Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Leafs - Armageddon at 2-1-0

[ColePens]

This will be a different style of plus minus.

I don't want to harp on this game too much. The Leafs out-hustled the Pens. I actually think that's a very good thing early in a short season. That keeps the hunger going. We made careless mistakes but those can be fixed by having some extra focus on the overall goal. When they watch the tape, they'll see the lazy mistakes and fix 'em.

The good thing is that I don't see any schematic issues. I also thought Fleury played a great game for allowing so many goals. Nothing he could really do. He played well.

I've never steered you guys wrong in the past, so trust me on this. The hunger will be created and we will be ready to go in Winnipeg. Do not let this game bother you one bit. Our stars didn't manage the puck and they tried to do way too much. **** happens. Toronto played like they were hungry. Forget it and move on.
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One MAJOR gripe: A clean hit is a clean hit. They are not penalties. If a player puts themselves in a bad position, it's their ****ing fault. Not the fault of ANYONE else. You cannot put the blame on a player for hitting someone. It's just plain ****ing stupid.

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[Ogrezilla]

- a lot

--- Tangradi already being singled out in the 4th post in as complete of a team effort loss as you can have.

 

[Get To Our Game]

Ugly game. On to the next one.

 

[Pancakes]

It was an awful effort by the team. Only positive is Sid looked dangerous at times and I thought the 4th line played alright.

Eric Tangradi stinks. People can keep trying to convince themselves otherwise if they wish but he's going to get waived or scratched soon and it honestly can't happen fast enough. I'm so done devoting even the minutest thought to that waste of a roster spot.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

+ Sid didn't look dead.

- Everything else. Awful game.


And yeah, the reffing was ridiculous with legal hits being called boarding left and right. Just because a hit happens in the proximity of the boards doesn't make it a goddamned boarding call.

 

[Bennett Brauer]

Crosby gets a +

our 2nd line with Malkin, Neal and whoever, I give them a -

 

[Ugene Magic]

+ Crosby's first multiple point game.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Minus - phantom boarding penalties.

 

[Crafton]

not quite Mecca, more like Medina.

 

[TheFlightlessBird]

Would be nervous about playing the leafs in a 7 game series. We don't match up well with them. We have struggled with them recently.

 

[Sivek]

Would like to see Jeffrey get a shot on the 2nd line against Winnipeg. Eventually Tangradi has to do something tangible or the Pens are going to have to give Jeffrey a ride there or acquire a real winger for Sid.

Just a sloppy, bad game. It happens. Guessing Vokoun will start will next game.

 

[Vega]

No pluses from me. Entire game was crap.

And I just want to say I have a hard time believing Bennett would be less effective than Tangradi. Call him up. Tangradi can't play at this level yet maybe never. I don't think he saw the ice since the middle of the second period.

 

[End of Line]

Just a flat performance.

 

[eXile59]

-The NHL is rewarding it's fans by taking out hitting & adding more commercials. It's integrated the crappiest aspects of the NFL.

 

[8Bing7]

pretty bad effort no energy at all it looked like.

guess you cant hit people legally anymore without getting penalties. Kunitz 2 hits both legal and somehow hes penalized. Refs were really awful tonight

bad passes all night, malkin has 2 bad passes that led to goals in last 2 games

could someone hit the net please?

 

[PensPlz]

Malkin's line is a complete mess. They need to fix that asap.

 

[LetangInTheSO]

Very frustrating game to watch. I only half-watched it, so forgive me if I give out “pluses” to guys who shat the bed while I wasn’t looking...

+
Martin:
I don’t understand the Xs and Os of defense, but I’m aware enough to notice that his decision making is way better than it was last season. I noticed him pinching at the right time on several occasions and refraining from doing so when it was appropriate.

Niskanen:
What a steal this guy was. I think he’s a great partner for Letang. He actually plays a similar game to Letang, but his skillset is obviously dialed down in all departments.

Despres:
I think his decision making was better tonight than it was in the first two games. He still makes mistakes, but I think he’s in the process of adjusting. It’s clear that this guy has the tools.

-
Crosby:
How many giveaways tonight? Often, people put Sid in the “minus” category when he plays anything less than exceptionally well. But tonight, even with his goal, he was bad by any objective standard. Several completely unforced giveaways in the offensive zone, most of which were on the PP. Don’t force that cross seam pass; only take it when it’s there!

Tangradi:
I’m definitely one who’s in favor of giving the Big Dog his chance right now. These are the kinds of games I’m expecting from him...full of mistakes and learning experiences. Still, I call a spade a spade, and tonight he was bad. He terribly misread an offensive zone entry when he had a great chance to send Malkin streaking and later a poor decision he made while entering the offensive zone led to a goal in his own end (funny, I noticed that they did a segment on this during the 2nd intermission).

PP:
It doesn’t matter that Geno scored one. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: this team needs to give legitimate time to a second PP unit...almost irrespective of who mans that unit. For too many years, the expectation has been that the first unit plays 1.5 mins+ on the PP. I think their repeated giveaways can be partially attributed to this. They go for a low percentage play, it gets broken up, they circle up and try again. Psychologically, 60 second PP shifts will force them to simplify things.

Penalties:
I don’t think that the Pens played a terribly undisciplined game, and one or more of those boarding calls could have gone either way, but nonetheless, you put yourself in a difficult position to win hockey games when you spend that much time shorthanded.

 

[8Bing7]

yes because one loss means anything right? Toronto sure looks like the mecca lmao

 

[KIRK]

This will be a different style of plus minus.

I don't want to harp on this game too much. The Leafs out-hustled the Pens. I actually think that's a very good thing early in a short season. That keeps the hunger going. We made careless mistakes but those can be fixed by having some extra focus on the overall goal. When they watch the tape, they'll see the lazy mistakes and fix 'em.

The good thing is that I don't see any schematic issues. I also thought Fleury played a great game for allowing so many goals. Nothing he could really do. He played well.

I've never steered you guys wrong in the past, so trust me on this. The hunger will be created and we will be ready to go in Winnipeg. Do not let this game bother you one bit. Our stars didn't manage the puck and they tried to do way too much. **** happens. Toronto played like they were hungry. Forget it and move on.
-------------------------------------------------------------

One MAJOR gripe: A clean hit is a clean hit. They are not penalties. If a player puts themselves in a bad position, it's their ****ing fault. Not the fault of ANYONE else. You cannot put the blame on a player for hitting someone. It's just plain ****ing stupid.

I didn't either. No F3, gap was gone, controlled aggression in the defensive zone was replaced with reckless abandon.

The only thing that concerns me about this is that those were the symptoms of the loss to the Flyers in the playoffs.

Still a lot of work to be done . . .

 

[Hophog]

+ Better to lose this one rather than either of the first two

- Penalties, penalties, penalties. Not too many answers to this problem in the inconsistent NHL.

 

[metalan2]

Lol. Leafs fans with the cup win tonight.

 

[Ocoee]

Bad game by the refs. Not the reason the Pens lost as all of TO goals except the last one were defensive lapses. But they called every ticky tack call against the Pens and it took away any momentum. Oh well can't win them all

 

[Mo Wanchuk]

Didnt get to catch the end of the game, how did Geno get a game misconduct and Sid get a unsportsmanlike?

 

[cheesedanish87]

Anybody else think BB is gonna get called up? I cant imagine DB going back to tangradi he barley played the second half of the game. DJ was terrible his first game there arent really any other options besides BB unless DB wants to break up the 3rd line.

 

[scrappylilnobody]

+ Sid's best game all year
+ Vitale <3

= Fleury. He gave up 5 goals but I wouldn't say any were his fault per say.
= Despres. Not very noticeable, which is probably a good thing. The goal he was on ice for wasn't really his fault.

- Penalties, they weren't the reason we lost the game.
- Kunitz. An offensive black hole and multiple penalties (not necessarily his fault)