential last game in Pittsburgh as well, and he also believes Flower didn't want it (good luck convincing some of the folks in here):

"And Fleury himself says he’s not necessarily retiring after this season, he doesn’t love playing there as a visitor and his emotional return “night” to Pittsburgh will come when his HOF career is over...He said this isn’t like going back to MTL for him."

If that's truly the case then I respect how Fleury feels and glad he got what he wanted.


Hynes is still fugly

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

I'm calling 100% BS on this.

He was amazing in MTL and talked about how special it was after the game. There is ZERO chance he was happy to not play last night.


They're 3-1 in the last four, beating 3 bad teams and getting soaked by the only good one. They made up zero ground in the standings as well.

Call BS on whatever you want, but Russo tweeted essentially the same thing. There is EVERY chance MAF didn't want goal last night.

One of the "bad" teams we beat in the last four was the 'Yotes, currently a Wildcard team and enjoying young legs. What do I know, maybe they're just f***ing losers? I f***ing hate the Yotes! ;-)

If that's truly the case then I respect how Fleury feels and glad he got what he wanted.


Hynes is still fugly

Hynes is fugly as shit. And I'll pull for MAF/Wild tonight against the Bruins. Then again, I'd even pull for the Flyers against the Bruins....

 

[Peat]

Tbh I've always believed that this team is hardwired to play "we'll score one more than you" hockey to a point no coach can entirely fix, and that they have got themselves into trouble doing so this season when a more hardnosed approach has yielded big results. So... I'm with Yohe's observation there.

Also given Puustinen started the season with 1 point in 6 games, it's not exactly surprising he wasn't the first guy up.

You're too hard on yourself, you had it right. Michael Russo also commented on the Fleury/potential last game in Pittsburgh as well, and he also believes Flower didn't want it (good luck convincing some of the folks in here):

"And Fleury himself says he’s not necessarily retiring after this season, he doesn’t love playing there as a visitor and his emotional return “night” to Pittsburgh will come when his HOF career is over...He said this isn’t like going back to MTL for him."

Also retweeted the Rossi article talking about how it was spot on too. Not that I knew when I posted that.

I'd still love to know how I read Russo as Rossi tho.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Tbh I've always believed that this team is hardwired to play "we'll score one more than you" hockey to a point no coach can entirely fix, and that they have got themselves into trouble doing so this season when a more hardnosed approach has yielded big results. So... I'm with Yohe's observation there.

It's also been an organizational philosophy for almost four decades.

From the moment Lemieux got here, this organization has been all about offensive talent. Mario and Jagr never prioritized playing shutdown hockey. They hated the Devils' trap.

Crosby and Malkin took a similar approach. They'll play defense, but only to get the puck back.

Even when Dubas came in, he said something to the effect of knowing this organization is about high-event hockey, not passive, defense-first hockey.

 

[canadianguy77]

It's also been an organizational philosophy for almost four decades.

From the moment Lemieux got here, this organization has been all about offensive talent. Mario and Jagr never prioritized playing shutdown hockey. They hated the Devils' trap.

Crosby and Malkin took a similar approach. They'll play defense, but only to get the puck back.

Even when Dubas came in, he said something to the effect of knowing this organization is about high-event hockey, not passive, defense-first hockey.

I honestly don’t think a team can win in today’s game by playing hardcore defense all of the time. Offense has been crushing defense lately. It will be some years before defensive tactics catch up to offensive tactics so I don’t think it will change anytime soon either.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

Tbh I've always believed that this team is hardwired to play "we'll score one more than you" hockey to a point no coach can entirely fix, and that they have got themselves into trouble doing so this season when a more hardnosed approach has yielded big results. So... I'm with Yohe's observation there.

Also given Puustinen started the season with 1 point in 6 games, it's not exactly surprising he wasn't the first guy up.



Also retweeted the Rossi article talking about how it was spot on too. Not that I knew when I posted that.

I'd still love to know how I read Russo as Rossi tho.

Multitasking and lack of attention to detail is what makes HFBoards worth it to me... ;-).

 

[Honour Over Glory]

With Puustinen the Pens powerplay produces as a number 1 ranked unit. Without him it's bottom 3.

Sullivan must be seething.