Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Pens vs. Rangers - What happened to the Rangers?

[Captain Hook]

Can't imagine the ****storm I'll start by saying this; Dan Bylsma should be seriously considered for the Jack Adams Award if he keeps the team winning. It's insane that a team with so many man-games lost and so many bad players has the most wins in the league.

I'll see myself out.

I agree. DB is a great regular season coach. Postseason has been a problem and some of his lineup decisions are annoying but he gets regular season results and it's a regular season award, so he should be a strong candidate for the award right now.

 

[Waffle Fries]

Can't imagine the ****storm I'll start by saying this; Dan Bylsma should be seriously considered for the Jack Adams Award if he keeps the team winning. It's insane that a team with so many man-games lost and so many bad players has the most wins in the league.

I'll see myself out.

Bylsma does do a good job coaching AHLers and getting a lot out of lesser players.

I don't really see him as the main reason we're winning right now, though. I feel like for comments like this we need a "Smug Sidney Crosby" picture

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Can't imagine the ****storm I'll start by saying this; Dan Bylsma should be seriously considered for the Jack Adams Award if he keeps the team winning. It's insane that a team with so many man-games lost and so many bad players has the most wins in the league.

I'll see myself out.

Bylsma is a very good coach who has had some very bad flaws that have hurt this team in the past. They have been discussed to death so no need to get into them again.

But that said, what he has done with a team full of rookies and who has lost so many regulars has been nothing short of a miracle.

He certainly deserves consideration, and arguably deserves to win it.

None of that changes the criticisms that most of us have about the guy.

But that is not surprising. I think that most here think that he is a very good coach, but with a handful of flaws what thus far he has stubbornly refused to learn from. Though this year, with Martin, he may have begun. But just like with Fleury, only the playoffs will show us for sure.

 

[Ugene Magic]

If only the regular players play like these guys do when they're back.

Grind when grinding is needed.
Score when it is needed.
Defend when it's needed.

DB sure isn't a bad coach, but somewhere in the translation between he and the players something gets lost in the playoffs. He's not a rookie coach anymore in the NHL ranks, he needs to figure out what needs done to settle them in and focus.

 

[Ogrezilla]

That's like saying, "They're 4th in the league in goals for so Duper and JJ are legit top 6 wingers".

its actually nothing like that. If we lost Sid and Geno both and then continued to score, and I claimed it was because we played a good offensive system, then it would be like that. Or if I said we're 5th in the league in goals against so Orpik and Engelland are legit first pairing d-men, then it would be like that. But what I said is nothing like that.

All I know is that Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland have both spent time leading our blue-line in ice time, yet we remain one of the best defensive teams in the league. Dumoulin and Samuelsson were playing significant ice time for a few games there and the defense still looked very good. We are not getting by on pure talent back there, yet we continue to have success. The system has its flaws, but it also has strengths.

Ouch. King takes rook.

KIRK, you're smarter than this right? You don't seriously think he made even a remotely decent point, do you?

 

[Ogrezilla]

Bylsma is a very good coach who has had some very bad flaws that have hurt this team in the past. They have been discussed to death so no need to get into them again.

But that said, what he has done with a team full of rookies and who has lost so many regulars has been nothing short of a miracle.

He certainly deserves consideration, and arguably deserves to win it.

None of that changes the criticisms that most of us have about the guy.

But that is not surprising. I think that most here think that he is a very good coach, but with a handful of flaws what thus far he has stubbornly refused to learn from. Though this year, with Martin, he may have begun. But just like with Fleury, only the playoffs will show us for sure.

He would be an awesome coach for a different team.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

- I was at the game last night, about 6 rows from the ice, so I had a perfect view of Pyatt and focused on all of his shifts.

He is HUGE and Rag players were bouncing off of him all night. He was doing a nice job protecting the puck and making simple plays. You can see how he could be a force on the boards if he wanted to be and brought it every night.

It's just one game, and I could see me liking him or him making me want to chew more cardboard, so we'll see.

- This is the closest to the ice I have been since Quicksand and Glass were on the this team, and even up close they still are ****ing slow as hell. It's mind boggling how they have permanent spots on this roster. Watching them labor around the ice is mentally exhausting if you focus on these two, no joke.

Quicksand had another blatant turnover where he just threw it in the middle of the ice... He had zero pressure on him, but decided to panic and threw the puck away. It's cool though because it was only Rick Nash he passed to in transition.

- If you want Despres traded, you need your head checked.

- I'm starting to wonder how I feel about trading Nisky. I love how he looks on the PP and he is a master at getting pucks on net, even when the puck isn't in his wheelhouse.

I'm just worried how he will do come playoff time, but he is playing physical and positionally sound hockey.

 

[#66]

Can't imagine the ****storm I'll start by saying this; Dan Bylsma should be seriously considered for the Jack Adams Award if he keeps the team winning. It's insane that a team with so many man-games lost and so many bad players has the most wins in the league.

I'll see myself out.

Gotta give the guy some credit. He IS a good regular season coach.

My main point about him saying that mistakes are OK to Pyatt was that's Penguins hockey not on Disco at all. Pens hockey has been about "creative freedom" to a crazy degree for more or less 30 years.

So that freedom is great when a guy like Kovalev can come in and look like an all star in Pittsburgh, but is that freedom extended to everyone? What coach does that?

 

[Xavier Laflamme*]

What did Crosby due to gain the ire of Rag fans last night? Physical play, fight? What was it?

 

[UnrealMachine]

+ The Rangers feed had some nice things to say about Engelland and how he might be a desirable UFA given his toughness and versatility.
+ JJ/BS/BG actually looked like a respectable line with chemistry.
+ Sid seems to have survived in the post-Dupuis era (8 points in 4 games)

- Adams had 13:34 of ice time. 10+ minutes at even strength. This is the 6th game in a row with 13+ TOI and 14th game in a row with 12+ TOI. He has been a plus (+) player exactly once in the last 28 games with a -10 rating and zero (0) points. Why on earth would someone (other than the Pens' opponents) want him on the ice for 10+ min at even strength?

 

[titaniumexpose]

What did Crosby due to gain the ire of Rag fans last night? Physical play, fight? What was it?

Probably that sequence where he got into it with McDonagh. McDonagh didn't like it but he got a taste of what Sid gets thrown at him every game. If not that then jealousy...

 

[penguins2946*]

I'm disappointed that it took Bylsma this long to try out the Orpik-Despres pair. Despres's skillset is just like Martin's skillset. Why Orpik-Engelland was tried I don't know. I've been saying for a while that Despres's emergence would make Martin, not Orpik, expendable.

 

[#66]

What did Crosby due to gain the ire of Rag fans last night? Physical play, fight? What was it?

Its Rangers fans. They've been finger pointing after losses way before Torts was around.

For the better part of 100 years they've only been NY's team. Their history is pretty laughable.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

I'm in NJ so I get the MSG feed tonight. It came out that Bylsma said to Pyatt that its OK to make mistake and to try things. That's an attitude the Pens have lived and died with for years.

Maybe you say that to Straka, Lang and Kovy but Pyatt???

Then I watched Adams make a back hand sauce pass to the point and no one was there. Once again... Adams... backhand sauce pass... to the point....

I'm not even an Adams hater but c'mon.

Pyatt's a vet so he get's that leeway.

If he was 22 he'd have been benched after taking that dumb penalty.

 

[IcedCapp]

Hey, IcedCapp may appreciate this:

+ Simon Despres: had his best game of his NHL career tonight.

I know you think I'm negative about Simon, but as I've said, I'm not. I just call it as I see it. This was probably his most mistake-free, solid, confident and complete game he's played in the NHL up until this point.

I don't doubt you believe the things you say about him, that's what makes it so painful

 

[BrokenStick]

So I'd say Maata left his confidence sitting on a table, and Despres saw it and mistook it for a cheeseburger.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Gotta give the guy some credit. He IS a good regular season coach.

My main point about him saying that mistakes are OK to Pyatt was that's Penguins hockey not on Disco at all. Pens hockey has been about "creative freedom" to a crazy degree for more or less 30 years.

So that freedom is great when a guy like Kovalev can come in and look like an all star in Pittsburgh, but is that freedom extended to everyone? What coach does that?

But how much of his reg season success has been because he's a great coach and not because he had the two best players in the world?

I know he's a great motivator and can get the most out of a bad line-up (like in 2011) but with how Sid/Geno/Neal/Kuni/MAF have played for the past few reg seasons I'm not convinced that a coaching staff made up of KIRK, Jiggy and Iced wouldn't have similar win numbers (obviously hyperbole but you know what I mean).

 

[alcanalz]

+ The Rangers feed had some nice things to say about Engelland and how he might be a desirable UFA given his toughness and versatility.
+ JJ/BS/BG actually looked like a respectable line with chemistry.
+ Sid seems to have survived in the post-Dupuis era (8 points in 4 games)

- Adams had 13:34 of ice time. 10+ minutes at even strength. This is the 6th game in a row with 13+ TOI and 14th game in a row with 12+ TOI. He has been a plus (+) player exactly once in the last 28 games with a -10 rating and zero (0) points. Why on earth would someone (other than the Pens' opponents) want him on the ice for 10+ min at even strength?

The game was over and the lines were being rolled.

 

[eXile59]

What did Crosby due to gain the ire of Rag fans last night? Physical play, fight? What was it?

He put up 3 points on them & then wrestled their best D-man to the ground in a scrum. That's usually going to leave peopled ticked.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

He would be an awesome coach for a different team.

An expansion team...would be perfect for Bylsma. They'd overachieve like Roger Neilson's teams used to overachieve. Bylsma is the modern-day Roger Neilson, except different styles. Bylsma isn't as defensive-dominant as Neilson used to be, and Neilson wasn't nearly as dense as Bylsma is. But both were/are better off with less talent, so that they can implement what they want.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

What did Crosby due to gain the ire of Rag fans last night? Physical play, fight? What was it?

They're still steaming over "The draft was rigged!!! He was supposed to be ours!!!" conspiracies.

 

[ColePens]

- I was at the game last night, about 6 rows from the ice, so I had a perfect view of Pyatt and focused on all of his shifts.

He is HUGE and Rag players were bouncing off of him all night. He was doing a nice job protecting the puck and making simple plays. You can see how he could be a force on the boards if he wanted to be and brought it every night.

It's just one game, and I could see me liking him or him making me want to chew more cardboard, so we'll see.

- This is the closest to the ice I have been since Quicksand and Glass were on the this team, and even up close they still are ****ing slow as hell. It's mind boggling how they have permanent spots on this roster. Watching them labor around the ice is mentally exhausting if you focus on these two, no joke.

Quicksand had another blatant turnover where he just threw it in the middle of the ice... He had zero pressure on him, but decided to panic and threw the puck away. It's cool though because it was only Rick Nash he passed to in transition.

- If you want Despres traded, you need your head checked.

- I'm starting to wonder how I feel about trading Nisky. I love how he looks on the PP and he is a master at getting pucks on net, even when the puck isn't in his wheelhouse.

I'm just worried how he will do come playoff time, but he is playing physical and positionally sound hockey.

Great write-up from a live perspective. My problem with Pyatt is that his board work actually cost us a goal did it not? He was in the corner where he got outworked for a puck. If he's not doing that right, he's pointless. But not as pointless as Adams/Glass.

Glass had a 50/50 puck during the game and stops skating only to come late and finish his check.

 

[Nac Bomb]

Really likes Pyatts game out there. Size can go a long way sometimes. Changes the complexion of our team.

Adams played a fine game. I know he's not fast, but he was skating well, as were most of the pens tonight.

Maatta was having some issues in the d zone, but when on o, he looked good. Nice to see him getting some more PP time, but i would rather him on the first unit over Jussi.

Despres, probably his best game of the season. Everything came together, his size, reach, skating, passing, all forged together this game and he looked really good. I love that he's a little **** disturber out there.

I know he gets a lot of hate on here, but juicy can produce offense, something very few players on our team can do. He has value. I cant believe some of you want to dump him...imagine just getting rid of 28 points off your roster for nothing. Im not saying i dont want to improve on his position, but for now, he's not bad.

 

[JTG]

Out of my way !!!

That's called "being too much man"

 

[ColePens]

It's amazing to see how he flew up after trying to make that hit. That just doesn't happen a lot in the NHL for how strong these dudes are. That is ridiculous.

Video game like.