Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Game 1 Pens vs. Isles - The Maatta Special!

[Gurglesons]

Well a different opponent sometimes calls for different counters
Maata isn't a crease clearer nor is he particularly strong on the boards 50/50 battles

So JJ's skillset may be what the doctor orders vs a heavy forechecking team like NYI

I disagree. JJ’s issue is getting overwhelmed by forechecks. He makes dumb plays and goes chasing behind the net all the time.

Olli at least allows us to outlet and transistion out of the zone faster and can actually hold offensive blue line.

Guarantee if we put JJ in we start seeing multiple odd man breaks when I counted less than 3 last night. ( and one of them was because of Letang falling on the shit ice at Nassau which is something I was worried about)

 

[Giant Yankee Pens]

How is this goalie interference and what happened to Murray last night not?



(Note, I'm not saying either should or shouldn't be, but be consistent).

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

Maatta cannot start in game 2.. he just can't.. NYI are just too fast for his cement feet.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

ZAR’s play on the back check also was bizarre on the Barzal goal.

Also, if we know what Maatta is, what exactly is JJ?

Barzal scored yesterday?

I thought that was Bailey?

Edit: Ya it was Bailey. ZAR came off the bench and took the man closest to him, have no problem with that. Barzal just danced Dumo and well... Letang..

Oh, whats JJ? A guy that can clear the front of the net and play the corners well, unlike Maatta. I doubt, severely, Kuhnhackel dances JJ. JJ makes more mental mistakes than physical ones, while Mattaa is the opposite.

JJ isn't anything special, but he can give them more solid minutes than Maatta.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

I disagree. JJ’s issue is getting overwhelmed by forechecks. He makes dumb plays and goes chasing behind the net all the time.

Olli at least allows us to outlet and transistion out of the zone faster and can actually hold offensive blue line.

Guarantee if we put JJ in we start seeing multiple odd man breaks when I counted less than 3 last night. ( and one of them was because of Letang falling on the **** ice at Nassau which is something I was worried about)

Well Maata was giving up odd man breaks and even when he WAS back he was giving up chances, so I'm not sure that's a resolution
And Maata's supposed winged god of transitioning preceded the 3rd goal by producing an unforced icing. If he literally takes 2 more strides he hits center ice and his teammates can change

 

[Jesse]

Maatta cannot start in game 2.. he just can't.. NYI are just too fast for his cement feet.

Jack Johnson is arguably slower.

 

[K Fleur]

Barzal scored yesterday?

I thought that was Bailey?

It was Bailey. That goal doesn’t happen without Barzal though.

 

[Gurglesons]

Barzal scored yesterday?

I thought that was Bailey?

You know what I meant.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

How is this goalie interference and what happened to Murray last night not?



(Note, I'm not saying either should or shouldn't be, but be consistent).

The same way they allowed the Caps OT goal last year to count when there wasn't conclusive evidence it was in the net due to the parralex effect
OT goals don't get waived off unless its crazy obvious...that's the way the NHL wants it

 

[RSPens]

Not that I usually condone it, but if the Pens are going to play Wilson (especially over Bleuger) than he needs to run over Lehner in the same fashion that Khunackle ran over Murray. The league made the right call that it wasn't a goal, however running over a goalie is/should be a penalty.

Anyways the Pens looked flat at times, Sid once again is refusing to shoot the puck, Rust looked lost and Maatta was just brutal (seriously just get the ****ing puck out of the zone).

It's only game one, but hopefully the Pens come to play in the next one. If Barry is going to continue starting his 4th line, why doesn't Sully try the same? In NY, Trotz would likely start his 1st or 2nd line in that case, in which the Pens could make a quick change and hopefully get Sid away from the 4th for a shift or two. In Pitt it would force the Isles to make a quick change, or it would allow Sid even more time away from the 4th. It was pretty obvious from the first shift that the Isles 4th line had control over the Pens 1st line, yet Sully did nothing all game to try to get away from it. I get that the home ice has the line matching advantage, but there are ways around it. The Pens need to play like an underdog by simplifying their game and focusing on team defense. The fancy plays aren't likely to work, they need to grind it out and hope for a strong counter attack.

 

[Gurglesons]

Well Maata was giving up odd man breaks and even when he WAS back he was giving up chances, so I'm not sure that's a resolution
And Maata's supposed winged god of transitioning preceded the 3rd goal by producing an unforced icing. If he literally takes 2 more strides he hits center ice and his teammates can change

As if JJ doesn’t do this?

I mean, if I’m the staff I’m doubling shifting Pettersson - Gudbranson because they played last night perfectly.

Solid gap, used their sticks and bodies to break up the Isles, etc. JJ isn’t going to do shit but duplicate Dumo’s snow angels and lose the blue line every time we pass back to the point.

He’ll also destroy the Schultz pairing if he is up there.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

Jack Johnson is arguably slower.

Maatta is also just bad..
I know--so is JJ..

but i'll take the lesser of the 2 evils at this point.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Maatta was worse yesterday than JJ's been all year.

 

[Gurglesons]

Maatta was worse yesterday than JJ's been all year.

Can’t wait until they put in JJ and we can make the same statement about him in a few games

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Maatta is also just bad..
I know--so is JJ..

but i'll take the lesser of the 2 evils at this point.

JJ is a lot better on the boards and in front than Maatta. Thats where the Isles strengths are.

Neither can break the puck out well, but I'll take JJ in a foot race. Maatta's first two steps are his biggest weakness and JJ kicks out faster than him, but that isn't saying much.

 

[Giant Yankee Pens]

The same way they allowed the Caps OT goal last year to count when there wasn't conclusive evidence it was in the net due to the parralex effect
OT goals don't get waived off unless its crazy obvious...that's the way the NHL wants it

They disallowed the Oilers goal though, and that was less obvious than the one last night...

 

[Shaftception]

Well what I said before the game about wanting to see whether or not the Pens had learned their lesson from last year's Caps loss regarding bad pinches/turnovers doing the job of the opponent's for them was quickly answered. Even had an inopportune Letang turnover leading to a game winning goal to match last year's. That's certainly worrying.

What amazes me most about the game however is how they seemed caught off guard by the heavy forecheck with speed on the backcheck, because that was literally the 16 Pens playbook, which they copied from the Presidents Trophy winning Rangers the year prior, which was influenced by the Stanley Cup Finals reaching Devils team 2 years before that.

The playbook is really simple, couple a heavy forecheck forcing defensemen into quick decisions they'll more likely than not make mistakes with if not coached properly, with a fast group of forwards that hustle back hard on the backcheck to close up the gap through the neutral zone that can be exploited should the defensemen that are being forechecked make the right play to get the puck up and out of the zone behind the 2 forecheckers, quickly forcing dump-ins/turnovers by the opponent trying to carry through the neutral zone due to the pressure from behind and the defenders standing them up at the blueline.

I guess the silver lining in all this is all they have to do is go watch old tape of themselves from 3 years ago and find what strategies were most effective against their system, since it was literally shoved down their throat all game last night.

 

[madinsomniac]

And I think you’re hands down the worst poster on this board?

What’s your point?

The Isles had two goals called back, and hit posts.

They weren’t “shooting” wide or getting robbed... the isles were getting convincing chances where the only thing that stopped them was technicalities and metal.

Hitting posts is shooting wide... I don’t know why people look at that any differently than shooting high or wide on a wide open net

 

[Pancakes]

JJ is worse than Maatta by almost every observable metric we have so I'm not sure why anyone would be clamoring to put him in. If Maatta is a disaster, what does that make JJ?

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

As if JJ doesn’t do this?

I mean, if I’m the staff I’m doubling shifting Pettersson - Gudbranson because they played last night perfectly.

Solid gap, used their sticks and bodies to break up the Isles, etc. JJ isn’t going to do **** but duplicate Dumo’s snow angels and lose the blue line every time we pass back to the point.

He’ll also destroy the Schultz pairing if he is up there.

That's some major deflection there

JJ's playoff resume has yet to be written on this team. I'm not defending JJ (hell look at my avatar). But you have to go to other options.
Maata has 1 game this year and he absolutely blew chunks...there's no way to defend his play last night. NONE. Maybe he draws back in (I have a feeling he will eventually), but if you are Sully you absolutely cannot let Olli play thru this...there's not enough time in their playoff lives for that to happen.

Maata didn't cost this team the game, but he sure had a hand in making that sh!t sandwich

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Funny how many were complaining that Sullivan would never sit JJ, and when he does, nobody is happy.

I don’t really think and one D was the issue. I don’t think we played that hard except for brief spurts.

Crosby was often trying to be too cute with his passes.

I bet you the long layoff didn’t help. We historically don’t respond well to long layoffs.

ZAR just got back so expect him to be sleepy.

Was impressed by playoff Phil. If only he didn’t miss that empty net, then this thread would be very different.

All in all we just need to play with more urgency in our zone.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

It was Bailey. That goal doesn’t happen without Barzal though.

The goal doesn't happen without Letang lol

 

[Joejosh999]

We can poop all over Maatta and there’s a good argument he’s not a strong fit here.
But man that’s the last THREE playoff games that Letang has brain-cramped into ridiculous goals-against/losses.

 

[K Fleur]

The goal doesn't happen without Letang lol

Yeah him too.

Don’t know what the hell he was thinking trying to go 1 on 3 in OT. He probably doesn’t know either.

 

[Human]

Not to be all doom-and-gloom, but this team doesn’t go anywhere this year. They are just flat...

They will probably get away with this series, but after that I just don’t feel it...