Series Talk: Pittsburgh vs. New York (Islanders lead 3-2)

[DesertPenguin]

Not that hot of a take, but imo this will be a harder game to win than a theoretical game 7. It will take everything. I’m sure the Islanders will be desperate to avoid a return trip to Pittsburgh.

I’m a pretty positive fan and you can’t think like this- but still, I’m not sure how much it matters. Even if we’re able to advance I feel like Boston would dismantle us.

I've already accepted losing, which is actually kind of a nice feeling. This is a free roll.

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

Very insightful, thanks Dr Philbert.

Moving on... Z's five keys tonight for winning... goaltending, getting the lead, keeping the lead, not f***ing up, goaltending.

I don't watch Dr. Phil.

If you see Penguins, particularly the stars, passing up shots tonight then we're probably headed for the golf course. We're making this goalie look a lot better than he is, like we have for the last few playoffs. Bodies and pucks to the net, it's that's simple. NOBODY should be passing up shots like we saw last game.

 

[madinsomniac]

Man up everyone... cups don’t come without adversity.... we grossly outplayed them last game... we absolutely can win this

 

[cookthebooks]

if the pens lose i will blame beating to death the jeff carter jokes as the proximate cause. sully escapes again.

 

[HandshakeLine]

if the pens lose i will blame beating to death the jeff carter jokes as the proximate cause. sully escapes again.

Pensblog has yet to answer for their crimes.

 

[TNT87]

Don't end the season tonight. Thanks.

 

[cookthebooks]

Pensblog has yet to answer for their crimes.

'something is funny once, lets do it a 100 times a day forever' is the worst

 

[Ryder71]

You mean coasted yes?

I donno man... sometimes I wonder why goalies come out at the wrong times...
Being deep in your goal yeah opens up angles but it also makes you not be 5 feet away beat laying on the ice with no chance to save the shot etc etc

I still say I'd just hire a 300 lb fat **** and stick him in the net.... you aren't scoring goals on that guy...

Yes ''coasted'', my apologies.

 

[Icarium]

The Isles defense has let up the most high danger scoring chances in the playoffs. The only reason they’re not going in is because of the goalie not because of the defense.

Can't be true, HFPens told me Trotz completely outcoaches everyone.

 

[Smasher]

I've decided I'm not gonna watch this game. Getting up at 2AM only to watch a game end the way it did and going to work tired and miserable was a bit too much.

That being said, I still have faith. Hopefully I can wake up to good news. May the floodgates finally open tonight! Let's go!

 

[Ryder71]

Trotz is not some fortune-teller super-genius mastermind, but I would say he is absolutely schematically shutting down the Penguins big guns...again...which is half the battle. Did he know that Jarry would make a sick tape-to-tape pass to one of his guys in OT? Of course not, but he knows something like that is bound to happen. It could be a turnover, it could be a blown coverage, it could be a stupid penalty, it could be an odd man break. Just keep it close and the Pens will give you something. Why? Because they are not a well coached team anymore.

I don't know if I necessarily agree that we're not well coached. But with any coach comes an expiration date.

Every team is gonna make mistakes though. It's not revolutionary to try to keep games close in hopes your opponent will cough up the puck, or make an unnecessary pinch at an inopportune time. For as much as he's allegedly shutting us down adequate goaltending would have won us the series by now.

If we lose this series it's because we did it to ourselves not because Trotz came up with anything schematically. I think 2019 and 20 are very different for that reason. In those years we were outcoached.

Again and to be clear, IF Jarry didn't play so sub par relative to any decent starting NHL caliber netminder, we win! I don't see how we can blame Sully for that. Particularly when our capable back up is injured.

 

[SouthGeorge]

For those that think this team is perimeter

Meh. Eye test doesn't lie. Pens dump the puck and 50/50 chance at getting it. If they do get it goes right up the boards to the D. Then they have a guy in their face and they throw back down the boards or throw a very low % shot thru 2 defenders and a goalie. Then we complain about how we're facing the best goalie in the league and ours is the worst for the 4th year in a row.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Do I even have to guess what the lines are for tonight's game?

 

[Icarium]

I have decided not to watch the game, started looking for a way to listen to it on the radio (probably won't do much of that either), then saw Madden's headline The Pens Should Have Kept Galchenyuk and had a good laugh. Ah, modern media and their knee-jerk, clickbait narratives.

 

[Gurglesons]

Meh. Eye test doesn't lie. Pens dump the puck and 50/50 chance at getting it. If they do get it goes right up the boards to the D. Then they have a guy in their face and they throw back down the boards or throw a very low % shot thru 2 defenders and a goalie. Then we complain about how we're facing the best goalie in the league and ours is the worst for the 4th year in a row.

As per usual you don’t understand how analytics are calculated. And judging by your opinions on our system and certain players, the eye test does in fact lie.

 

[TKalltheTime]

I can just see it now a gaff first minute into this game and the isle score on the first shot on net. *chefs kiss*

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

For those that think this team is perimeter

This isn't even accurate. At 5on5 they're tied with Vegas for 5th most, with Washington, Tampa, St. Louis and Winnipeg giving up more. At ES they drop down to 8th most, with the Pens jumping ahead of them for giving up more HDCA/60.

 

[Ryder71]

Do I even have to guess what the lines are for tonight's game?

Does it matter if our goalie is brain dead? Are we really gonna blame anyone else? Because IF so we're hating just for the sake of doing so. No, we're not lighting it up like we did in the RS. Yet we scored enough in this series to have advanced.

I cannot believe anyone is questioning anyone but Jarry for this. I really can't. It's nonsensical.

 

[ziggyjoe212]

On a player level, most of them are playing well. I'd say only Jarry, Guentzel and Zucker are playing bad. And Jarry really the goat at the moment due to 1 play. I'll throw Sid in there too because he has 2 points in 5 games, which is unacceptable.

IMO the Pens are playing well. But the Isles and Sorokin are just a solid, defensive team.

Game 5 was deflating because the Pens flat out DOMINATED that game, yet still lost. Hard to come back after a loss like that. What else do the Pens have to do??? (Other than get better goaltending).

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Does it matter if our goalie is brain dead? Are we really gonna blame anyone else? Because IF so we're hating just for the sake of doing so. No, we're not lighting it up like we did in the RS. Yet we scored enough in this series to have advanced.

I cannot believe anyone is questioning anyone but Jarry for this. I really can't. It's nonsensical.

I blame Jarry 100% for last game (and Game 1). However, even if Jarry is great we're going to have to score more than 1 or 2 goals (which is what we've scored the past two games) in order to win and hope of going deep.

 

[vodeni]

Meh. Eye test doesn't lie. Pens dump the puck and 50/50 chance at getting it. If they do get it goes right up the boards to the D. Then they have a guy in their face and they throw back down the boards or throw a very low % shot thru 2 defenders and a goalie. Then we complain about how we're facing the best goalie in the league and ours is the worst for the 4th year in a row.

sorry but what part of High Danger Scoring Chances is not understood. This is different, we can't even comprehend the type of saves Sorokin is making cause he is so calm, so well positioned, covers so much ground and always vertical...TJ is flopping around and every save he makes looks scary and unbelievable save....the only thing we have not tried was to really bump him several times and try to get him off of his game.....I am not sure that we can find the way to solve Sorokin in this game. we shot around 10% on Varlamov and 4% on Sorokin..thats not just coincidence...this goalie is a real deal...

 

[Gurglesons]

This isn't even accurate. At 5on5 they're tied with Vegas for 5th most, with Washington, Tampa, St. Louis and Winnipeg giving up more. At ES they drop down to 8th most, with the Pens jumping ahead of them for giving up more HDCA/60.

Well that’s what I get for trusting Twitter.

 

[SouthGeorge]

As per usual you don’t understand how analytics are calculated. And judging by your opinions on our system and certain players, the eye test does in fact lie.

Yeah, I'm the idiot. Yet, I predicted all this beginning of the year and in the series thread while everybody was drinking the kool aid. I know what I'm watching and I don't some analytics to tell me. "highest danger chances" They could be the highest by 1 extra chance

Islanders are trapping and clogging the middle. They're going to let the Penguins do all their stupid stuff on the outside until they mess up. Penguins get a shot in a "dangerous area" with two defenders and goalie in front of them. Ooooo.

We aren't facing the best goalie in the playoffs and ours isn't the worst for the 4th year in a row. Wake up people.

 

[Ryder71]

I blame Jarry 100% for last game (and Game 1). However, even if Jarry is great we're going to have to score more than 1 or 2 goals (which is what we've scored the past two games) in order to win and hope of going deep.

Twice this series we scored three or more goals. And one of the other times we scored two or less we won. And everybody agrees (I think) we would have won Monday in only scoring two goals. Granted it's not as sexy as scoring more, but it's good enough (or should be to get out of this series and move on).

Let me ask you something, how many goals did we score in the Cup finals in '09? And keep in mind we won that series and won the cup. The answer was 14 goals. That's two goals per game. YOU THINK about that now! And we beat one hell of a team in doing so.

Currently we're averaging 2.75 GPG. I know OT an such but still. Not great, but good enough to have already moved on with competent goaltending. For cryin out loud these Islanders are not the Oilers of the 80's or the Penguins of the early 90's. Just stop it, please!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ryder71]

Sometimes two goals IS enough, sometimes five goals ISN'T enough. You need to look beyond the numbers and understand the context and nuances within those numbers.