Post-Game Talk: Bolts 6, Pens 3: Sid and His AHL All Star Team Come Up Sheary

[Still Apps]

You are caught up in numbers and clearly did not watch the game! Did you fail to see the turnover which turned the game around. Clearly, there are those out there with rose-colored glasses. At least they cannot be accused of Ageism. Blame everyone else, but, not 14.......he is a God. Give me a break!

OK, here's your break. Kunitz plays the game with some energy, makes a couple of sweet passes for assists and makes one colossal mistake on the PP that turns the game into a sure loss. Kessel plays all game like a bloody turd lazily circling the bowl and makes one sweet pass for an assist. The guy who played hard for most of the game is vilified while the turd gets the lavender scented sani-bowl treatment.

 

[Fordy]

OK, here's your break. Kunitz plays the game with some energy, makes a couple of sweet passes for assists and makes one colossal mistake on the PP that turns the game into a sure loss. Kessel plays all game like a bloody turd lazily circling the bowl and makes one sweet pass for an assist. The guy who played hard for most of the game is vilified while the turd gets the lavender scented sani-bowl treatment.

i didn't even see this game but kunitz simply does not "play hard" anymore and hasn't for over two years. if you really think he played hard all of last night it must have been the first time since the olympics

 

[Ugene Magic]

You are caught up in numbers and clearly did not watch the game! Did you fail to see the turnover which turned the game around. Clearly, there are those out there with rose-colored glasses. At least they cannot be accused of Ageism. Blame everyone else, but, not 14.......he is a God. Give me a break!

Here's the reality: They lose 3-2, 5-1 or 6-3

Kunitz wasn't the turning point to losing this game, that belongs to Fleury giving up 4 goals even though he is not at fault for a couple, and line #2 that was a -3 to a +1, meaning......they are a result of 4-->4---->4 goals against themselves. Plus Cullens penalty finished them off in the 2nd for the Johnson PPG taking the total up to 5.

The turning point was in the 1st period after having best in play and a Hornqvist goal, then Hagelin gaff, and then who's line is on the ice again, and who is in goal again?

The turning point was in the 1st.

Edit: Oh and Kunitz recovered to disrupt the play while Letang stood there and watched.

 

[billybudd]

I guess i'll add Hags to the awful list with "a little Hags" much like Maatta.

Yeah, Hagelin had a rough game, no question. I don't know what was possessing our forwards to delay with the puck on the blueline as the last guy back, but 3 of them got burned by this (Hags, Kunitz, Hornqvist).

Penguins are out 3 centers and half the lineup is filled with AHL nothings. Consecutive trainwreck night by their starter and the game was still close until the very end. That's probably a feather in the Penguins cap, given the circumstances.

Rough night probably incoming against an even better team.

 

[billybudd]

Oh yeah, even though he was minus 3 and took a penalty on the game winner, I thought Cullen really turned back the clock in the best way possible. He's been a hockey player's hockey player all year, but this was a nice reminder that he's not been "a bottom six jabroni his whole career" or w/e it is Madden's calling him.

We really could have used this guy instead of Sutter in the 2013 playoffs.

 

[Sorry]

Gonna try to be positive after this debacle;

Sundqvist is a monster in one on one battles. He came away from the puck on a few plays that had me in awe. He's incredibly raw but his ability to win battles is already one of the best in the entire organization.

Pouliot can really move the puck. Very, very smooth in transition and calm in his own zone with the puck. He's also a stocky guy, solidly built. He possesses decent strength and stability.

Can't wait to watch these two develop... Unless, of course, we trade them for rentals.

 

[Still Apps]

i didn't even see this game but kunitz simply does not "play hard" anymore and hasn't for over two years. if you really think he played hard all of last night it must have been the first time since the olympics

Kunitz has been playing hard since November of this year. Never saw him log a minute last year where he was anything other than an Adams-esque pilon but he's playing much better now than a year ago. He's playing as hard as anyone on offense not named Crosby or Hornqvist. That doesn't mean I think he's all that great, but Crosby likes his game so I'll defer to Sid. Kunitz's status as whippin' boy is as much a product of the intractable group-think erudition expressed on here as the 'if only Plotnikov' redeemer narrative.

 

[MtlPenFan]

The worst thing about a guy like Kessel is that he probably thinks he's working as hard as he can.

He is what he is and what he'll always be. I was excited to see what he could do here but man, seeing him on a nightly basis makes me grudgingly admit that a lot of the anti-Phil rhetoric coming out of Toronto wasn't just personal.

 

[Human]

good lord Fleury. I'm huge MAF supporter especially after bales worked his magic. but when your star goalie gives up 4 goals on 14 shots it doesn't matter if you are playing the Syracuse Crunch you are going to lose.


Really we put up 3 goals against Bishop, who is averaging less then 2 against everyone else, we out shot them. For periods of time we really hemmed them in with our speed.

I'm not saying this game is completely Fleury's fault, but if we have 2015 fleury we win this game. Period.

yup, they win this game in front of a decent goalie...

 

[KareemTrustfund]

Just stopped by to say Bryan Rust is legend I'll be pissed if he is ever sent down again.

 

[NeedleInTheHay]

Oh yeah, even though he was minus 3 and took a penalty on the game winner, I thought Cullen really turned back the clock in the best way possible. He's been a hockey player's hockey player all year, but this was a nice reminder that he's not been "a bottom six jabroni his whole career" or w/e it is Madden's calling him.

We really could have used this guy instead of Sutter in the 2013 playoffs.

Sutter was one of the better Penguins in the 13 playoffs, especially in the Boston series.

I really don't think swapping Cullen for Sutter is going to help not get swept and score a total of 2 goals.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

yup, they win this game in front of a decent goalie...

No I really don't think so. Fleury's biggest sin in this game was just not coming up with anything for them. Three of the four goals he let in were pretty typical. I mean, a breakaway by a talented player and a laser beam right under the cross bar on the power play were amongst those. The other was a double deflection.

I understand four goals against on a limited shot total is not good, but a lot of this is spillover from the Ottawa game. Pulling him wasn't a bad move though I'll say that. He needs to reset mentally.

 

[Fordy]

Kunitz has been playing hard since November of this year. Never saw him log a minute last year where he was anything other than an Adams-esque pilon but he's playing much better now than a year ago. He's playing as hard as anyone on offense not named Crosby or Hornqvist. That doesn't mean I think he's all that great, but Crosby likes his game so I'll defer to Sid. Kunitz's status as whippin' boy is as much a product of the intractable group-think erudition expressed on here as the 'if only Plotnikov' redeemer narrative.

hornqvist
crosby
malkin
hagelin
cullen
fehr
rust
bonino/bennett/kuhn/and yes plotnikov

are all or have been playing harder than kunitz basically every night. that's like, the entire team

 

[pistolpete11]

No I really don't think so. Fleury's biggest sin in this game was just not coming up with anything for them. Three of the four goals he let in were pretty typical. I mean, a breakaway by a talented player and a laser beam right under the cross bar on the power play were amongst those. The other was a double deflection.

I understand four goals against on a limited shot total is not good, but a lot of this is spillover from the Ottawa game. Pulling him wasn't a bad move though I'll say that. He needs to reset mentally.

I agree. Those were some Grade-A scoring chances. Fleury didn't make the spectacular saves he has been making most of this year, but hard to 'blame' him for that loss.

Pulling him was definitely the right move. See if a change gets the skaters to play differently and it saves Fleury a little bit so he can start tonight.

 

[Headshot77]

Put me on the "Kunitz has actually not looked like complete dogcrap this calendar year but the people with 'Kunitz sucks' blinders on will never see it" list.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Put me on the "Kunitz has actually not looked like complete dogcrap this calendar year but the people with 'Kunitz sucks' blinders on will never see it" list.

Yeah this is where I'm at. For christ's sake, he had 2 nice assists yesterday and people are still *****ing about him.

I'm really happy with Pouliot so far in the NHL this year. I can't imagine he's going back to WBS if he continues playing like this. Same applies to Rust. Holy crap, some of Shero's draft picks ended up helping

 

[plaidchuck]

The pens have sucked against the panthers the last few years when they were laughably bad, so I'm expecting a full blown meltdown tonight.

 

[NeedleInTheHay]

The pens have sucked against the panthers the last few years when they were laughably bad, so I'm expecting a full blown meltdown tonight.

The Pens are 16-6 against the Panthers this decade.

 

[billybudd]

The pens have sucked against the panthers the last few years when they were laughably bad, so I'm expecting a full blown meltdown tonight.

We did beat them once this year fairly convincingly, but I think they were missing Barkov...possibly Luongo...and we didn't have anyone out.

Also as Elliot Smith points out, when the Panthers have been a bit better in the 2010s, we've had more success. It was in the late 2000s when we'd always seem to get crushed at least once a year by the Cats on the Florida trip. I always assumed your Staals, TKs and so on were just having a little too much fun on the beach and bars.

 

[Zen Arcade]

I don't think Kunitz is lazy or dogging it, he's just declining and he physically can't do the things he used to except in spurts.

That's not a defense of him or him being where he is in the lineup, that's just the way I see it.

 

[vikingGoalie]

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper on the Penguins’ start: “That was as good a team as we’ve seen play against us all year. Fortunately for us, we came out of that period up 2-1. Pittsburgh was probably scratching their head a little bit.â€

Read more: http://blog.triblive.com/chipped-ice/2016/02/06/tampa-bay-postgame-2/#ixzz3zQAi1Cpb
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pretty much sums it up. sure fleury gave up 4 on quality chances. but lets be honest he was off. But the PP giving up a goal and not scoring. That's probably the game right there. I have some hope as we really did play better then Tampa for large portions of this game. That and goalies have a couple off games, it happens to them all. Just so long as he doesn't get in his own head after these.

 

[JBose7]

Don't know about you guys, but I find myself being a lot less upset about losses these days than I was under Johnston. I suppose that it's because when we lose now, the team is actually still giving max effort and making a game out of it? Especially considering the fact that we're presently playing with 6 AHL call ups in the lineup...

For the life of me I still can't comprehend what Sullivan's beef is with Plots. I can understand you having your preferences from certain tactical standpoints, however when you're missing so many forwards due to injury, wouldn't it make sense to at least TRY him in the lineup ahead of 1 of the 5 AHL forwards you've been looking to? How Porter gets preference over him is baffling.

 

[Human]

No I really don't think so. Fleury's biggest sin in this game was just not coming up with anything for them. Three of the four goals he let in were pretty typical. I mean, a breakaway by a talented player and a laser beam right under the cross bar on the power play were amongst those. The other was a double deflection.

I understand four goals against on a limited shot total is not good, but a lot of this is spillover from the Ottawa game. Pulling him wasn't a bad move though I'll say that. He needs to reset mentally.

he's small, he can't see the puck and he's slow. that was a half-assed poke-check attempt on that breakaway.

I don't care how bad is the D, when you're a pro goalie with 80's kind of numbers it's mostly on you...

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Gonna try to be positive after this debacle;

Sundqvist is a monster in one on one battles. He came away from the puck on a few plays that had me in awe. He's incredibly raw but his ability to win battles is already one of the best in the entire organization.
...

While watching him, I was thinking about how I bet he'd mesh well with Plotnikov. It might be a little raw of a line right now but they'd be hell to play against down low. Too bad we won't see it.

I don't think Kunitz is lazy or dogging it, he's just declining and he physically can't do the things he used to except in spurts.

That's not a defense of him or him being where he is in the lineup, that's just the way I see it.

I can't argue with that. It seems like sometimes he is trying to overcome the decline by thinking the game, leading to a delayed reaction or getting caught standing still.