News Article: Cup Contenders (and why the Pens aren't one)

[Shady Machine]

Jesus Christ. You guys are so freaking negative. A guy in this thread honestly posted that he hopes we get swept. And we wonder why everyone includes us on their lists of the worst fan bases. Like honestly would it kill some of you guys to try to be optimistic? Obviously this season hasn't been as great as we had hoped, but in the end there is literally nothing any of us can do about it. We are a contender to come out of the East. I'd bet any money we make it to the ECF (as long as we don't play Philly). I don't think MAF will be nearly as bad this time around in the playoffs. The dude's back is to the wall and I'm sure he realizes that.

Cool story dude. Did you read the analysis posted in the link? It tells us what we already know: This team is mediocre to poor 5 on 5 and is carried by a PP that has a high shooting percentage and a PK that has a high SV%. Those things are not likely to continue over long periods of time.

Our only chance is for the PP to continue to carry us in the playoffs. When the refs put the whistles away, my guess is we will struggle.

Some fans may be too negative, but this team's record masks a lot of the underlying issues that have been showing up on the scoreboard in the last few weeks and we will see in the playoffs.

 

[MrBurghundy]

Cool story dude. Did you read the analysis posted in the link? It tells us what we already know: This team is mediocre to poor 5 on 5 and is carried by a PP that has a high shooting percentage and a PK that has a high SV%. Those things are not likely to continue over long periods of time.

Our only chance is for the PP to continue to carry us in the playoffs. When the refs put the whistles away, my guess is we will struggle.

Some fans may be too negative, but this team's record masks a lot of the underlying issues that have been showing up on the scoreboard in the last few weeks and we will see in the playoffs.

The PP, and PK will also struggle when it faces real teams that are, you know, good? I always love saying I told you so over, and over, and over, and over, and over again though.

 

[Coach Travis]

The Penguins are entering the Playoffs this year as most teams do: In a "Well if our team gets hot we just might have a chance" -mode. It would have to be a perfect storm of events: Referees continue to call penalties so our PP can play, MAF plays his absolute best, injured players return with no other players getting injured, a select few play over their heads with a third liner (maybe Sutter or Pyatt or someone like that) magically turning into a juggernaut scoring 10 goals in the playoffs.

 

[Whakahere]

"The Penguins' bottom six forwards have been getting destroyed in terms of puck possession and while some of that is a matter of how teams deploy their talent (starting more shifts in the defensive zone makes it harder to generate positive possession stats), the Penguins' player usage chart also shows that their defence is in trouble without Martin and Letang to aid in the puck-moving effort."

It's not just some people seeing it .... even the Canadian media see it.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=447435