Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Flyers - HOCKEY IS BACK!

[mashsoccer37]

+ Sutter -- Made all the right plays. Only small complaint (and I should check stats before I say this) but he seemed to lose every draw against Giroux on the PK which put us in a hole to start the PK... but he was a total beast. Positionally great and always made the simple, correct play

+ Fleury -- Phenomenal way to rebound from last years disappointing playoff loss.

+ Neal -- Nice goal off the Malkin draw. Also, found the soft spot many times this game to get his rocket shot off. Bryz was lucky to only let in 1 Neal goal

=================

= Despres/Tangradi -- Both played awful in my opinion in the first. Despres put himself in the position to be hit multiple times even though he didn't need to, and looked scared to take the hit. Tangradi made a few bad decisions and turnovers in the beginning of the game. But they each pulled it together in the 2nd/3rd. Despres made a few slick plays and Tangradi did a good job grinding in the corners and possessing the puck. I even saw him beat Coburn in a footrace.

+++ 2 points against our rivals in a road game to open the season

 

[Big McLargehuge]

+ Fleury - Great game. He bounced back after allowing a goal and shut the door. He looked confident out there, and as we all know that's the most important thing with him. Huge to see him making the saves that he just wasn't down the stretch last year.
+ Sutter - Phenomenal debut. He's already a favorite and he fits that third line center role far more naturally than Staal did last year...we may lose a few goals, but this guy is legit.
+ Martin - Great game. I expect this from him this year, but this may well have been his best game in a Penguins uniform. Smart plays all-around, tons of stick checks, tons of blocked shots...great stuff.
+ The PK in General - Sutter, Adams, Glass, everyone...Philly had some good chances, but they were there to make the plays. The Flyers were generally kept to the perimeters and when the play came in close they were there to box them out...this is the PK of old and not the playoffs.
+ The second line - Tangradi had his ups and downs, but he looked very solid in the third after a lousy second. Malkin looked fresh, he looked on his game, and he looked like...wel, Evgeni Malkin. Neal was shooting everything and getting it on the net...including the game-winner off the faceoff.

- Kunitz - Awful game. I expected that he'd take a few games to catch up to speed, but he just looked lost on the ice...so naturally he got the empty netter.
- Jeffrey - Last second addition to the line-up completely blew his chance and almost gave the game away. He was bad up until that point and that played probably set him to watch the next 3-4 games from the press box.
- The game in general. We're lucky that this was against the Flyers and not a team like the Panthers or something...without that level of hatred there this would have been a lousy game just because of how sloppy the majority of both teams looked today...this was expected and I doubt we'll see any team really in full-speed mode until around the 10 game mark, but it was rather painful seeing so many circles cut in the ice instead of start-and-stop.
- Orpik - Had a couple nice hits and wasn't awful in general...but his give-away led to the goal (though Kunitz's coverage was worse than the giveaway in my eyes) and he looked the least sharp of any of the defenders.
- The Philadelphia crowd - Because they're there.



It was ugly, but that's a huge 2 clean points to start the season off on the road against our biggest rivals.

 

[Dangles78]

Honestly, I'm not going to give any - to anyone this game.

The first line was terribad, Geno wasn't anything special....

...but the Pens bottom 6, goaltending, PKing AND team defense showed a lot and I think that's what we should take away from this game.

We all know Sid and Geno will dominate sooner than later so it's good to see a win come directly from players most of us criticize the majority of the time.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

- Paul Martin

Hopefully Shero suckers someone into taking him.

 

[Crafton]

+Paul Martin
+Brandon Sutter
+Doc's Charles Laughton reference

-Rust
-the second power play chance
-Jeffery
-turnovers

 

[Alesle]

Neal looked really good, had a lot of scoring chances. Malkin looked pretty good up until he got his wrist slashed, after that I thought he was pretty average.

 

[Jacob]

Tangradi did some good and some not so good. Same for Despres. I guess that's to be expected.

Kennedy had a good game. In the 2nd when Philly was gaining momentum, he helped suppress that with some pretty impressive hits.

 

[Long Duk Dong]

+ Pens win

- it's 6:18pm and I'm already drunk. Hate afternoon games!

 

[MrBurghundy]

Yeah... I'm just not seeing Jeffrey being as bad as people are claiming. He had one bad penalty and a bad turnover, but other than that I thought he had a decent game. I should have known though those two mistakes were all anybody would remember. Typical.

He wasn't great, but he wasn't even remotely close to "complete utter garbage" either.

 

[Pancakes]

+ Paul Martin. Player of the game imo. He looked really, really solid. He was playing with confidence and making great reads.

+ Brandon Sutter. This kid is exactly what this franchise needed with Jordan Staal going elsewhere. His game isn't flashy at all but he just does nothing but make good reads and execute plays. Really love this kid.

+ Craig Adams. Everyone *****ed and *****ed for Bylsma benching Vitale in favor of Adams (and I felt annoyed about it too). I gotta say though, Adams had a whale of a game. He was great on the pk and was winning a lot of battles. I want Vitale in the lineup, and I'm sure Adams will go back to being questionably useful again, but you have to give the guy credit. He played a great game.

+ Tanner Glass. Lots of good energy plays, looks like a good fit for the 4th.

+ Brooks Orpik. I didn't notice him much, which means he played well.

+ Kris Letang. Not much to say here, he did what Kris Letang does.

+ Sid Crosby. He wasn't at top Sid level but he made a lot of great passes that could have been converted into goals. The Giroux goal wasn't even his fault that was on Kunitz for not covering his man and Fleury for not closing his fiveole.

+ TK. He was all over the ice. It seems like every year he always starts strong and then peters out. Hopefully he can maintain this level for longer this year.

+ Real deal. He was dangerous all night but what is underrated about his game is his passing. He made some sweet board plays.

+ Powerplay. I thought it looked good the few times we saw it. Still nervous about Nealer on the point though.

= Fleury. I thought he looked shaky in the first two periods but in the third he looked really good. I don't know if the coaches calmed him down or if it was the Flyers starting to mount pressure but Fleury started to get his head into it and looked composed in net.

= Tangradi. He had some decent shifts but he still looks like he's thinking too much sometimes. I'm sure part of it is him adjusting to his new linemates. Hopefully he starts to click with them.

- Malkin. Had an assist but looked pretty floaty out there. His talent is such that he got chances anyways but I thought he just wasn't as engaged as he usually is.

- Fancy board play in our own zone. Those little board passes up the middle were hurting us at times. Keep it north south unless the up the middle pass is wide open.

 

[shureshot66]

Was interested in seeing the TOI breakdown with guys being so far from peak condition.

Letang: 27:03 (!)
Martin: 24:07
Niskanen: 23:12
Orpik: 22:12
Engelland: 10:52
Despres: 10:26

Crosby: 19:00
Sutter: 17:08
Malkin: 16:50
Jeffrey: 8:49

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Martin really played well today. Hell, he played like a 5 million dollar defenseman! If he could bring performances close to that all year, we won't want to trade the guy.

The Niskanen/Letang pairing seemed very natural too. Good chemistry and smart reads.

 

[Dangles78]

- Paul Martin

Hopefully Shero suckers someone into taking him.

I'm sensing sarcasm....

 

[Jacob]

Yeah... I'm just not seeing Jeffrey being as bad as people are claiming. He had one bad penalty and a bad turnover, but other than that I thought he had a decent game. I should have known though those two mistakes were all anybody would remember. Typical.

He wasn't great, but he wasn't even remotely close to "complete utter garbage" either.

Because here on HFBoards dot com you're either amazingly incredible or you're absolute filth. There's no in between.

 

[SEALBound]

+'s

Sutter - Miss Staal like crazy, but if he continues to play like that...I'm gonna start forgetting how to spell Stahl.

Cooke-Sutter-TK - This line brought it today. I thought they played excellent

TK - Lots of energy today, gave it his all (maybe not the most skilled but brought it none the less) today.

Geno-Neal - Combo doesn't look like it lost a step. Nice goal.

Glass - Not bad for his debut.

MAF - Like previously stated, good but not great...but it was good enough to win us the game and that is his job. I think its safe to say he shaked the bad Philly demons from last year. Hopefully he keeps it going.

Martin - He has a long way to go to win us back...but this was a start in the right direction.

Letang - Pretty standard showing for us.

Niskanen - Solid performance today. He might be able to fit on the 1st pairing.

Despres - Decent showing today for him. A few times he looked uneasy but other times he showed the poise of an experienced dman. Give him time and I think he will impress.

Engelland - Solid

Special Teams - Hard to whine about it. PK was impressive but stressful to watch given last years playoffs. PP got us a goal so... +

- 's

Crosby - Rare. Played well but certainly not the Sid we are used to seeing, especially against Philly. He took some hard shots too. Looked reserved.

Kunitz - Zero impact. Gifted the goal to Giroux. Thats a lazy highschool play...not a NHL player play.

Dupuis - See Kunitz.

Tangradi - Decent game...but thats not gonna cut if you wanna hang out with Malkin and Neal

Jeffrey - See Tangradi. Vitale should have gotten the nod.

Orpik - The one goal Philly scored was created by you. You were MEH all game.

Bylsma - Vitale needs to be in over Jeffrey or Adams. Take your pick...but Joe Victory has earned his place. If you are gonna try ET on Geno-Neal's line...GIVE HIM THE CHANCE! This off and on crap is NOT the way to do it.

Giroux and Hartnell - **** off you two philly sluts.

 

[Dangles78]

+ Pens win

- it's 6:18pm and I'm already drunk. Hate afternoon games!

The latter should be a +

Day drinking is acceptable on a Saturday

 

[Penguinzilla*]

+ Sutter. He was awesome.
+ Martin. For not being bad. He was pretty good.
- Tangradi. He was horrible and has NO idea what to do with the puck. The only thing he did was dump the puck in the corner even though there were basic plays to be made. I could use him on my adult beer league hockey team, though. He has to go (and I'm guessing he'll be gone soon).

Everyone else was OK.

 

[JWells16]

+ Pens win

- it's 6:18pm and I'm already drunk. Hate afternoon games!

Yep.

 

[WhatsaMaatta]

+Fleury
+Martin
+Adams
+Sutter
+Despres and Tangradi getting a shot

-Crosby
-Puck Possession
Yikes Kunitz

 

[HandshakeLine]

You guys have quaint notions about when you can start drinking. The bars never close here.

 

[End of Line]

Team just looked out of sync for the most part.

Plus:
+Third Line
+Second line
+Martin
+Fleury

Even:
-Despres and Tangradi-struggled in the first but their games improved as it moved along
-Crosby, seemed out of sync
-Adams

Minus:
-Jeffrey

I'm liking the D pairings quite a bit as well.

 

[wheelz87]

+ W!! Hockey is back and we got the win in at a tough venue. Way to go boys!! Looking forward to a fantastic season.

+ Sutter. Jordan who? This guy is for real. Backchecking was fantastic all night. Also displayed a bit of creativity out there that was nice to see from someone other than 87/71.

+ Cooke. Was laying the lumber all night. Was nice seeing the Cooke of old return to form.

+ Fleury. Great game, only goal was on a WTF moment by Kunitz. Kept us in the game, got a bit lucky on a few of the PPs, but overall was fantastic.

+ Niskanen. Liked what I saw from him with Tanger. Good offensive instincts, isn't afraid to shoot the puck.

+ Neal. I just love this guy. Shooting from everywhere and got the GWG.

+ Adams. For saving the day, of course!!

+ Martin. Hell, I'm being nice today, even gave Adams a +. I'm as critical of Martin as anybody but he didn't kill us today and thats a plus in my book.

+ Malkin/Neal Faceoff play. Love it! Teams just gotta load up on Neal's side and be ready for a block or something.

- Tangradi. Dude is lost out there. I'll give him another game, but if he performs like he does today against the Rangers, do we see a very quick Bennett call up?

- Sid/Geno. Didn't see the playmaking/explosive plays that these two are capable of. It's game one, we got the W so all is good. But moreso than any other team, we are built around these two. In a shortened season, they gotta be better.

-Jeffrey. Didn't show a whole lot out there, took a penalty. Would rather have Vitale in the 4C slot.

+/- Despres- Looked very shaky in the first but was able to turn it around from there. I still have high hopes for him.

 

[KIRK]

Plus

+ Sutter: The only negative thing I could say is his faceoff wins in the d-zone. The positives? Everything. I love all the small things he does. He focuses so much on defense and it works. He's a great player and I'm telling you right now he's 100% going to make me forget about Staal. His attention to detail is beyond anything I expected.

+ Defense: Martin/Orpik was awesome. That was Martin's best game in 2 years. Not even close. He was incredible. Despres made rookie mistakes but was physical and gritty. We need that. Engo/Nisky/Letang were great. All played above what I expected. That defense was great.

+ Bylsma (PK): Our PK was ****ing awesome. They sniffed out what killed them last season. They didn't chase (outside of the first PK) and we stole their time away. It was flat out awesome. huge props for them seeing that.

+ Geno: Thought he was beast mode most of the night. He looked like the freshest player out there. HE just looked so in-season ready.

+ Fleury: He wasn't great, but damn good. Keep it simple, #29.



Minus

- Dustin Jeffrey: If you are fighting for a spot, don't come in playing like that. Complete and utter garbage. He can be cut for all I care. That was a pathetic performance.

- Sloppy play: Both teams... to be expected.

- Kunitz: He looked lost. I'm giving a grace period to get ready for the season.

Sutter = Man Crush

I too thought the individual defensive play was really solid. Great compete level, and there was a concentrated effort to keep play to the outside.

People may not think it now, but, whether he's moved or making a major contribution, people are going to thank Bylsma for keeping up Despres come April.

I thought collectively that the forwards did a pretty nice job supporting in front of the net defensively.

Cole, I don't think Geno was in beast mode, but he was really, really responsible. Tangradi did some good things, but I still think that's a position that needs an upgrade.

Question: How many of the people complaining today about Sid having no helped ****** at me for saying Sid needs a RW, that Dupuis is fine for the regular season but he and Kunitz are both third wheels?

Agree about Jeffrey.

All in all, it's the first game, it's the Flyers, guys obviously are rusty. The game basically was a draw over the 60 minutes. You got the 2 points. You take it, and now it's on to New York.

 

[eXile59]

Was interested in seeing the TOI breakdown with guys being so far from peak condition.

Letang: 27:03 (!)
Martin: 24:07
Niskanen: 23:12
Orpik: 22:12
Engelland: 10:52
Despres: 10:26

Crosby: 19:00
Sutter: 17:08
Malkin: 16:50
Jeffrey: 8:49

Eww is the only way I can describe that.

 

[sexyllama]

Engo / Depres did not play that bad either. Sure, it was a little choppy all over but mostly everyone had choppy play

+ PENGUINS composure. Didn't let all the BS late hits get to them. Flyers tried to target Crosby and he pretty much avoided/knew the hits and bailed.