Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Sid fights the life back into the Pens

[JackFr]

I love Dominik Simon and when I grow up, I'm going to marry him

 

[SouthGeorge]

Hockey chat related - shot wise, JJ/Gudbranson and Pettersson/Schultz didn't exactly have great nights in terms of the volume, but Dumo/Letang absolutely killed it. Does that feel right to people as a reflection of how the game looked?

This is proof analytics are bollocks. 2nd and 3rd D pair were the best thru 2. 2 goals. Gudzilla was +3 and JJ +2 while Letang was 0 until last second goal. Dumo took the only penalty. Crosby line got a real cycle going when he was with Schultz and Petts. Letang got kicked off #1 pp and pk. No way they were better. I don't care what happens in garbage time when game is over.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It would be a huge boon if McCann can take the next step offensively this season. Having another guy who could pot 25+ goals would go a long way to improving the depth.

 

[LOGiK]

my minus for this game:

-posters here are getting more hateful aggressive than usual.

What gives? People out to really defend their predictions / support / hate for some players and line combos.

 

[LOGiK]

It would be a huge boon if McCann can take the next step offensively this season. Having another guy who could pot 25+ goals would go a long way to improving the depth.

He clicked with this team almost instantaneously. The spinning back-hand goal was the point where he really stood out from the pack and said... I'm here and I'm going to make a huge impact wherever you put me.

McCann is good. He is one hell of a talented hockey player. Love his attitude. His passion. His style. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite penguins players.

 

[EVGENIMERLIN]

My girlfriend bought me meals at some great restaurants, trips away to some of my favorite places for big birthdays, and even lap dances in the past.

Does getting married = getting multiple pairs of sweatpants instead?

This is the greatest most apropos question considering your user name.

 

[EVGENIMERLIN]

He clicked with this team almost instantaneously. The spinning back-hand goal was the point where he really stood out from the pack and said... I'm here and I'm going to make a huge impact wherever you put me.

McCann is good. He is one hell of a talented hockey player. Love his attitude. His passion. His style. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite penguins players.

I’m with you. I love this kid, his potential, and what he does already. I think he could be a decent 3C here, or a solid top 9 winger.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Hope theres a plan for Marino to get into games cuz it's super pointless to have him up here if not.
If they don't trade a D and keep him up, I'd like them to get him in on the 3rd pair vs the quicker teams. Especially the ones in the Metro. I'd settle for JJ-Marino atm.

Please don't ruin this whole rookie season of his only practicing with NHL'ers. He needs to see game action.

 

[LOGiK]

I’m with you. I love this kid, his potential, and what he does already. I think he could be a decent 3C here, or a solid top 9 winger.

I agree. I'm eagerly excited to watch him mature with the penguins (and not to jump ahead already, BUT just to get this crap out of the way I hope they figure on a contract and settle that issue before it gets ugly and detrimental to the team / his concentration / performance).

Yeah he truly was a steal and he makes Bug look like an anchor in that trade

 

[EVGENIMERLIN]

Hope theres a plan for Marino to get into games cuz it's super pointless to have him up here if not.
If they don't trade a D and keep him up, I'd like them to get him in on the 3rd pair vs the quicker teams. Especially the ones in the Metro. I'd settle for JJ-Marino atm.

Please don't ruin this whole rookie season of his only practicing with NHL'ers. He needs to see game action.

It’s weird there were rumors he might play today and then he sits. I’m starting to believe they’re trying to showcase JJ and or Guds to scouts and that Marino will play bottom pair minutes this season.

 

[Hank Plank]

Of course not.

What a silly idea.

Now ask me about his jock strap that he has not changed since he was 11 years old.

You know what, that's a hard pass on the answer.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

I love Dominik Simon and when I grow up, I'm going to marry him

Despres?

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Letang only played 1:30 more even strength time than JJ's 16:30.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

Letang only played 1:30 more even strength time than JJ's 16:30.

I saw Tanger and JJ actually spend time on the ice together. It looked weird.

 

[Peat]

Columbus may just have been the Bengals of the NHL though.

They might turn out to be really bad this season. But even so, they're not giving up 7 every game.

Some of that 7 was their goaltender, but not all of it, particularly with the first 3 or 4 goals that crushed his spirit and confidence.

1st goal - we get a decent shot on a 3 on 3 breakout and there's a rebound swept behind the net, we win the ensuing battle and are able to get it back to the point where the dman is completely unpressured due to those events, and he can get a big blast towards goal with a screen who can deflect it - that scenario will score goals against a lot of goaltenders

2nd goal - Simon puckhandles it behind their net on a 1 on 3 breakout, loses it but Columbus are under pressure to clear it and can't with Sid getting the puck instead and laying it off to a completely open advancing Pettersson who's able to pick his spot without a dman trying to block him (the dman who could have blocked is too concerned with boxing out Guentzel) - that scenario will score goals against a lot of goaltenders. Maybe a better goaltender would have got that particular shot and maybe a better defence won't let Simon do that, but I'm dubious on the latter as space is space and easy to exploit and and on the former, I've seen better goalies let those shots in.

Then goals 3 and 4 are odd man rushes we know ourselves the goalie's not going to get all of them. Maybe he saves McCann's first shot if he's not mentally cheating towards Galchenyuk - maybe a better goalie doesn't do that but again, I've seen better goalies do that on occasion. McCann's second was very well disguised and he'll beat a lot of goalies if he keeps doing that.

We carved out great opportunities. We carved out a lot of great opportunities. I know I've just spent a lot of breath elsewhere pointing out the limits of expected goals as a metric, but only Tampa had a higher total last night at 5v5 than us (that's on a night with 7 5-goal performances, not like nobody else knew how to attack). You can back this one up with the eye test though. All night long we had speedy breakouts and a lot of pressure on the puck resulting in good opportunities vs non-set defences, and strong cycles to keep it going.

Maybe that's Columbus being crap but having a strong defensive system and being careful with the puck are things teams can do without talent, and not counting the rental they only really lost Panarin (incidentally I'd have loved to have signed Nyquist and am not looking forwards to him being a Blue Jacket long term, even if he is no Panarin). Maybe that's them being tired and in a coaching match up that's crap for them. But we did at least see the ruthlessness you'd want in that situation.

As such, I reckon that performance would have put a lot of teams in trouble. I am more concerned about whether we regularly get that performance than whether it'd work against better teams and how bad Columbus were.

Dumo Letang are being hung out to dry and they both look sluggish.

Gudbranson - JJ well your smarter enough to know.

Schultz has been terrible given his great preseason. Petts had a bad night on Thurs, was our best D IMO tonight.

I'd agree that Dumo and Tanger did look sluggish, which makes their possession statistics all the more impressive. Just one way right traffic towards the Columbus net. I guess I expect that from that pairing though, even on sluggish nights.

The stats were roughly what I expected to see on JJ-Gudbranson - rough parity, maybe a bit surprised to see them behind. Both had moments where their puck skills put us in trouble. I thought Gudbranson defended pretty well, JJ okay. Few nice moments in the offensive zone from both.

Pettersson-Schultz were my surprise as I liked both but they were definitely bad news together statistically last night.

 

[Son Goku]

Pretty much everybody was great but I really liked how Galchenyuk played tonight.

As do I, electrifying.

 

[bobholly39]

++++++++++ Sidney Crosby: I said it when it happened and it needs talked about big time in this thread - Sidney Crosby was the shot of life this team desperately needed. For those of you who did not watch, the Pens came out meh at best in the first period. Jake gets hit up high and Sid noticed the team needed something so he chases down Dubois and fights him. Instant shot of energy in the entire team. From there, they were the Pens we love. Absolute ball of fire through the entire team. I called a 6 spot after the fight and they made it happen AND some. Insane. I cannot speak enough about this because it was perfect timing. It wasn't like a pointless fight. The Pens ended the season miserably last year and started miserably this year. Sid sticks up for a young player when he didn't have to be that guy. It was instant leadership. It was instant energy. It was incredible. If you didn't watch this game, you missed a very cool moment.

+++ McCann: Geno gets hurt, McCann goes next level ****. Incredible work.

+++ Gally/Tanev: I thought both guys once again had a good game. Tanev has been the only Penguin to play 6 periods of great hockey. I think Gally was really good in small areas. Good passer. Underrated passer.

+++ Muzz: Made some key saves in the first. I liked his game overall. I think he's been solid.

+++ Hornqvist: Screens, tips, awful hockey. The #72 style game.

+++ Team response: Everyone on the ice from JJ to Letang to Blueger to Jake all picked it up when Sid did his thing. That was a great response.


---- Only minus i'll give is the Geno injury. Sid really brought this team together and I wish G was part of it.

Thanks for posting this breakdown about Sid - I didn't watch the game and had no idea until I read this. Really cool to hear. He's done this so many times for his team in the past 2 years, get their shit back in order when their season seemed to be going off the rails mid-year.

As do I, electrifying.

I watched Galchenyuk play in Montreal for years. If he can get his shit together and be given proper opportunity - the guy has a ton of talent and could do great things in Pitt. He can be better than the good version of Kessel was for you guys, possibly.

On a separate note - LOL at Malkin being injured in game 2....i like the guy but damn, i hope he's back soon. Was really hoping coming into this year that it would be nice if we can finally see a full healthy season of Crosby/Malkin together, and in game 2 Malkin's already injured (and Crosby got hurt in the preseason himself, though he's back). Talk about shit luck...

 

[Burn]

Galchenyuk is really impressive in person. You see the IQ and hands but also that he gets into the mix. Hope he can get some PP time. Big body too.

Really hope the Pens keep puck and make plays more than chipping and chasing like the first 4 periods of the season.

That LW spot on the PP is a glaring hole.

The Pens play and practice at such a pace I think its hard to play at... Even for them. Its like they'll need 3 weeks to get their game down. Passing is off... Way off.

 

[Ogrezilla]

My girlfriend bought me meals at some great restaurants, trips away to some of my favorite places for big birthdays, and even lap dances in the past.

Does getting married = getting multiple pairs of sweatpants instead?

My wife has never bought me sweatpants. I think you'll be safe. But I apparently don't understand the world of casual pants as well as I thought I did so maybe I'm wrong

My advice: find a partner who puts the same value on lounge wear that you do. Many a relationship has been ruined by sweat pant feuds.

 

[Ms Maggie]

Galchenyuk is really impressive in person. You see the IQ and hands but also that he gets into the mix. Hope he can get some PP time. Big body too.

Really hope the Pens keep puck and make plays more than chipping and chasing like the first 4 periods of the season.

That LW spot on the PP is a glaring hole.

The Pens play and practice at such a pace I think its hard to play at... Even for them. Its like they'll need 3 weeks to get their game down. Passing is off... Way off.

New guys in lineup, passing should come with time. That PP though, yikes.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I've decided that maybe she's the weird one, and it's given you a weird outlook on pants.

I will say that if my wife had been embarrassed by my choice of sleep pants, it would have been a very short relationship. Hell, I did wear this stuff to class back in those days. I wore the same pair of sweat pants for every physics test I ever took in college. I had to retire them a few years after college because the hole in the knee had gotten big enough that I had to be careful to keep my leg in the pant leg and not through the knee hole when I put them on. Sad times.

I got my outlook for sweats a long time ago in college when I discovered just how much women hated them on guys. Sort of like cargo shorts.

My fashion sense always was influenced on what caught my eye and not really what pop culture claimed was cool.

However, when you are in your late teens and early 20s and you know most women despise sweats and cargo shorts, it naturally made it easy for me to avoid those kind of abominations.

Hopefully it doesn't mean you have to wear tights like Jiggy.

Hey now, you would literally have to hold a gun to my head to get me to wear skinny jeans/pants.

I’d rather wear purple sweats or Zubaz pants first.

 

[EightyOne]

My advice: find a partner who puts the same value on lounge wear that you do. Many a relationship has been ruined by sweat pant feuds.

So THAT'S why Cole was shipped out by Sullivan!

 

[Icarium]

For all the whining against Hornqvist, he sure can be helpful when the team is struggling to score the first goal. Pretty great performance after that all around but the Jackets goalie was so bad that it's hard to make general conclusions. Kudos to Sid for inspiring the team and to McCann slotting in Geno's spot so easily, Galchenyuk seemed far less rusty than in the last game, let's see what he will do against a good goalie.

And I am so used to Geno's injuries by now that I just sighed instead of freaking out when it happened. Just come back in less than a month, please.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Reupping Galchenyuk during the season is a must. Even if its just a 2-3 year extension keeping him here til hes 28-29 and in line for one more big deal if all works well. With what hes been thru I can see him going for that...

Hes not gonna want to keep changing teams at this young of an age. And not establishing himself yet. And no matter what type of year he has with us....its not gonna earn him 8mil+. So a 6 to 6.5mil per year should do it. He gets to keep thriving with Geno while having a chance to win, and raises his stock. Once Rust is back those 3 will be great together.

Should be

Guentzel - Crosby - Hornqvist
Galchenyuk - Malkin - Rust

So we can stop messing around with musical lines. And have a much better bottom 6.

McCann as well but thats alot tougher. Hes gonna wait. And isnt already making 4.9mil like AG.

Def clear Bjugstad and his 4mil this year. That's a given. Hopefully JJ plays fine enough we are able to clear his cap without giving up a quality asset. Id give up Simon/ZAR since i dont see them having a future here anyway. Not with who we have in WBS.

If you want to see what Hornqvist looks like with Crosby/Guentzel please feel free to re-watch the first game. Converting a one-time in a 5-1 (at the time) game is not representative of what he brings to that line. Crosby/Guentzel need a 3rd who can carry the puck into the zone and help keep it there.

 

[Ogrezilla]

For all the whining against Hornqvist, he sure can be helpful when the team is struggling to score the first goal. Pretty great performance after that all around but the Jackets goalie was so bad that it's hard to make general conclusions. Kudos to Sid for inspiring the team and to McCann slotting in Geno's spot so easily, Galchenyuk seemed far less rusty than in the last game, let's see what he will do against a good goalie.

And I am so used to Geno's injuries by now that I just sighed instead of freaking out when it happened. Just come back in less than a month, please.

I think a lot of people have been way too certain that Horny is done after a bad half season coming off of multiple concussions. If he is recovered to where he was to start last year, he'll still be a very valuable player.

If you want to see what Hornqvist looks like with Crosby/Guentzel please feel free to re-watch the first game. Converting a one-time in a 5-1 (at the time) game is not representative of what he brings to that line. Crosby/Guentzel need a 3rd who can carry the puck into the zone and help keep it there.

Arguing his fit on that line is fair though. I know most people like the idea of building chemistry and sticky with a set line. Personally, I love the idea of throwing some change up's with the lines. I wouldn't make him full-time on Sid's wing for similar reasons combined with him simply getting older, but I think 3 or 4 shifts there a game could be great. Especially shifts where they are starting in the O-Zone. It's just such a different look and changes how the D has to handle the line compared to Simon.