Cole's Plus/Minus: Game 2 - The Murray and Sid show!

[Peat]

Lafferty-Marleau-Hornqvist?

While Lafferty might be in better form than McCann, it still replicates a line of players who are most comfortable playing a forecheck heavy, straight to the net game, and where someone's got to be the restrained one and is playing a bit against their strengths.

I think Rodrigues would be a better fit.

Maybe it's just my untrained eye, but it seems like the Pens' defense has an issue with letting up once they think they've got Montreal covered (for lack of a better description). It's like they'll have numbers back, they'll have a guy covering the Montreal forwards, but then they'll have a half second lapse and a guy that's covered is suddenly able to unleash a dangerous shot even with a Penguins' defender literally right with him.

There were quite a few times where it looked like the Pens had the Habs contained and then suddenly they'd be able to get off a dangerous shot in the slot and I'd be like, "WTF? Our defenseman is literally there with him."

I thought I saw something to that effect in terms of thinking there was no pressure on an incoming puck then a Habs forward was there 3-4 times last night.

 

[Andy99]

The Habs are very shifty, have better speed than the Pens I think and are really aggressive getting on players...they are not getting enough credit for making things difficult for the Pens, particular the D...they may not have the finishing skill but they are very effective...it’s not all on the ice conditions or our own players’ self-inflicted mistakes

 

[Gurglesons]

The Habs are very shifty, have better speed than the Pens I think and are really aggressive getting on players...they are not getting enough credit for making things difficult for the Pens, particular the D...they may not have the finishing skill but they are very effective...it’s not all on the ice conditions or our own players’ self-inflected mistakes

And they are pretty much better at it than every team in the league statistically.

The big issue is their finish and special teams which we have seen throughout this series so far. The goals are largely comedies of error on our end.

I think next game we see the Penguins explode offensively. Malkin has had 15 shots in two games. He is going to break through.

 

[Andy99]

And they are pretty much better at it than every team in the league statistically.

The big issue is their finish and special teams which we have seen throughout this series so far. The goals are largely comedies of error on our end.

I think next game we see the Penguins explode offensively. Malkin has had 15 shots in two games. He is going to break through.

I hope you’re right but I think the games will continue as they have been the last two...Pens will have to fight for every inch and hope they can play make enough/get a couple mistakes to eke out a couple goals on Price

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I think next game we see the Penguins explode offensively. Malkin has had 15 shots in two games. He is going to break through.

Meh. 10+ of which were harmless muffins.

We'll see. Wouldn't hold my breath. Also monumentally frustrated and that only makes him unravel even faster. Plus Price is just... definitely the Price I was hoping not to see.

The rest of the way feels like 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 slogfests. Don't see Geno breaking through in this kind of series. Hope I'm wrong. Because this has sucked to watch so far.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Pens have always struggled with the little talent defense first clog the neutral zone borefest teams. The skill players lack patience and play right into stupidity.

Usually when they get by them they look a lot better.

 

[Peat]

Meh. 10+ of which were harmless muffins.

We'll see. Wouldn't hold my breath. Also monumentally frustrated and that only makes him unravel even faster. Plus Price is just... definitely the Price I was hoping not to see.

The rest of the way feels like 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 slogfests. Don't see Geno breaking through in this kind of series. Hope I'm wrong. Because this has sucked to watch so far.

Feels like Geno's timing is a little off (which obviously isn't going to get better for being frustrated). Remember the back door chance Zucker fed him for where he just completely whiffed on it? Stuff like that is what's standing out to me. Good chances that, yeah, he's turning into harmless... but once he connects, once he gets one, I think more could flow quickly.

Also... he's an emotional guy, he feeds off energy. Noticed how Montreal are giving Sid a lot of extracurricular, but are being pretty assiduous to avoid winding Geno up?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I hope you’re right but I think the games will continue as they have been the last two...Pens will have to fight for every inch and hope they can play make enough/get a couple mistakes to eke out a couple goals on Price

Pens just can't seem to score "that next goal" to give themselves a bit of a cushion. I think if they could ever put up 2 goals quickly, you could see the floodgates finally open. But so far, they can't seem to just get that next one in relatively short order to put Montreal back on their heels.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Feels like Geno's timing is a little off (which obviously isn't going to get better for being frustrated). Remember the back door chance Zucker fed him for where he just completely whiffed on it? Stuff like that is what's standing out to me. Good chances that, yeah, he's turning into harmless... but once he connects, once he gets one, I think more could flow quickly.

Also... he's an emotional guy, he feeds off energy. Noticed how Montreal are giving Sid a lot of extracurricular, but are being pretty assiduous to avoid winding Geno up?

Yes they've played him very well. Honestly I think stuff like coaches holding Geno off the ice for important moments frustrates him just as bad as anything Montreal is doing, though. But I mean hey... I dunno if I'd want him out there right now, myself.

It just flipping figures because he was like the one out of like maybe three total players that I wasn't worried about. But this kind of matchup, especially now in hindsight, is the exact kind that will make him look like a moron.

Kind of counting him out the rest of the way, TBH.

 

[Andy99]

Or it may just be that “good” Price has Geno’s number....didn’t someone post G’s historic #s against Price and they aren’t pretty, unless I’m mistaken about this?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Or it may just be that “good” Price has Geno’s number....didn’t someone post G’s historic #s against Price and they aren’t pretty, unless I’m mistaken about this?

It's a perfect storm of suck for him. Price is on, he isn't adjusting to what Montreal is doing, Sullivan has forgotten how to get the best of him (already) and Montreal (particularly under Julien) is simply the kind of team in general that frustrates the everliving f*** out of creative players.

 

[vikingGoalie]

big kudos to Murray. probably the best playoff game he's played since nashville.
Sid of course was awesome.

I don't get some of the Sheary hate, he was our probably our most noticeable top 6 winger in a positive way. Marleau showed some good flashes we need McCann to show up and play now. Really our biggest strength is our depth, and our biggest issue is that our BART line needs to be effective, they are to an extent but Tanev is not at buzz saw levels yet they did trend upwards a bit from game 1, so hopeful that that continues. But the way we break price is by having wave after wave, you give him pressure every 3rd or 4th shift and he can easily handle that.

PP. please put Marino on PP1. That kid has a cannon of a shot and seems to be able to get it on net even, he's also the smartest defender we have right now. I would put Marino and Letang on the points, Hornqvist in front of the net and Sid/Geno. Letang is an asset on the PP I think pairing him on the points with Marino is the way to go.

 

[Gurglesons]

Meh. 10+ of which were harmless muffins.

We'll see. Wouldn't hold my breath. Also monumentally frustrated and that only makes him unravel even faster. Plus Price is just... definitely the Price I was hoping not to see.

The rest of the way feels like 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 slogfests. Don't see Geno breaking through in this kind of series. Hope I'm wrong. Because this has sucked to watch so far.

They broke through against Ottawa eventually and I'd argue they had a much better forward and defensive group and Price hasn't been too impressive IMO. He's been good, but he isn't making ridiculous saves.

 

[mpp9]

Meh. 10+ of which were harmless muffins.

We'll see. Wouldn't hold my breath. Also monumentally frustrated and that only makes him unravel even faster. Plus Price is just... definitely the Price I was hoping not to see.

The rest of the way feels like 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 slogfests. Don't see Geno breaking through in this kind of series. Hope I'm wrong. Because this has sucked to watch so far.

His wrist shot is pretty meh from long range at this point. Price is gonna stop those unscreened.

But he's had some one timers on the PP and looks from inside the circles that eventually will find a way in.

 

[Peat]

Or it may just be that “good” Price has Geno’s number....didn’t someone post G’s historic #s against Price and they aren’t pretty, unless I’m mistaken about this?

I dunno specifically about Price, but Malkin's career ppg against Montreal is 1.23, so unless he's *really* feasted on the backups, they can't be too bad. And unless Price is mind controlling him, he's not the reason Geno's not getting points right now.

 

[LOGiK]

Now I feel comfortable knowing that Price has 30 odd hours to sit and think that this series depends on him.
The fate of his team relies on his performance. Sit and stew on that Carey.... no pressure guy...

 

[Bingo71]

It’s pretty simple. Once the Pens gain the offensive zone (IF they gain the offensive zone), the Habs keep everything to the outside and the Pens oblige, keeping the shot opportunities against Price easy for him to manage because they are doing a great job of clearing the front of the net as well.

And not only that, literally every shot the Pens are trying to take is contested, with a Montreal player getting a stick on the puck or just generally disrupting things.

We’ve seen this movie for years with the Pens against teams like the Habs and no matter who the coach is, they never adjust. Julien is outcoaching Sully by a mile in this series so far because he knows what his teams strengths and weaknesses are and how to get the most out of his lineup.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

They broke through against Ottawa eventually and I'd argue they had a much better forward and defensive group and Price hasn't been too impressive IMO. He's been good, but he isn't making ridiculous saves.

Ottawa was the series that came to mind, along with NJ series decades ago, were what came to mind in my comment above.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

They broke through against Ottawa eventually and I'd argue they had a much better forward and defensive group and Price hasn't been too impressive IMO. He's been good, but he isn't making ridiculous saves.

Don't mistake me... I'm not pushing this off on a Price god-like performance. He's been VERY good and maybe we're even underrating him a bit. Price is the kind of goaltender that tends to make things look a lot easier than they are when he is in the zone. But in the end it's on Malkin. He's not been near good enough. Which is honestly pretty surprising to me. Looked primed to continue his regular season in earnest.

 

[Gurglesons]

Don't mistake me... I'm not pushing this off on a Price god-like performance. He's been VERY good and maybe we're even underrating him a bit. Price is the kind of goaltender that tends to make things look a lot easier than they are when he is in the zone. But in the end it's on Malkin. He's not been near good enough. Which is honestly pretty surprising to me. Looked primed to continue his regular season in earnest.

I'm not going to fault a player that has had 15 shots on goal in 2 games. Sorry.

His analytics add up to him breaking through and he isn't hurting the team. Series is 1v1. If its 2v2 and he still hasn't broken through I'll give him some criticism.

 

[Andy99]

It’s pretty simple. Once the Pens gain the offensive zone (IF they gain the offensive zone), the Habs keep everything to the outside and the Pens oblige, keeping the shot opportunities against Price easy for him to manage because they are doing a great job of clearing the front of the net as well.

And not only that, literally every shot the Pens are trying to take is contested, with a Montreal player getting a stick on the puck or just generally disrupting things.

We’ve seen this movie for years with the Pens against teams like the Habs and no matter who the coach is, they never adjust. Julien is outcoaching Sully by a mile in this series so far because he knows what his teams strengths and weaknesses are and how to get the most out of his lineup.

I don’t think there are only perimeter shots (we’ve gotten inside) but it’s true that almost every shot is contested and the Habs are great with their sticks...

Geno is 34...he’s also always worked best when he has so,e open ice...he’s not getting that...it’s not surprising that he doesn’t have time and space to get off a clean shot, not to mention adding in the ice conditions

 

[Shwag33]

Maybe it's just my untrained eye, but it seems like the Pens' defense has an issue with letting up once they think they've got Montreal covered (for lack of a better description). It's like they'll have numbers back, they'll have a guy covering the Montreal forwards, but then they'll have a half second lapse and a guy that's covered is suddenly able to unleash a dangerous shot even with a Penguins' defender literally right with him.

There were quite a few times where it looked like the Pens had the Habs contained and then suddenly they'd be able to get off a dangerous shot in the slot and I'd be like, "WTF? Our defenseman is literally there with him."

It happens with our back checking forwards a lot. Crosby was guilty last night dogging through the neutral zone, didn't really skate hard till he realized he was beat. Fortunately they couldn't' connect on the pass and didnt even result in anything. Luckly, guy would have been wide open coming down the slot with crosby trailing him.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

I kinda like saying the name "Kakaniemi", almost as much as I like taking a nice relaxing kaka.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I don’t think there are only perimeter shots (we’ve gotten inside) but it’s true that almost every shot is contested and the Habs are great with their sticks...

Geno is 34...he’s also always worked best when he has so,e open ice...he’s not getting that...it’s not surprising that he doesn’t have time and space to get off a clean shot, not to mention adding in the ice conditions

I don’t think getting clean shots off has been his problem. It’s that Price is seeing him as he gets clean shots off and Malkin has missed the net a few times when they were trying to set him up on the PP. Rust or Zucker needs to make it their job to go make life difficult for Price at ES or Malkin needs to try something else because it hasn’t been working. A lot of their problems with scoring seem to be players other than Hornqvist not parking themselves in front of Price and at ES Hornqvist isn’t able to utilize his skillset because McCann is struggling and Marleau hasn’t been great.

 

[The Old Master]

I think next game we see the Penguins explode offensively. Malkin has had 15 shots in two games. He is going to break through.

if things even out, geno will get 3 goals on 1 shot. not sure how