News Article: Barry Trotz (among many other things) breaks down the Pens' success

[Hank Plank]

Pittsburgh did something very interesting that don't see many people picking up on. The D would always move the puck quickly which is not news but what is different is how they did it, instead of just blasting the puck up the boards they would put enough english on the puck to get it out but not hard enough to go past the wingers. Similar thing would happen on the back check, the player would chip the puck back to the D but not hard, and if that failed they would try it again or another player would step in and do the same thing. Very deliberate and consistent and it made it very hard for teams to get any consistent pressure on the Pens.

Pitts took the same approach in the offensive zone, watch Crosby on the Cup winning goal he chased the puck down on the wall but instead of banging it into the corner he carefully chipped it forward. Yes this is Sid being Sid but I saw this approach consistently from the team. Trotz didn't appear to realize this or try and do anything about it but then again neither did San Jose.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Yeah it's hard to say how much of the difficulty scoring was going against great goalies and how much was us not taking advantage and/or taking bad shots. We easily could have scored more goals I think, but you don't win the Cup because of a run of high shooting%. It bodes well for this year that we were able to run through so many great goalies and still comfortably win every series except for the Tampa one.

Yeah, I'd say it also bodes well that they won the cup and I still think the offense could have done better.

 

[Bart9349]

I think Phil lost the CS in game five when "he could have had a hat trick in the first period" happened and he never scored, tbh.

I agree strongly with this point ... although the Kool-Aid drinkers might think otherwise.

Heck, if Kessel had gotten even a couple more goals, he would have been able to overcome the Hockey Writers Association's bias against Kessel. I don't think we can appreciate the extent of the Canadian (especially Toronto-based) writers' animosity toward Kessel.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Really the only answer any team had for us this year was goaltending. But for Holtby, Vasilevskiy, & Jones, Pens pretty much dominated every game they played in the playoffs. Main reason was speed & depth. With speed & depth, we could do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. No coach had an answer for it. Trotz has to say there were things they could've done differently because if he told the truth (that the Caps have no answer for the Pens' speed), Caps players & fans would lose all hope.

 

[ColePens]

Henrik, Holtby, Vasi, and Jones. Those are 4 ****ing tough goalies. Personally... I felt Vasi was the best of the bunch. I don't think our guys weren't finishing as much as he was stealing the show. On the other hand, I felt like we made Jones look better than he is. I think Vasi was by far the best goalie we played against all postseason. Dude was amazing.

And no disrespect to Holtby. He was solid. Just not at the level Vasi was.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Henrik, Holtby, Vasi, and Jones. Those are 4 ****ing tough goalies. Personally... I felt Vasi was the best of the bunch. I don't think our guys weren't finishing as much as he was stealing the show. On the other hand, I felt like we made Jones look better than he is. I think Vasi was by far the best goalie we played against all postseason. Dude was amazing.

And no disrespect to Holtby. He was solid. Just not at the level Vasi was.

No doubt, Vasilevskiy was the best goalie we faced in the playoffs. Holtby & Jones were good, but Vasilevskiy was dominant. In spite of firing close to 40 shots a game, we were very lucky to get anything by him. Also, much like Murray, he got better as the game went on. Very scary goalie to go up against in a playoff series.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

The long and short of it was that the Pens were holding other teams to ridiculously low shot totals. Often under 12 or 13 shots over the first two periods. The cup winning third period against the Sharks, they could only manage 5 shots though down a goal.

This was against some of the best offensive teams in the NHL. Even the Rangers were the 7th best offense in the NHL.

People can talk about the offense, puck movement, etc. But they do not talk enough about how the best that the NHL could offer offensively for the most part could not even get a shot when they needed it in their series.

 

[JTG]

Vasi had one slip up, and it cost them the game. Aside from that goal, the series would have been over long before that if he didn't stand on his head. He's a hell of a goaltender. On the flip side, I have believed this for quite some time - Holtby is quite overrated.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Vasi had one slip up, and it cost them the game. Aside from that goal, the series would have been over long before that if he didn't stand on his head. He's a hell of a goaltender. On the flip side, I have believed this for quite some time - Holtby is quite overrated.

I think Holtby was fine. As was Jones. Both were incredible in fact. Only thing is that Vasilevskiy made them look average by comparison. Funny thing is that the worst goalie we faced was Lundqvist LOL

 

[Shockmaster]

I think Holtby was fine. As was Jones. Both were incredible in fact. Only thing is that Vasilevskiy made them look average by comparison. Funny thing is that the worst goalie we faced was Lundqvist LOL

Holtby didn't lose the series for the Caps, but it never felt like he was going to steal it for them either.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Holtby didn't lose the series for the Caps, but it never felt like he was going to steal it for them either.

Only goalie that gave us the feeling that he could steal the series was Vasilevskiy. Pens pretty much had complete control of every other series.

 

[Mattpilf]

I think Holtby was fine. As was Jones. Both were incredible in fact. Only thing is that Vasilevskiy made them look average by comparison. Funny thing is that the worst goalie we faced was Lundqvist LOL

Hard to say Lundqvist was the worst. There weren't any soft goals against Lundqvist, but the defense of the Rangers had so many holes that the Pens steam rolled them and gave some very difficult shots. The only savable goal I remember against Lundqvist was a Kessel breakaway from the dot. Now that can be saved, but Kessel is also like the best in the league at that. You look at Corsica analysis on Lundqvist and see 30 low danger shots and 34 high danger shots, when most teams wouldn't even have half the amount of high danger shots as low danger.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Hard to say Lundqvist was the worst. There weren't any soft goals against Lundqvist, but the defense of the Rangers had so many holes that the Pens steam rolled them and gave some very difficult shots. The only savable goal I remember against Lundqvist was a Kessel breakaway from the dot. Now that can be saved, but Kessel is also like the best in the league at that. You look at Corsica analysis on Lundqvist and see 30 low danger shots and 34 high danger shots, when most teams wouldn't even have half the amount of high danger shots as low danger.

You gotta remember that even Antti Raanta (Lundqvist's backup) put up better numbers than Lundqvist did. If Lundqvist wasn't the worst goalie the Pens faced in their playoff run, who was? We could call Holtby overrated, but he wasn't getting pulled in the 2nd period in nearly every game like Lundqvist.

 

[BHD]

Pittsburgh did something very interesting that don't see many people picking up on. The D would always move the puck quickly which is not news but what is different is how they did it, instead of just blasting the puck up the boards they would put enough english on the puck to get it out but not hard enough to go past the wingers. Similar thing would happen on the back check, the player would chip the puck back to the D but not hard, and if that failed they would try it again or another player would step in and do the same thing. Very deliberate and consistent and it made it very hard for teams to get any consistent pressure on the Pens.

Pitts took the same approach in the offensive zone, watch Crosby on the Cup winning goal he chased the puck down on the wall but instead of banging it into the corner he carefully chipped it forward. Yes this is Sid being Sid but I saw this approach consistently from the team. Trotz didn't appear to realize this or try and do anything about it but then again neither did San Jose.

This. It really put everything else into motion.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

You can see that extremely quick decision making is part of the Pens' system that Sullivan preaches. I suppose that is exploitable by getting into lanes, but it is very hard to do without speed, you will be a moment too late.

The Pens did not merely do that though, they took what is given, including Trotz's explaination of the Murphy Dump as being their entire system. it obviously was not, but was employed to great effect at times, such as when those lanes were taken away.

And that is the thing. People keep saying 'oh well, now watch other teams copy what the Pens are doing'.

Good luck with that.

For it to work you need a good number of players who are fast skaters, who can finish, but especially who are whip smart and can immediately make the right call and successfully move the puck to the right spot. With barely a glance make the decision, most of the time the right decision, and move the puck.

How many of those kind of players are out there?

I remember when Nikolaj Ehlers was coming up and before he shot up the draft boards and I really hoped that he would fall to the Pens. The Pens had poor man's versions of that kind of player fall to them for next to nothing in guys like Rust.

You just do not have guys who can play that kind of system successfully fall into your lap every day. The Pens were lucky in getting several into their system, and having teams misuse others like Daley and Hags so that they could be obtained on the cheap.

I doubt that could be easily replicated.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

You can see that extremely quick decision making is part of the Pens' system that Sullivan preaches. I suppose that is exploitable by getting into lanes, but it is very hard to do without speed, you will be a moment too late.

The Pens did not merely do that though, they took what is given, including Trotz's explaination of the Murphy Dump as being their entire system. it obviously was not, but was employed to great effect at times, such as when those lanes were taken away.

And that is the thing. People keep saying 'oh well, now watch other teams copy what the Pens are doing'.

Good luck with that.

For it to work you need a good number of players who are fast skaters, who can finish, but especially who are whip smart and can immediately make the right call and successfully move the puck to the right spot. With barely a glance make the decision, most of the time the right decision, and move the puck.

How many of those kind of players are out there?

I remember when Nikolaj Ehlers was coming up and before he shot up the draft boards and I really hoped that he would fall to the Pens. The Pens had poor man's versions of that kind of player fall to them for next to nothing in guys like Rust.

You just do not have guys who can play that kind of system successfully fall into your lap every day. The Pens were lucky in getting several into their system, and having teams misuse others like Daley and Hags so that they could be obtained on the cheap.

I doubt that could be easily replicated.

I think it's a lot easier to make quick passes when you know you could just put the puck into open space and your teammates will get there faster than the other team more times than not.

 

[SaturdayNightSlegr]

What Jaded-Fan said x100. The Pens speed helped them defensively as much if not more so than it did offensively. And being able to think quickly and move the puck intelligently is just as important as foot speed; heck its necessary for foot speed to be effective; its also how the slower guys (Bonino, Maatta) are able to fit into the team's identity.

 

[Riptide]

Weber's a lot worse than any of them, so it's an even bigger mistake.

I get that Orlov's pair was looking totally overwhelmed, but there has to be a better answer somewhere in the Caps' org than subbing in Mike Weber. Didn't Hershey have some Oleksy/Nasreddine sort of journeyman? There had to have been someone like that.

They have Schmidt, Chorney and Orlov who should be able to handle the 3rd pairing. Unless of course the other team's 3rd line is either Malkin and company or Kessel and Bonino. At which point your 3rd pairing is going to get rolled.

 

[Riptide]

Considering the Capitals signed a player like Lars Eller & gave away a player like Thomas DiPauli, I'm not certain that they know why they lost to us in the playoffs. Pretty obvious to everyone except the Caps that speed & depth made all the difference.

You're implying that they had a choice in the matter. DiPauli choose to go to FA and sign elsewhere. I didn't hear nearly as much about him as we heard about Vesey, but I'd be completely amazed if WSH hadn't attempted to sign him.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I think it's a lot easier to make quick passes when you know you could just put the puck into open space and your teammates will get there faster than the other team more times than not.

I this week watched a number of the playoff games on youtube. They are all there in full, no commercials. I highly suggest doing the same, was fun to do without the angst of not knowing the outcome. You can watch for specific things as well.

And what you said is one of the things that struck me. The Pens did what QB's do, they tossed the puck to an area and trusted their 'receiver' to beat the other guy to it. It did not always work, but did more often than not. They were faster, but they also outworked other teams. And rolling four lines enables players to do that. Kind of hard to fight for every puck when you are double shifted.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I this week watched a number of the playoff games on youtube. They are all there in full, no commercials. I highly suggest doing the same, was fun to do without the angst of not knowing the outcome. You can watch for specific things as well.

And what you said is one of the things that struck me. The Pens did what QB's do, they tossed the puck to an area and trusted their 'receiver' to beat the other guy to it. It did not always work, but did more often than not. They were faster, but they also outworked other teams. And rolling four lines enables players to do that. Kind of hard to fight for every puck when you are double shifted.

Very true, it is a lot of fun to watch these playoff games now that we know the results, even some games that we ended up losing, it was a marvel to be able to just appreciate the speed game of the Pens.

I agree, there was a sense of confidence that a teammate would get to the puck before the opponent no matter where the puck was placed, and that gives you a major psychological advantage when making outlet passes. All Penguin dmen had to do when facing a forecheck was just chip it out, they knew a teammate was likely to get there before anyone on the other team, and that made it easier to make quick passes.

I think it's okay for Trotz to say that there are things the Capitals could've done better, but to discount our speed comes off as rather delusional on his part.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

You're implying that they had a choice in the matter. DiPauli choose to go to FA and sign elsewhere. I didn't hear nearly as much about him as we heard about Vesey, but I'd be completely amazed if WSH hadn't attempted to sign him.

I'll admit that I'm not familiar with the circumstances that influenced DiPauli to leave the Capitals, but if the Pens were overwhelmed by an opponent's speed game, and they had had a speedster like DiPauli in their system, I would expect them to go out of their way to retain such a player.