Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Caps - The Single Hat

[Pancakes]

You know what's really nice about Martin is how involved he's been offensively this year. Last year his shot would get blocked almost every time from the point. This year he's getting more shots through and he had a goal against Philly and an assist off of Kunitz's goal today. Both nice tippable point shots.

And of course his defense has been tremendous.

 

[Tender Rip]

Tough game with a nice result.

Washington brought a lot of heat in this one, but our new ability to withstand a forecheck and clear the crease to take away second chances was crucial, as was having a day where Holtby would have liked making some more saves. Another somewhat fortuitous matter was that both our PPs were pretty much 5 on 3s what with the broken stick on the first, and as such it is difficult saying anything other than well done for scoring 2 of 2 of those, but it doesn't tell us if we learned anything.

Not all about luck our way though, what with Green's goal being purely coincidental after the hit (well, Neal overcomitted after a long shift) and that ridiculous bounce goal.

Vokoun had his least impressive game what with those two bounces and giving up some fat rebounds, but he came strong when it mattered such as robbing Ovechkin when he could have made it a 1-goal game in the third.

Big plus obviously to Kunitz and Sid, the latter being very impressive everywhere but the faceoff cirlce.

Malkin's line.... not there. It seemed like they are not establishing themselves in the offensive zone and are less able to break down opponents cycles. Part of it is that the puck simply doesn't seem to find Malkin's stick during our breakouts, and that line cannot play Bylsma hockey. Moreover the Caps tried to have AOs line out there against them as much as possible, and Bylsma fled that matchup leading to many super short shifts for Malkin who never seemed to get momentum going.

Despres had a really difficult game in this and was about my only genuine minus for the game along with Kennedy who again was way too sloppy with his passing.

The D was otherwise very, very good again.
Three on the trot, nice stuff.... now time to exercise some Islanders demons.

 

[Candyman]

+ Kunitz Sid Boychuk Malkin Cooke and our whole Defense

= Rest of team I don't otherwise mention

-Neal His defensive position was responsible for at least 2 quality chances and one goal. He needs to protect against that point shot and he just isn't. Abysmal.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

+ Kunitz Sid Boychuk Malkin Cooke and our whole Defense

= Rest of team I don't otherwise mention

-Neal His defensive position was responsible for at least 2 quality chances and one goal. He needs to protect against that point shot and he just isn't. Abysmal.

I know Neal's a gunner but he's been kind of invisible the games he hasn't scored. I think he usually backchecks well though......

 

[Captain Hook]

+ Kunitz Sid Boychuk Malkin Cooke and our whole Defense

= Rest of team I don't otherwise mention

-Neal His defensive position was responsible for at least 2 quality chances and one goal. He needs to protect against that point shot and he just isn't. Abysmal.

I'd cut him a little bit of slack on the Green goal because it was kind of weird. Green laid like a dead man behind the net for a few moments after he got hit and everybody sort of lost track of him. Still wasn't Neal's best effort defensively though. You certainly have a point there.

 

[ColePens]

Neal also stopped 4-5 chances himself w/ great backchecking. I can't fault him one bit.

 

[od71]

+ Kunitz. I'm really glad he made all posters to stop here blaming him.
He scored 4 goals, not 3.

Carlsson scored one of the most ridiculous goals I've ever seen.

 

[ColePens]

One thing this board has shown recently is this 50/50 split that makes zero sense. We all have one common goal and that's wanting to see this team win a Cup. This whole garbage of "I'm glad the haters can shut up now" and vice versa when we lose is pointless.

We can debate schematic issues, effort issues, wingers, defenders, etc. We aren't ever going to make a change for the team. So when it's a discussion point, the whole "i told you so" argument is so worthless.

For instance... Kunitz blew ass the first 5 games. I'm with RRP that we should show patience more often than not, but I think 95% of people here knew Kunitz would come around. So I am not sure what the point is of trying to rub it in someone's face. I... WANT that to happen.

 

[Captain Hook]

I get rubbing it in. There were a few panicky Pens posters talking a Kunitz buyout after about 5 or 6 games.

 

[Fordy]

+ Kunitz Sid Boychuk Malkin Cooke and our whole Defense

= Rest of team I don't otherwise mention

-Neal His defensive position was responsible for at least 2 quality chances and one goal. He needs to protect against that point shot and he just isn't. Abysmal.

Neal had a great day on defense as multiple people have said.

 

[Captain Hook]

Neal also stopped 4-5 chances himself w/ great backchecking. I can't fault him one bit.

True.

Those plays kind of slipped my mind until you mentioned them. Been a long day...

 

[od71]

One thing this board has shown recently is this 50/50 split that makes zero sense. We all have one common goal and that's wanting to see this team win a Cup. This whole garbage of "I'm glad the haters can shut up now" and vice versa when we lose is pointless.

We can debate schematic issues, effort issues, wingers, defenders, etc. We aren't ever going to make a change for the team. So when it's a discussion point, the whole "i told you so" argument is so worthless.

For instance... Kunitz blew ass the first 5 games. I'm with RRP that we should show patience more often than not, but I think 95% of people here knew Kunitz would come around. So I am not sure what the point is of trying to rub it in someone's face. I... WANT that to happen.

rub = remind? I like Kuni and he played no worse than others. Others including Geno also made turnovers (honestly he made them more often than Kuni), but he took hardest (except Tangradi) blames and no one was defending him. I read even suggestions to trade him as possibility.

 

[Shockmaster]

Malkin's line.... not there. It seemed like they are not establishing themselves in the offensive zone and are less able to break down opponents cycles. Part of it is that the puck simply doesn't seem to find Malkin's stick during our breakouts, and that line cannot play Bylsma hockey. Moreover the Caps tried to have AOs line out there against them as much as possible, and Bylsma fled that matchup leading to many super short shifts for Malkin who never seemed to get momentum going.

Before this weekend I would have been in favor of putting Kunitz back with Malkin and Neal. After the last two games though, the Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis line has seemed to regain some of its chemistry from before Crosby's concussion issues.

The Malkin line already has enough skill with him and Neal. It needs some sandpaper. Someone who can create space, get to the dirty areas, and score some ugly goals. Tangradi was hoped to be this guy, but a) he tends to forget how big he is and plays small too often and b) the coaching staff seems to have very little patience with him.

 

[TheGreatPenguino]

I dont know why I feel this way but Malkin was just = for me. He just made some boneheaded plays, don't think he is at a optimal performance right now. Plus his faceoffs were bad against a mediocre faceoff team.

-TK, yaaaa.

 

[Candyman]

Neal had a great day on defense as multiple people have said.

I don't think they were seeing the same game I was then, watching him in our own zone just made me cringe at least 4 times. and as I said before led to the Green goal and at least one other quality chance that Vokoun (who also played amazing esp in the 3rd) bailed him out of.

 

[Captain Hook]

Just seemed like a mixed bag with Neal. You gotta give him credit for the work on the backcheck but he did make a couple mistakes in the D-Zone.

 

[Pancakes]

For all the *****ing about Letang and Kunitz, they now sit at 8 and 10 points respectively. The latter is good for more than a PPG.

 

[Captain Hook]

Yeah, Kunitz and Letang have really heated up the past two games.

I have to say I thought Despres was going to behead that dude on the high sticking penalty he took. Good lord.

 

[Candyman]

Just seemed like a mixed bag with Neal. You gotta give him credit for the work on the backcheck but he did make a couple mistakes in the D-Zone.

Fair enough. and usually his offense more than makes up for it, but he just didn't get many good looks this game. Not that it was a problem given that we still scored 6 goals, just that he usually does find the soft spots.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Neal's backchecking was awesome. his defense once established in the zone not so much.

 

[Shwag33]

I know the pens played well and shouldnt complain, Crosby is seeming to come back to his old ways.


But... my god, how bad is he at setting up geno for one timers on the PP. He's always been terrible at this. I think it was 3 straight 10 foot passes geno had to settle down and pass it back off.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

One thing this board has shown recently is this 50/50 split that makes zero sense. We all have one common goal and that's wanting to see this team win a Cup. This whole garbage of "I'm glad the haters can shut up now" and vice versa when we lose is pointless.

We can debate schematic issues, effort issues, wingers, defenders, etc. We aren't ever going to make a change for the team. So when it's a discussion point, the whole "i told you so" argument is so worthless.

For instance... Kunitz blew ass the first 5 games. I'm with RRP that we should show patience more often than not, but I think 95% of people here knew Kunitz would come around. So I am not sure what the point is of trying to rub it in someone's face. I... WANT that to happen.

Discussion is one thing. It's something else entirely when people start talking in absolutes based on games played under unique conditions.

I don't want to rub anything in...too much. But it'd be nice if the board could show a little more resolve and perspective when evaluating our team - I like to think we have some of the more even-tempered fans on the site.

 

[ColePens]

Discussion is one thing. It's something else entirely when people start talking in absolutes based on games played under unique conditions.

I don't want to rub anything in...too much. But it'd be nice if the board could show a little more resolve and perspective when evaluating our team - I like to think we have some of the more even-tempered fans on the site.

But you guys are talking about a small 5-10% that screams every time we win or lose. Most of the discussion is actually even-tempered.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

For all the *****ing about Letang and Kunitz, they now sit at 8 and 10 points respectively. The latter is good for more than a PPG.

They had a great weekend no doubt about it but they need to continue this kind of play and to be honest in the 1st 2 weeks it's not because of the point totals they put up they were simply not playing well

 

[Ugene Magic]

I know the pens played well and shouldnt complain, Crosby is seeming to come back to his old ways.


But... my god, how bad is he at setting up geno for one timers on the PP. He's always been terrible at this. I think it was 3 straight 10 foot passes geno had to settle down and pass it back off.

I definitely noticed this. It also comes down to angles of where he's passing from, pressure and more. Also this isn't normally his game to game position. Time needed there to get better.

But you guys are talking about a small 5-10% that screams every time we win or lose. Most of the discussion is actually even-tempered.

These are the screams of people focusing on an individual for entire games.