Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Caps - Oates is hilarious

[Crafton]

some random-ass real-time stats:

Orpik is tied with Carlson for 1st in Blocked Shots
Malkin is tied for 3rd in Takeaways
Glass is tied for 8th in Hits
Kunitz is tied for 11th in Hits
Crosby is tied with Bozak for 2nd in Faceoffs Won
Neal is 8th for Shots Taken

 

[SeventyOne]

You know, Bort would make for one hell of an ugly woman.

Robert Bortuzzo

Mr. Lady Gaga

 

[ColePens]

Bort is quickly becoming one of my favorite defenders. That Engo/Bort pairing is so good. They are so mean and play physical. I just can't get enough of it.

 

[MtlPenFan]

I think I like Martin with the first PP unit in small doses. But over the long run, there's just no reason for opposing teams to respect his shot from the point, and a well-coached playoff team is going to be able to successfully cheat on the pass because of it.

Plus Martin played 28:08 (!) tonight because of that extra power play time. I think they can use him as a change-up when the first-unit isn't clicking during a game, but he's so effective playing his even-strength role with Orpik that I'd hate to dilute that.

Regardless, it's nice to have some options.

Yeah, I'd be careful of that too.

I just watched some replays of the PP goals, because I couldn't remember seeing Martin do anything in particular that really contributed to them.

The one goal he was directly involved in was Geno's goal, but when you look at the replay, Washington is being hyper aggressive and challenging Martin up top, as if they're afraid of his shot, which left Sid with some space to feed Geno after Martin dished it off to him.

That's not going to happen often. Teams will just play a passive box and worry more about Sid and Geno instead of challenging Martin up high.

 

[nhindian]

I think one thing is for certain...we've definitely upped Martin's stock back to where it was when he was signed by us. This is good news, because we will be able to get something for him via trade in the off-season. I still think we can't afford his salary, with Malkin and Letang needing new deals and with a new winger on the horizon (an expensive one).

Moving him to the right side and playing him with Orpik will prove to be a massive coup for us, which will end up justifying not only a Martin off-season deal but also last summer's Michalek deal (because if Michalek were still here, Martin would be playing on the left side still).

All told, this situation is panning out nicely.

Honestly, depending on how much Letang commands next year and our D-situation coming through the pipe, I wouldn't mind shipping off Tanger and keeping Martin if Kris wants over $6-6.5.

 

[SirBrad]

Bortuzzo and Engo together, that's awesome stuff. As already stated here, Borts is exactly what the Pens have been needing on defense. With all bodies healthy, they are 7 dman strong even after losing Strait and Lovejoy.

Hopefully Letang is back sooner rather than later.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Honestly, depending on how much Letang commands next year and our D-situation coming through the pipe, I wouldn't mind shipping off Tanger and keeping Martin if Kris wants over $6-6.5.

Personally, I think this is crazy talk. Every championship team requires a No. 1 defenseman. OK, 99.9999% of them do.

 

[alcanalz]

Honestly, depending on how much Letang commands next year and our D-situation coming through the pipe, I wouldn't mind shipping off Tanger and keeping Martin if Kris wants over $6-6.5.

That's absolutely absurd. Tang is easily, easily one of the top 15 D out there. I don't care how well Martin / Orpik are playing, you don't let a D like that go because of an extra 500k or whatever. Makes everyone around him better.

Return for him would be gigantic though, would be fun to see that.

 

[KIRK]

Yeah, I'd be careful of that too.

I just watched some replays of the PP goals, because I couldn't remember seeing Martin do anything in particular that really contributed to them.

The one goal he was directly involved in was Geno's goal, but when you look at the replay, Washington is being hyper aggressive and challenging Martin up top, as if they're afraid of his shot, which left Sid with some space to feed Geno after Martin dished it off to him.

That's not going to happen often. Teams will just play a passive box and worry more about Sid and Geno instead of challenging Martin up high.

No, it's not. Then again, it doesn't happen very often with Letang there either.

 

[alcanalz]

Also, MTLPensFan hit the nail on the head. Our PP was great, but you need Letang there.

Tonight our PP was great... but Washington's PK was awful. Our second unit could have put up a couple goals. Having Letang back there is huge.

I love Sid and Geno on opposite sides though, I know others have said it, but you really have to respect that side now. If only one of them was a righty...

 

[Fire Shero*]

- the rivalry between the pens and caps is dead
+ the pens own the caps

 

[ColePens]

- the rivalry between the pens and caps is dead
+ the pens own the caps

That's just so weird to say, too. It was one of the hottest things going and then just completely derailed. You would think these two teams would meet in the postseason a lot. You would think these two teams would have passionate games. It's just not the case.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

+ We are a good team play well.

+ They are a bad team playing poorly.

That's about all she wrote. I could write a paragraph about the Caps' troubles but I'm sure it's redundant.

 

[BmxHockey]

Boychuk needs to bury those chances. Holy smokes, how many is 71 going to give him?

 

[BmxHockey]

- the rivalry between the pens and caps is dead
+ the pens own the caps

Feels like the Pens were playing Florida or something.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Boychuk needs to bury those chances. Holy smokes, how many is 71 going to give him?

He is what he is.

 

[Candyman]

what happened to Letang tonight?

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Was at the game tonight. Loved it. Love Pittsburgh too PS

+ the obvious, Sid and Geno are back rolling at full gear. They looked amazing all game.

+ Kunitz, Dupuis, Neal and Boychuk all had really solid games and made me feel pretty comfortable with out lines (not saying a deadline upgrade is out of the question). It's obvious that Geno likes Boychuk and they were making nice plays all game.

+ Cookie Monster trolling the Caps off the face-off.

+ It's obvious how different our team is all-around without Letang in the line-up, but our guys held it down very well. Reece look pretty good. Despres looks completely at home now.

- Can I say I actually feel bad for Caps fans? Green is a different player. Ovie goes hard 20% of the time. And they're just not the same team anymore.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

+ Sid and Geno gave me 3 point nights for my birthday. Not quite the hattrick apiece I asked for, but I suppose it will have to do.

- Ovechkin gave me 2 points I didn't want for my birthday. Ugly jerk.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

what happened to Letang tonight?

Lower body injury in practice/morning skate/whatev. He was supposedly a game time decision.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Ovie goes hard 20% of the time.

If you go to the Caps board it seems like some fans are in some weird paralysis of analysis phase where Ovechkin has played well the last few games and deserves a better fate than being a part of their crappy team. I'm not sure how they arrived at that, but to each his own I guess.

 

[PensFan68]

Oh I love what Engelland brings. That makes him the absolutely perfect #7 defenseman. If you need toughness in the lineup, you have a great guy to dress.

I just want to see how we play with Engelland out of the lineup for a few games before we make any decisions on whether somebody needs traded.

I know you're talking about the near future, and if we should trade someone or not, but just throwing my 2 cents out for the season.

As much as I think Engo is the perfect 7th D, I still want to see him and Bort out there in the playoffs. I love the physical defensive play of both. If we get another guy in his mold that was better ok, but I think for the playoffs we'll need both those guys every game. Going to be tough to sit somebody because I feel we have 7 dmen who can play (and I do think we'll pick up another along the way), but we need the physical defensive guys out there in the playoffs.

As for the regular season, I could see sitting Engo. The young guys need the time to mature, and we aren't sitting Letang/Martin/Orpik/Nisky.

 

[Dangles78]

Boychuk needs to bury those chances. Holy smokes, how many is 71 going to give him?

Uh...?

This is peoples problem. They quickly throw players under the bus without actually watching the game. Boychuk has been everything we've hoped for. He isn't on the scoresheet, but unlike Tangradi, he is opening space, creating scoring chances and playing good defensively.

Anyone throwing Boychuk under the bus are probably the same people that threw Neal under the bus when he wasn't converting on his chances after the acquisition.

It's a reoccurring problem with a lot of new Pens fans. We have 20 goal scoring wingers, they may not be elite, but they produce....but oh.my.god. we need more. Seriously, get it out of your heads. This is the salary cap era and we have a large amount of elite players. No, wait, we have the best 2 players in the world and you want to get another top player for ****? GTFO.

The fact is this team is fine, short term and long term. It's funny seeing some of the flip-floppers on this board though.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

By the way, saw Billy G showing D Pouliot around tonight, watching pre-game etc. Pretty cool stuff.

Re: Boychuk. From what I can tell, he's a playmaker, not a finisher. He's confident moving the puck and doesn't turn it over often. I'm impressed with him. Good fit on that line. And like I said, Geno's confident in him.

 

[jmelm]

Couple o' notes, since so many others summed things up well (and I am SO with you on Bortuzzo ColeP)

- we really missed Letang 5 on 5. You can see how important a player he is to have in our offense and transition game. Not only does this make me appreciate Letang more, but it also has me salivating at the possibility that one day Pouliot could be the same type of player

- Despres had his best game of the seaso tonight. I don't care if he scored or not. What's important was that tonight was the most complete defensive game that he has played. He made good, simple plays defensively, didn't appear tentative or slow, and just looked really comfortable out there. Now this doesn't mean that he is ready for huge minutes or that there won't be ups and downs, but if he can keep up this level of play, then I will concede that he won't be out of place in the NHL. This is the 1st game where I didn't get scared when he was on the ice at any point.

- Bortuzzo is just a monster. I love this kid's game so much, and it's actually kind of scary to think how much better and more consistent he can become. This is only his 5th game for God's sake! Most opponents can't touch his size & reach, and as he gets more comfortable, you see him bringing those other elements of toughness and playing an agressive game. But I like how he approaches this all from a defense-first mentality, and won't sacrifice that part of the game. He made some absolutely fantastic plays tonight in front of the net, and in along the boards/in the corners. I think he can be huge for us this year.

- Boychuk is going to have to start to bury his chances. His time is certainly not up yet, but he needs to start becoming more comfortable an making better reads/plays with Geno, or with Sid if he's moved to Crosby's line instead. The skating & skills are there, but the reads and chemistry has to begin to show soon. Otherwise, let's at least put Jeffrey in there while Boychuk gets more acclimated to this team through practices, video, etc.

- Engo is great and deserves to play, but it remains to be seen how comfortable he can become (and how quickly) playing on the left side. If this doesn't happen, we may need to look at splitting up the Orpik-Martin pair to move PM back to the left-side (but this pair has played so well, it would be better if we could keep them together).

- While I don't see him fitting into the long-term picture, Reese looked very seady tonight and not at all out of place. Great debut for him personally, and would already look better than Lovejoy if he can keep that up.