Post-Game Talk: Caps 5, Pens 2 - At Least No Ovechkin HT

[MtlPenFan]

I am not sure that what the Pens were doing you can 'prepare' for. The Pens strength was speed and depth. Basically exploiting the fact that in a cap world it is very difficult to have speed and scoring up and down your roster. We said our bottom six can beat your bottom six in a playoff series.

We got lucky on the cheap in being able to do that. If it is clicking you simply can not 'prepare' for that if you flat out do not have the bottom six horses and second and third pairing defensemen to keep up. Eventually you break.

We saw that with the Caps' series in fact. They had to resort to overplaying their top two lines and top two pairing defensemen and eventually they wore them out. We saw that in a number of series. The only way to prepare for that is to match it if you can.

Pens won the series because the Caps' depth D-man was Mike Weber and Mike Richards was in their bottom six. There's no other argument to be had.

Pens needed one more forward last season, but HBK's magic made it unnecessary. Unless they recapture that somehow, the Pens aren't going to go far this year.

I see people on the post game threads blaming Sully for the lines, but the personnel is what it is and no amount of juggling will change any of it. There will be flaws on every line no matter what, so any griping will be a waste of time. There just isn't enough at the winger position to go around.

Starting now (or very soon) either bring up Guentzel, make a trade, or go back to what worked last spring and hope it works again.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

The lines do lack chemistry greatly, however they would have to make a pretty bold move to get any forward of note I think. I predict they'll shore some things up at the deadline and hope to recapture what they did last year. Not saying that's going to work, but that's what I think they'll be resigned to do.

Who doesn't like Rust and Sheary? At the same time that's a great looking line against the bottom 2/3 of the league. It looks a lot less impressive against the better teams though. Other than those guys aside from Kessel you have Kunitz who is shot, Hags who is pretty much all speed, Horny who's good not great, and that's pretty much the rest of who you're relying on to chip in from a secondary standpoint. It's not great and no one seems to gel particularly well with Crosby or Malkin. Sheary is kind of a dime store version of Sid if he had a hangover but I wouldn't call that chemistry just because they're similar in some ways.

As far as last night, they had a decent chunk of the game where they were turning the puck over constantly and they gave up enough odd man situations for it to be noticeable. They also capitalized on some PPs and we didn't until it didn't matter anyways. Speaking of which, this PK is just not getting it done.

There's certainly things to address all the way around.

 

[Shady Machine]

Letang didn't really do anything wrong there. If there's a secondary responsibility on that goal (and I'd put it solely on Daley), it's Fleury, in that he was cheating stick side despite OV's body position making it impossible to shoot it anywhere but glove side or five hole. You can see this pretty clearly from the ice level reverse angle. He leaves the post to drift stickside, which OV has no shooting angle at.

Still, shooter that deadly with that much time taking a shot from that location, you really can't expect a goaltender to make the save. That goal's all Daley, to me.

Second OV goal was just a shooting gallery, though. IDK who was killing that penalty, but they weren't doing their jobs at all.

Letang was the guy "in the lane" on OV's shooting gallery from my recollection.

4th goal was definitely on Letang. No idea what the hell he was doing. He had a rough game.

 

[Shady Machine]

Pens won the series because the Caps' depth D-man was Mike Weber and Mike Richards was in their bottom six. There's no other argument to be had.

Pens needed one more forward last season, but HBK's magic made it unnecessary. Unless they recapture that somehow, the Pens aren't going to go far this year.

I see people on the post game threads blaming Sully for the lines, but the personnel is what it is and no amount of juggling will change any of it. There will be flaws on every line no matter what, so any griping will be a waste of time. There just isn't enough at the winger position to go around.

Starting now (or very soon) either bring up Guentzel, make a trade, or go back to what worked last spring and hope it works again.

Sure but the personnel is what it is partly because they won't play the best players. I know we are tight on cap space and maybe that's why Guentz is in the AHL, but that doesn't explain Sully's reliance on Kunitz.

 

[Gurglesons]

Sure but the personnel is what it is partly because they won't play the best players. I know we are tight on cap space and maybe that's why Guentz is in the AHL, but that doesn't explain Sully's reliance on Kunitz.

I mean, Kunitz was our best point producer after HBK line in the Caps series. There are more issues than just Kunitz against the Caps and I don't think playing another undersized winger is the solution. They Capitals are fast enough to counter that and also have a size advantage. A lot of it is an unsustained defensive system that contending teams are now picking apart in the neutral zone and the fact that HBK isn't keeping up their insane hot streak in the end of the season.

Hopefully JR realizes we need a change, but the issue is too many teams that would make a trade are either in our division or still in the playoff hunt. I mean basically every team in the Western Conference outside of Arizona and the Avs could potentially make the playoffs right now.

 

[Doogle]

I don't even think a trade to acquire someone is necessary to improve our forwards. I think we all know addition by subtraction would help immensely. Guentzel should be more than capable of exceeding Kunit'z production, considering he's already basically done so in 10% of the games played at the NHL level. Trade Kunitz for a pick or prospect, and options become available. Instead of trying to insulate the worst player on the team, we can actually make tweaks to try to magnify our strengths.

Sheary Sid Hornqvist
Guentzel Geno Rust
HBK
Wilson Cullen Kuhnackl

Makes way more sense than anything we're doing now

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I don't even think a trade to acquire someone is necessary to improve our forwards. I think we all know addition by subtraction would help immensely. Guentzel should be more than capable of exceeding Kunit'z production, considering he's already basically done so in 10% of the games played at the NHL level. Trade Kunitz for a pick or prospect, and options become available. Instead of trying to insulate the worst player on the team, we can actually make tweaks to try to magnify our strengths.

Sheary Sid Hornqvist
Guentzel Geno Rust
HBK
Wilson Cullen Kuhnackl

Makes way more sense than anything we're doing now

Yeah, there's one very simple answer to really sort out the forward situation. It's an option I doubt the Pens take.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Letang didn't really do anything wrong there. If there's a secondary responsibility on that goal (and I'd put it solely on Daley), it's Fleury, in that he was cheating stick side despite OV's body position making it impossible to shoot it anywhere but glove side or five hole. You can see this pretty clearly from the ice level reverse angle. He leaves the post to drift stickside, which OV has no shooting angle at.

Still, shooter that deadly with that much time taking a shot from that location, you really can't expect a goaltender to make the save. That goal's all Daley, to me.

Second OV goal was just a shooting gallery, though. IDK who was killing that penalty, but they weren't doing their jobs at all.

Letang on the first one gave him way too much space. How is he able to cut to the middle like that and still comfortably open for a shot? Letang just didn't do anything to impede his shot. Daley made the biggest mistake, but Letang didn't do well either. He was fine taking away the pass, but when he shifted over to Ovi, he just completely whiffed a stick check and let Ovi create a much better shooting angle for himself. That should have been a shot from the outside, not the middle of the slot.

 

[Shady Machine]

Letang on the first one gave him way too much space. How is he able to cut to the middle like that and still comfortably open for a shot? Letang just didn't do anything to impede his shot. Daley made the biggest mistake, but Letang didn't do well either. He was fine taking away the pass, but when he shifted over to Ovi, he just completely whiffed a stick check and let Ovi create a much better shooting angle for himself. That should have been a shot from the outside, not the middle of the slot.

Right. It's not even like he took away the pass. He did a poor job closing his gap and then was caught way too deep when Ovechkin crossed to the middle. Great play by Ovy and sometimes that happens, but Letang still misplayed it.

 

[DegenX]

Next game starts at 7:30, time to move on. If someone would like to start a GDT, that would be great. Please and thank you