Post-Game Talk: Ducks 5, Penguins 3 - Not for a Lack of Effort

[Ryder71]

My favorite part of last night was Perry attempting to take Letang’s head off with a cheap elbow while Reaves was on the ice. What a deterrent that guy is. Our stars will never get touched with ol’ Reaver out there patrolling the ice. Awesome that we passed on drafting a prospect like Kostin to bring this game changer in.

Why is that awesome?

 

[Shady Machine]

Why is that awesome?

Obvious sarcasm

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

I think its the opposite.

When you have a playoff spot locked up its easier to play a struggling young player in the NHL.

When your fighting for a playoff spot its hard to keep on playing a young player that isn't play good.

Pens gotta put whatever lineup on the ice that gives them the best chance to win that game.

If you didn't notice, we've gone on this mini run while Sprong has been up. In no way shape or form am I insinuating he's the SOLE reason for this

But Sprong has put new life in this team and Sid. He's not afraid to shoot and he's aggressive...seems like it somehow has rubbed off on the team.

Lately it seems like he's more hesitant and therefore invisible. Removing him from the lineup is gonna remove a weapon and obviously I'm against that

 

[Ryder71]

Obvious sarcasm

Are you sure?

 

[ncm7772]

i dunno, sprong has been fine thus far. a bit off last night perhaps. but he's a rookie for cripes sake playing on our top line, facing the toughest matchups. I would expect a learning curve, and off nights. The promising thing is he has shown us flashes of brillance, he absolutely can become a game changer for us. Unlike some of the over hyped prospects in years gone by where you never ever saw anything that indicated high end potential. (aka Pouliot, Tangradi and so on)

Let's not forget Beau-nita Bennett! I remember everyone at the happy hellhole thinking that guy was going to be a 25 goal scorer.

 

[Dey so soff*]

I may be overreacting due to my loathing of Letang but he was directly responsible for 2 goals last night...

 

[Ryder71]

I may be overreacting due to my loathing of Letang but he was directly responsible for 2 goals last night...

If Letang continues his current level of play he alone can derail any hopes we have this season.

 

[ncm7772]

Wtttttffffffffff... really? Hahah reallllyyyyyy?!

I mean even watching that bull**** on TV couldn’t have possibly masked what a bad fit / player he is on this team... like REALLY?!?!

Don't hold back! Tell us how you really feel!

Reality is that Phil Kessel is the best player on our team and we're losing, barely a bubble team.

Now I know how Leafs' fans felt.

I admire your negativity.

Only looking at the stats, but it looked like Letang and Phil had rough games.

Letang was butt chezz. Phil has had better games. I didn't realize until just now he was -4. He had plenty of offensive chances and actually threw a nice check. But yeah, -4 ain't good.

I don't know about this. last half a dozen games, Maattaa and Shultz have been very good. Oleks has positive Corsi and generally looks good. Maatta last night, other that stupid shinpad block was really really good pushing the play. Our main problem is as you pointed out Letang. On many nights even when he is positive in possession numbers, he makes 4-5 just plain dumb plys and always due to being hesitant, and seemingly clueless. I said before, I feel the second they got to his head that he "has to wait to see whta game brings to him" he became this dumpsterfire player, his skating also is not superior as it used to be...so I don't know...we hope that he would magically flip the switch but it looks more of the same game in game out...

Agree on all your points. Especially with Letang. He has played better recently (not last night) but he's still nowhere near his prime form. Totally ok with him being traded. I realize that isn't going to happen this year, but we can hope for the off-season, right?

I'll add on Hunwick. I'm with everyone else, no clue why he's playing and Cole is sitting. There's got to be something non-hockey going on there.

 

[imouttahereEdWinger]

He wouldn’t have been ****ed up and we’d probably be seeing a player closer to the 2016 run.

He wasn't playing well prior to the injury so to say the injury is causing any of this, especially since much of it is mental errors, is not really evidenced but is instead conjecture.

 

[chethejet]

Just not quite the team that was playing at such a smart and cohesive level in 2016 and certainly 2015 seasons. Sid is playing well with two kids on his line. But at some point, Jake is killing them on D at center and his best value is LW. Sprong is playing and should. His upside is just to good to use his early play as bible. Given time and experience, you live with scorers who can change a game with one play. GMJR has to pull the trigger on a good 3rd line center. Until that happens, Pens simply can't function to their maximum. Also it is concerning for sully to value Hunwick over Cole vs this trip vs physical teams. Maybe it is the contract status here, but Hunwick is just so pedestrian.

 

[ncm7772]

My hot takes.

Oleksiak is actually pretty good and it's Hunwick that's killing both of them. What's happening to Cole right now is ridiculous.

Sprong doesn't actually do much. Lethal shot, but that's pretty much it for now. Take away the Islanders game, and how impressive has he really been?

Letang will age in dog years. The cool kids on Twitter can call him elite all they want, but he'd be Mike Green on most other teams. If the Pens want to really reload for the upcoming twilight years of 87 and 71, that's the chip to play.

I literally could've written the exact same things about Sprong and Letang.

Letang is something else right now, I just can't fathom how bad he is defensively right now.

Sprong, he uh, doesn't.......really......do much. He looks flat out lost sometimes. I have no reason to believe he won't get better, but he stunk last night.

At the end of the day you've gotta produce. Sprong has one two goal game, and apart from that he's managed to generate just one assist and no goals in the 7 other games he has played. Not saying take him off the line yet but that's exactly what's going to happen sooner rather than later if he doesn't start burying some of those looks. Especially if Rust comes back.

To me it looks like Sprong is struggling sometimes with the speed of these games. He's not the fastest skater, or the strongest on the walls.

Yep. And I'm not a Sprong hater. Kid has the ability to be a solid NHL player. Right now, I just think he's struggling with adapting to the big leagues. I was hard on Simon earlier in his call-ups, but overall, his game has been better than Sprong's thus far in my opinion.

If Letang continues his current level of play he alone can derail any hopes we have this season.

He really has played poorly enough to lose this team games. And he's making $7M. That ain't good.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

He wasn't playing well prior to the injury so to say the injury is causing any of this, especially since much of it is mental errors, is not really evidenced but is instead conjecture.

Oh, if only the injury didn’t date back to the 2016 run and effect the 2016-17 games he played.

Determined: Letang's journey back to the ice

After he was on the negative end of a hit from behind by a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2016 Eastern Conference Final he felt pain in his neck.
"I had issues turning my neck. I couldn't look right or left," he said.
Letang was able to turn his neck the following day and the issue wasn't bad enough at that time to force him out of the lineup. Not only did Letang finish the playoffs by playing in every game, he would score the eventual Stanley Cup-clinching goal in Game 6 at San Jose.
During the offseason Letang had a chance to rest the injury and let it heal. He underwent various treatments and the issue appeared to have subsided.
But the pain would soon return once Letang began engaging in physical play during the following year's training camp.
"When I showed up to camp last year, it started bothering me when I was getting hit again," he said. "We went over a bunch of stuff (I had to do) to get better. Every month I was trying to get better."
Letang visited several different doctors, looking for a solution to the problem. But as the season dragged on, things weren't getting better. In fact, it was getting worse because the accumulative effect of the hits he sustained throughout the year.

Letang isn’t perfect and he’s fragile but a healthy Letang wouldn’t have lost them the 2017 cup because he wouldn’t have been dealing with a damn neck injury.

 

[canadianguy77]

"If they got rid of their old top pairing defenseman for a young top pairing defenseman we'd be better"

Riveting analysis there.

I'm guessing that you don't know that there's a usually a difference between a #1 defenceman and top-pairing defenceman?

 

[BHD]

Further talk can be taken to the Pre-game thread.