Post-Game Talk: Bortuzzo - 2, Habs - 1

[MtlPenFan]

That guy seems even more clueless than Rob Rossi. At least Rossi comes up with a valid thought once every ten thousand tweets. I don't think I've ever seen that guy post something intelligent ever.

He's the worst. Even the Pensblog guys - who can be sort of douchey - don't take themselves seriously.

This ****ing guy thinks he's Red Fisher though. Completely clueless when it comes to anything hockey. To make matters worse, it's clowns like him and Rossi who influence the "casual fan" who unfortunately make up most fan bases. They don't understand what they're watching either, but because a guy has a press pass, what he says must be right.

 

[Shrimper]

Poor game from MJ today. Kunitz back to L3 please.

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

It's a tough line to walk with Geno. He wants the puck all the time, even when it's not necessarily the best play, and he doesn't shy away from chewing linemates out if they don't either funnel it to him right away so he can carry the mail (a la Fedotenko) or shoot it (Neal/Sykora).

So far though, it looks like BB's up to the task.

If it gets to be a problem then play Geno with Adams a few shifts and he'll quickly mend his ways.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

+MAF
+Geno
+Despres was solid
+Kunitz-Crosby-Perron line
+Letang's play in the second half of the game

-MJ's pets Sutter and Adams TOI
-MJ fumbling line changes/too many men
-Despres TOI

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Also... keep Kunitz on the 3rd. He showed a pulse there. Keep 'em there. And stop it w/ that 4th line. They played the best way possible and still they are in their zone for minutes and minutes.

If you break up Kunitz-Crosby-Perron, I would try Kunitz on L2 before I slot him back to Sutter's line.

 

[Captain Hook]

Perron looked like Kovalev out there last night. Not real fast but absolutely sick hands.

That was the most entertaining game the Pens have played in a while.

 

[Night Shift]

Perron looked like Kovalev out there last night. Not real fast but absolutely sick hands.

That was the most entertaining game the Pens have played in a while.

I agree and I love the way Perron stickhandles. I thought the first half of the game and even though the Pens were hitting everything, it seemed they were 2 steps behind the Habs and not really mentally there (they seemed disinterested imo). but around the 2nd half I thought they gave a better effort. Fleury stole this one because it's not too often it takes 2 goals to beat MTL.

 

[Night Shift]

I noticed in the GDT (and those watching the HNIC feed) everyone criticizing Johnston for giving Sutter around equal TOI to Crosby and Malkin. And even throwing the 4th line out there in curious moments. Maybe the idea is Johnston is saving our top guys for big minutes in the playoffs. It's a long season and if the idea is to conserve energy so that guys are not as tired going in, it's a decent concept that can reap rewards later on I think.

 

[UnrealMachine]

+ Despres: 3 assists in the last 4 games. All at ES.
- 4th line: almost every time the Pens got stuck in their own zone for an extended shift, the 4th line was on the ice. Way too much ice time for them. Poor offensive execution too. Very poor.
- Ehrhoff: please don't re-sign him. As others have said, he's good but not what the team needs at whatever his asking price will and he isn't going to come cheap.

 

[JTG]

Simon Despres has turned out to be one hell of a defenseman.

 

[PensFreak]

Surprised that there aren't more -'s to Martin. I thought he was horrendous last night... turned the puck over at the Pens blue line three times in one shift at one point.

 

[ProgOg]

+ Despres: 3 assists in the last 4 games. All at ES.
- 4th line: almost every time the Pens got stuck in their own zone for an extended shift, the 4th line was on the ice. Way too much ice time for them. Poor offensive execution too. Very poor.
- Ehrhoff: please don't re-sign him. As others have said, he's good but not what the team needs at whatever his asking price will and he isn't going to come cheap.

Only guy with more ES points so far is Letang. Letang: 12, Despres & Ehrhoff: 11. And Despres is averaging 4min less at ES so far. Letang has 673:10, Ehrhoff 660:53 and Despres 570:59. He is being really good.

 

[yuri28]

For those badmouthing Sid and hanging off Geno's nuts:

- Sid was playing against Subban/Markov/Plekanec all night

- Malkin was playing against the corpse of Sergei Gonchar


Maybe just maybe that had something to do with Geno generating more offense?

Really though, I love both guys, but good lord have some awareness of the situation. Sid was going up against a norris candidate and their #1 shutdown center. markov is quite good too.

Yeah like malkin can t perform against the opposite top lines....
Didn't he have his best season ever (2011-2012) playing against the opposite top lines by the way??

 

[Bjindaho]

Only guy with more ES points so far is Letang. Letang: 12, Despres & Ehrhoff: 11. And Despres is averaging 4min less at ES so far. Letang has 673:10, Ehrhoff 660:53 and Despres 570:59. He is being really good.

He's also caught Martin for 2nd on the team in blocked shots and is only 4 behind Letang. He's 12th in the NHL in hits (3rd among D behind Orpik and Buff).

 

[ProgOg]

Yeah like malkin can t perform against the opposite top lines....
Didn't he have his best season ever (2011-2012) playing against the opposite top lines by the way??

I don't think that that is what was meant here - just that comparing either their performance in one game is more complex than a lot of people giving credit to 87 or 71 seem to grasp. Take into account who they are playing against (and their performance), who their playing with (and again, their performance, and chemistry, too) and everyone is happier (and smarter).

Context makes discussions better, is all.

 

[joeyjake5]

Did any one notice that on the last MONT PP that Scuds was not on the ice and the Habs got no shots on net. In fact, they were not even close. So much for the value of Scuds as a a shut down PKER. In fact, the Habs fans were booing.

#47 playing with #4 is only holding back #47. What DB and probably MJ don't like about Simon is that he is willing to take chances. There is no doubt he has talent and can play defensive (although very tough with Scuds as a partner) and hits. If the Pens trade him, they are as big as fools as DB was for not playing him last year. Simon has nothing more to prove.

Also, MJ is way over his head in the NHL. Still playing Scuds in OT is absurd.

 

[Al Smith]

Just in case you thought Seth Rorabaugh might have some idea of what he's talking about.

Well . . . it was better than last game. Barely. I guess that's something.

After an atrocious first (by pretty much everyone), I thought team looked pretty good, especially in the third. And this was with Montreal playing a really good game defensively.

There are a lot of questions about MJ sending out the 4th line after a Hab icing by their 4th line. But in his defense, they almost scored off the faceoff. Still, some questionable line decisions. At the beginning of the season, Adams was getting like 5 minutes TOI and we're back to Bylsma-like time. I'll give MJ a pass, just because of the injuries. We'll see what happens in March and beyond, when hopefully, we'll have a full lineup. Take Bort out for a (hopefully) healthy Olli, get Sill in the Press Box/WBS, get Adams to wherever, and hopefully some of those bad decisions will take care of themselves.

 

[chethejet]

Amazing how MJ is "in over his head" juvenile posts are not written in crayon. Please, go home and play with your toys. Scuderi was a bad signing for the money and length. Just have to find a trade partner or get through another year when the cap hit is far less. Same with Kunitz as well. He may be traded as the Pens have to eat some money in the off season but he needs to go. Gm's can make mistakes and coaches can be stubborn. But the combo of Shero and Bylsma after the Flyer series was a joke. The brass fired both and good riddance. Both will be shown to be poor hires the next dumb owner hires either of them.

 

[Internet Explorer]

Many curious things to take away from that game. To me though the best thing to take away was sids two shots. Especially the half-slapper that he took from between the circles. I take it as a sign that his wrists aren't bothering him as much. He got a lot of mustard on that shot (for him anyway.)

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

That guy seems even more clueless than Rob Rossi. At least Rossi comes up with a valid thought once every ten thousand tweets. I don't think I've ever seen that guy post something intelligent ever.

Isn't this the guy that MTL hated, who made all of these condescending tweets, then he looked stupid when DB crashed and burned?

 

[gopens66]

Did any one notice that on the last MONT PP that Scuds was not on the ice and the Habs got no shots on net. In fact, they were not even close. So much for the value of Scuds as a a shut down PKER. In fact, the Habs fans were booing.

#47 playing with #4 is only holding back #47. What DB and probably MJ don't like about Simon is that he is willing to take chances. There is no doubt he has talent and can play defensive (although very tough with Scuds as a partner) and hits. If the Pens trade him, they are as big as fools as DB was for not playing him last year. Simon has nothing more to prove.

Also, MJ is way over his head in the NHL. Still playing Scuds in OT is absurd.

.....and Bob Errey said, "The Pens are killing this penalty without Rob Scuderi on the ice!" As if that was some monumental task; only Scuderi, of all NHL'ers, can kill penalties. I wonder how the other 29 teams do it.....

 

[cheesedanish87]

I noticed in the GDT (and those watching the HNIC feed) everyone criticizing Johnston for giving Sutter around equal TOI to Crosby and Malkin. And even throwing the 4th line out there in curious moments. Maybe the idea is Johnston is saving our top guys for big minutes in the playoffs. It's a long season and if the idea is to conserve energy so that guys are not as tired going in, it's a decent concept that can reap rewards later on I think.

I agree with what your saying.

I love what MJ did with Sid and Geno last night, he cut there minutes down, i have no idea why anybody would want Sid and Geno to play more minutes, its about the playoffs with this team.

I don't care how bad the 4th line is, they need to be playing more minutes to take some of the work load off the top 3 lines, if the pens lose a few more regular season games because of it then so be it, its about the playoffs with this team.

 

[Captain Hook]

Yeah, I'd hope Johnston's reasoning for some of the minute distribution amongst his centers is that he doesn't want to burn his stars (Sid/Geno) out in the regular season. We see that a lot in other sports. Popovich in the NBA has always been a master of managing his stars minutes in the regular season to make sure they are fresh when the playoffs begin.

 

[The Greatest 101]

I agree with what your saying.

I love what MJ did with Sid and Geno last night, he cut there minutes down, i have no idea why anybody would want Sid and Geno to play more minutes, its about the playoffs with this team.

I don't care how bad the 4th line is, they need to be playing more minutes to take some of the work load off the top 3 lines, if the pens lose a few more regular season games because of it then so be it, its about the playoffs with this team.

More Sill and Adams!!!

 

[Shady Machine]

I agree with what your saying.

I love what MJ did with Sid and Geno last night, he cut there minutes down, i have no idea why anybody would want Sid and Geno to play more minutes, its about the playoffs with this team.

I don't care how bad the 4th line is, they need to be playing more minutes to take some of the work load off the top 3 lines, if the pens lose a few more regular season games because of it then so be it, its about the playoffs with this team.

I agree with you on the first point. Prior to these last few games, Geno was playing over 20 min nearly every night. And Sid similar. Give them 18 minutes a night to keep them fresh in the playoffs.

The problem I have with the ice time is situational. Scuds should never be out there 4 on 4. That is the most perplexing thing to me about Johnston