Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Blues - Rust gets hurt but is replaced by "the next one"

[EightyOne]

+ posts!!

Worth noting that Howe is a legend off the ice too. When he came to my small rural Manitoba town for an autograph signing, he talked to my mom for 15 minutes and wrote me a get well soon note when I missed it with a hangover.

Sir.......you let a hangover stop you from meeting Howe!?

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Sir.......you let a hangover stop you from meeting Howe!?

I did. To my everlasting shame.

 

[billybudd]

Letang and Murray were magnificent in this one.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Crosby would dunk on Howe if he played in the 60s-70s.

Crosby is the best player ever. There I said it.

If Crosby played in Howe's era, Crosby would have to endure the kind of craziness that was "normal" back then. I don't know if you know anything about the era of pillow cases as hockey equipment and no helmets, but Gordie Howe was a f***ing beast of a specimen, if Sid pissed off Howe, Sid would be on his knees picking up his teeth for the rest of his career.

Young Gordie, without the sports science and gym stuff you get now.

Most NHL'ers aren't even that jacked.

This is like a 50yr old Howe or something like that.

Then again...this body produced all time numbers so who the f*** knows?

 

[Ryder71]

Crosby would dunk on Howe if he played in the 60s-70s.

Crosby is the best player ever. There I said it.

Yeah, no!

 

[Ryder71]

I think Sid might be the most well rounded of that group though. When you look at what he brings to the table in every single element of the game, on and off the ice, he is more complete than 99 or 66. Sid might be the most complete player of all time.

Messier was pretty good as was Forsberg. As far as Sid goes, there's still (hopefully a lot of hockey to be played). But Seeing Mario and Gretzky throughout their careers, I don't see anyone coming close to them. I think Sid is closer to Yzerman than he would be to Lemieux. That's not an insult because Yzerman was one hell of a player. But Mario was so dominant. And Gretzky revolutionized the game. The best playmaker ever, with Mario being a very very close 2hd.

 

[EightyOne]

Messier was pretty good as was Forsberg. As far as Sid goes, there's still (hopefully a lot of hockey to be played). But Seeing Mario and Gretzky throughout their careers, I don't see anyone coming close to them. I think Sid is closer to Yzerman than he would be to Lemieux. That's not an insult because Yzerman was one hell of a player. But Mario was so dominant. And Gretzky revolutionized the game. The best playmaker ever, with Mario being a very very close 2hd.

Even if the NHL tries really hard to increase scoring, it is so unlikely someone averages well over 100pts for every year of their career again. Let alone 200 four times!

 

[Ryder71]

Even if the NHL tries really hard to increase scoring, it is so unlikely someone averages well over 100pts for every year of their career again. Let alone 200 four times!

Mario had a year where he had 69g 91a for 160 points in 60 games. 213 point pace. And he missed games due to cancer treatment! Absolutely disgusting how good he was and all the various ailments he was afflicted with.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Mario had a year where he had 69g 91a for 160 points in 60 games. 213 point pace. And he missed games due to cancer treatment! Absolutely disgusting how good he was and all the various ailments he was afflicted with.

Don't ever bring that up in an all time greats thread, it will draw the ire of the Gretzky fan boys and the now McDavid fan boys that think he'd shatter all the records.

 

[EightyOne]

Don't ever bring that up in an all time greats thread, it will draw the ire of the Gretzky fan boys and the now McDavid fan boys that think he'd shatter all the records.

Also, don't let them ever know if you think Messier was a f***ing POS ***hole dumbhead jerkoff despite the ability to score goals and was a dirty hitting, cheapshot artist.

....mostly.

 

[Burn]

Malkin really needs a winger to work with him instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole. Once his line is corrected the Pens will be elite again.

Really REALLY like Pettes game. Solid safe and dull.

JJ is finally fitting in and has been good since Thanksgiving.

Brassard is finally playing like his job means something. He always made the safe play and didn't care about what happened next... Now he keeps his feet moving and looks to support.

Schultz worries me. His game is so based around skating that I hope he doesn't take a long time to catch up. Mid Febs going to be a huge push for the playoffs.

Really hoping that the Pens don't trade their first. They need talent coming while Sid and Malkin are still around.

 

[2wayPlay]

Hope Rusts injury is nothing major, that first line has been awesome the last couple weeks.

I would say that ugly start is in the rear view mirror at this point. Get Schultz back in a month and see what the pairings look like.

 

[Icarium]

Good goaltending makes a world of difference. Cliche, I know but so true.

Crosby and Letang are just insane right now. Malkin's line just doesn't have enough speed and Letang can't play with it all the time to rectify that. But if Riikola keeps improving we will get more help from the defense.

The turnaround on the PK has been nothing short of amazing. Dumoulin is second in the league in plus/minus, by the way, I did not expect that.

Let's see who replaces Rust, hopefully he won't be out for long.

 

[TheGuiminator]

I think Murray rounding back into form is the biggest takeaway from these recent games. Murray on his game covers for a lot of the issues with this team's defense.

Also, I swear they keep taking goals and/or points away from Sid. Either that or TSN jump the gun way too often.

First update on TSN had Sid with 1 goal, 3 assists. I watch a bit of the World Juniors and flip back to see he's at 1 goal and 2 assists. A couple of weeks ago they had him as scoring 2 goals. Next time I look he's down to 1 goal and 1 assist.

If you look closely at the supposedly Hornqvist goal, you’ll notice that the puck’s trajectory doesn’t change. Plus, looking at Horny’s reaction, he clearly didn’t feel the puck touching him or his stick, because when the puck goes in, he points Letang to credit him for the goal. Bottom line, they often remove points from Crosby’s stats it’s crazy how he just can’t rack up 4 points game anymore, and when he does, he gets sucked up by the NHL. If he finish the season with 99 points, I’ll be f*cking upset

 

[BHD]

Crosby and Letang, especially Letang, have really elevated their play over the last 10 games or so. If a defenseman ever won the Norris and Hart in the same season again, it would be #58. He's been the main (and maybe only) catalyst from the backend.

 

[Will Hunting]

Right now the level of our goaltending and level of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang is absolutely fantastic. You could fill AHLers around them and we would probably still be winning games. That´s how great they play now. There are some other bright spots too, like Dumo, Cullen, Horn, Jake or Kessel here and there, but these three are winning the games for us now.

 

[PensandCaps]

Prime Malkin in a 1v1 was automatic to get around the guy.

He and prime modern day Mario in a one on one would've been fun to see.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

So was Lindros. Scotty put an end to that size and skill.

It was actually Kasparaitis that did it, but people forget he was the one that started Lindros’ concussion problems and Stevens basically finished him off two years later.

Lindros was never a freak like Lemieux though. He had a special blend of power, size and skill, but never learned to play with his head up because he just bullied everyone in jrs.

That was his kryptonite and that’s why both Kaspar and Stevens finished his career off early.

Lindros was never in the same universe as Lemieux in terms of skill and on ice results.

 

[PensandCaps]

I've noticed that our PK has been super aggressive. Full 360 on what Sullivan said early on in the year "we're trying to kill it not score"

But it seems he's trying to score now with the addition of Crosby/Guentzel PKing.

Cullen and Rust too have been getting scoring chances on the PK of late aswell.

I do wonder if Crosby will be a full time thing on the PK. I hope not. I don't want him and Jake wasting Mins on a PK or blocking shots.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I didn't get to watch the game. So before reading about it or watching highlight clips I'm just going to base my thoughts on stat watching:

Shots were even, but the Pens had way higher blocked shots. Sounds like Murray and the defensive side of things went well. Looks like Murray didn't have a chance on the one goal he let up?

St. Louis tried to wear the Pens down by throwing many hits, but the Pens were able to counter with speed and skill.

The Power Play is what really got the Pens moving. They didn't do much until they were gifted all of those powerplays.

ZAR is the next Bertuzzi. Rust to LTIR for an obscure injury.

No real negatives on the Pens side (not even JMFJ), minus the Rust injury.

The Blues goalies still suck and Edmunson is a turd.


That's everything I got from the Boxscore summary. Let me know how wrong I am.

 

[Andy99]

I didn't get to watch the game. So before reading about it or watching highlight clips I'm just going to base my thoughts on stat watching:

Shots were even, but the Pens had way higher blocked shots. Sounds like Murray and the defensive side of things went well. Looks like Murray didn't have a chance on the one goal he let up?

St. Louis tried to wear the Pens down by throwing many hits, but the Pens were able to counter with speed and skill.

The Power Play is what really got the Pens moving. They didn't do much until they were gifted all of those powerplays.

ZAR is the next Bertuzzi. Rust to LTIR for an obscure injury.

No real negatives on the Pens side (not even JMFJ), minus the Rust injury.

The Blues goalies still suck and Edmunson is a turd.


That's everything I got from the Boxscore summary. Let me know how wrong I am.

Uh, that’s pretty much it...except Rust’s injury isn’t obscure....direct result of the shot blocking defensive philosophy that I don’t subscribe to in the RS...would like to see less passive collapsing and blocking and more positioning and stick work to defend...

Looked like a shot hit Rust’s foot, he hobbled to to the bench, couldn’t put weight on it and was grimacing in pain...worst case is fractured foot or ankle and out a couple months...let’s hope there’s good news but his injury is entirely predictable from shot blocking

 

[sovietsanta87]

Don't ever bring that up in an all time greats thread, it will draw the ire of the Gretzky fan boys and the now McDavid fan boys that think he'd shatter all the records.

Their number 1 reply to Lemieux having cancer was that he shouldve taken better care of his body. It's truly amazing

 

[Shady Machine]

On the shoe talk, the most comfortable sneakers I’ve found over the years are Aasics Onitsuka Tigers. I’ve bought the same pair over and over for a decade. Moderately athletic, comfortable, affordable (65ish) and go well with jeans or chino pants.

 

[Sorry]

It’s Sunday, guess most of the stats sites won’t update to correct the box score from last night to show Sid had four points until Monday. It’s no biggie, obviously, but it’s annoying.

 

[EightyOne]

It’s Sunday, guess most of the stats sites won’t update to correct the box score from last night to show Sid had four points until Monday. It’s no biggie, obviously, but it’s annoying.

It's a safe bet nothing will be changed. He's just getting the goal and two assists.