Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: POWERPLAY GOALS, ZAR, EMPTY NETTERS

[PensandCaps]

I saw first episode of “In The Room” for this season today and Sully said at one point “Sid and Jake have such great chemistry”. Another fascinating bit was when they were prioritizing which bit players to sign and it was Rodrigues, Jankowski and Dominik Simon in that order. They got Sam Ventura’s input and he said “Simon’s the better player, but we need to prioritize centers.”

Definitely should've been Simon. He can move up and down the lineup and play well.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Ugly at times but beating the Caps is always great!

 

[canadianguy77]

Some segments of this forum are weird. Crosby's line is (by and large) playing well and finally producing. But people want to break it up to help Malkin get going.

Then if Malkin's line starts producing but Crosby's line struggles because it's now out of sync, people will just tell Crosby to suck it up because Guentzel and Malkin are killing it.

They’re called fanboys. Theyd rather see Malkin have success than see the team have success.

 

[Crosbyfan]

2-0-0 since ZAR came back

He also scored in both games.

ZAR is all we needed to get back on track.

All hail ZAR!

 

[PensandCaps]

What is Zucker and what kind of center would he fit well with?

Or is his best position as a line-driver for a solid 3rd line? His physical tools in hands and skating are there but his offensive IQ is average.

Hypothetically Zucker-Blueger-Kapanen is an amazing 3rd line but that leaves a void with Malkin.

I don't think Kap and Zucker support each other well.


What would've been good is Zucker - Sid - Hornqvist

 

[Al Smith]

My favorite sequence today was in the first, when L3 kept the Caps hemmed in for an extended period of time, they start to exit the ice to bring on another line, and we see not L1 or L2, but L4, which immediately turned the puck over.

Nice effort and regulation win, even though there were many flaws, which others have pointed out.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't think Kap and Zucker support each other well.


What would've been good is Zucker - Sid - Hornqvist

Lol. I’m so glad Hornqvist is gone.

 

[Ryder71]

All hail ZAR!

Good start to the season. His skating has improved.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

They’re called fanboys. Theyd rather see Malkin have success than see the team have success.

Or they'd like to see if Malkin is really a problem, or if Zucker and Kapanen aren't a good pair for either of their scoring line centers.

I don't know many contenders with a 2nd line doing little more than taking up space.

 

[Ryder71]

Lol. I’m so glad Hornqvist is gone.

Take a number!

 

[ncm7772]

Pretty impressed with some of our D.
+ Ceci, Ruhwedal, and matheson all were good today
+ Jake, Sid, and Rusty were phenominal
+ Tanev was a beat and the third line played really good.

Very pleasantly surprised with both Ceci and Ruh. Although I've always thought Ruh was a solid 7D and serviceable bottom pairing guy.

Hope all three (including Matheson) keep it up.

 

[Gurglesons]

Or they'd like to see if Malkin is really a problem, or if Zucker and Kapanen aren't a good pair for either of their scoring line centers.

I don't know many contenders with a 2nd line doing little more than taking up space.

We just saw one if you think the Caps are a contender lol.

 

[Ryder71]

Or they'd like to see if Malkin is really a problem, or if Zucker and Kapanen aren't a good pair for either of their scoring line centers.

I don't know many contenders with a 2nd line doing little more than taking up space.

KK is excellent in open ice. Along the boards and in the trenches not so much. He's more north south while Geno is more east west. That's why I would have flipped our wings in the top six.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Or they'd like to see if Malkin is really a problem, or if Zucker and Kapanen aren't a good pair for either of their scoring line centers.

I don't know many contenders with a 2nd line doing little more than taking up space.

I sympathize with Geno and his interesting middle-six tweeners but I'd rather have 2 good lines and hope he and his middle-six tweeners can just hold the fort than mess with Sid, Jake and Rust right now.

Edit: I wish Zucker could be brainwashed to say that his center wasn't Evgeni Malkin and instead was some other 2C (I dunno, Brayden Schenn) so he could stop playing hot potato with the puck and actually try to generate something himself for once. And Geno could remember that he's 34 and at his age you gotta play off the puck sometimes.

 

[canadianguy77]

Or they'd like to see if Malkin is really a problem, or if Zucker and Kapanen aren't a good pair for either of their scoring line centers.

I don't know many contenders with a 2nd line doing little more than taking up space.

When you see people posting that Crosby makes the team worse and that the team should be built around Malkin you know people have gone off the deep end.

 

[dogthateats]

 

[Gurglesons]

I sympathize with Geno and his interesting middle-six tweeners but I'd rather have 2 good lines and hope he and his middle-six tweeners can just hold the fort than mess with Sid, Jake and Rust right now.

If we can acquire Bennett or someone similar to compliment Malkin - Kapanen we can bounce Zucker to a line with McCann and Sceviour.

 

[Will Hunting]

Also, can´t think about more random collection than Sceviour-Jankowski-Lafferty . Would have been nice if we have some serviceable 4th line. McCann is not gonna change that either. BART remains as it is and then you can choose between Zucker and McCann about who you play with Geno and who you play with Janko and Sceviour. It probably isn´t gonna matter between Zucker and McCann..

It´s not gonna be perfect. You have 2 perfect lines and your other lines are a bit hurt. Bottom line, Geno needs to figure out his own shit too. That would be a start and then we can keep thinking.

 

[Gurglesons]

Also, can´t think about more random collection than Sceviour-Jankowski-Lafferty . Would have been nice if we have some serviceable 4th line. McCann is not gonna change that either. BART remains as it is and then you can choose between Zucker and McCann about who you play with Geno and who you play with Janko and Sceviour. It probably isn´t gonna matter between Zucker and McCann..

It´s not gonna be perfect. You have 2 perfect lines and your other lines are a bit hurt. Bottom line, Geno needs to figure out his own shit too. That would be a start and then we can keep thinking.

Jankowski - McCann - Sceviour would be a hell of a lot better than what we’ve been icing.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

If we can acquire Bennett or someone similar to compliment Malkin - Kapanen we can bounce Zucker to a line with McCann and Sceviour.

Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Bennett - Malkin - Kapanen
ZAR - Blueger - Tanev
Zucker - Amadio - DOC

 

[Extra Texture]

Absolutely beauty.

It's weird they kept insisting it was Vrana and not Wilson. Must've been his on the verge of tears look from the bench.

 

[cygnus47]

The Caps are so bad. They haven't played a good game out of the three and yet we've barely won. It's embarrassing they were even in this game. Shows how bad we are too. Vanacek was really bad tonight too.

It's funny watching the BART line control the puck against their top lines but not even get within sniffing distance of a shot. It's fine if that's your fourth line, but they need to produce something if they're our third.

+ Rust putting some chances away
+ Movement on the PP finally. How fricken hard was that? Did NHL superstars really need to be told that you have to skate and try to score in order to score? SMH. Who would have thought that the threat of actual shots would open something up down low.
+ Matheson did the thing! Smooth play on the goal, otherwise stayed out of trouble.
- Letang still trying to do way too much with the puck. Where the coaching at?
+/- POJ is playing like a very talented rookie. Glad he's got the chance to play through it with the injuries. I hope he gets to keep playing when we're healthy, but he's making 3-4 unforced mistakes of the type the coaches always hate every game.
- Why isn't Kapanen on the PK? Especially when it's doing so badly? Could use a boost there and it's one of his biggest weapons. Sully going galaxy brain. This is almost as bad as left wing Iginla.
+ Marino. Much better tonight, even with the booboos he made. He's pretty dominant skating the puck out even if he's not a threat offensively. He really is right handed Dumo.
+ Ceci?? Played with a lot of confidence.
+ Guentzel starting to look like Guentzel again. Could've easily had another one or two.
+ Jarry was NHL quality tonight. Not at fault for any of the goals.

 

[mpp9]

If we can acquire Bennett or someone similar to compliment Malkin - Kapanen we can bounce Zucker to a line with McCann and Sceviour.

BART likely ain’t getting broken up if they do what they did last season so we’d be paying Zucker 5+ mil to play on a 4th line. Don’t think that makes sense.

 

[Crosbyfan]

- We won a game in regulation
- Sid scored an ENG
- We scored a PPG
- ZAR is on pace to score 40 goals in 40 games.

Good Sunday afternoon baby!

Imagine if he'd got 2 today?
Linear improvement he'd be on pace for 840...
Exponentially just over a trillion...
Dead goalie if he ever missed the twine off the face offs.

 

[Gurglesons]

BART likely ain’t getting broken up if they do what they did last season so we’d be paying Zucker 5+ mil to play on a 4th line. Don’t think that makes sense.

I don’t see them moving Zucker with the 1st we traded for him floating unprotected.