Post-Game Talk: Episode 6 - Pens 5, Bolts 2 - Return of the Core

[DegenX]

The issue is, of course, that they only really have two people who seem to be able to play competent LW, and one of those two is their 4th line center.

It's a ****** situation. Cullen needs to go with one of Sid or Geno, whichever creates the three-best lines.

Unless we're in full on desperation mode or there's an injury, I think the current lines aren't just penciled in ... it would require a mallet and a chisel to change them.

 

[steveg]

Tampa is probably the scariest team off the rush I've ever seen.

MAN, do I agree with this statement. I cannot recall a team converting on as many rushes, as consistently, as Tampa does. You can outplay them for LONG stretches, but still find yourself tied or down, on the scoreboard. It's uncanny...

 

[KIRK]

The issue is, of course, that they only really have two people who seem to be able to play competent LW, and one of those two is their 4th line center.

It's a ****** situation. Cullen needs to go with one of Sid or Geno, whichever creates the three-best lines.

Well, it will have to be Sid, because it's not like Sully hasn't had ample opportunity and incentive to play him with Geno with any kind of regularity.

What's funny is the game Rust got hurt against Washington, Sully twice had Kunitz-Geno-Cullen spit out of the random line generator, and it was excellent.

Speaking of Rust, he does what he does well at a good NHL level. But, he makes Tyler Kennedy seem Gretzky like in terms of on ice awareness. Ignored Malkin multiple times Malkin got open in prime spots.

Add on the other wing Kunitz and those 1 out of 10 times a good play hands, and you've really got nobody to get Malkin the puck, which is one thing I mean by saying the line looks about as good as you can suspect for a line this flawed in its construction.

 

[TheSniper26]

Huge win from the boys!!
We're sure coming back to Pitt and not in holidays!!
Big games from 30, 71,58,81 and to a lesser extent 87

Geno showed the way at the beginning only to be denied by his lacklustre linemates and Murray/Letang followed the example

You just can't help yourself.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Bryan Rust with shades of Rick Kehoe (No. 17) on that breakaway. I gotta admit I didn't see that one coming. HUGE goal.

Phil Kessel for Conn Smythe, I'm calling it. He has been scoring such massive goals this postseason. I want him to win the Cup so badly, just to shut everything the %$#@ up!

I really like how Olli Maatta has played since his banishment. He is more assertive both on offense and with the body. It's definitely noticeable. Keep it up, Olli!

Matt Murray. He's the true No. 1. He's just such a calming presence. We are really blessed to have him.

Let's go Pens. We can do this. The hard part is over and done with. But anything can happen in a Game 7 scenario.

 

[ColePens]

Yuri literally wrote that Geno had a better game than Sid. It's not worth responding. My problem with Geno is that he had bad moments. He had great moments. I'd take steady before running these absolute garbage shifts mixed with great shifts.

G's penalty and defensive responsibility (partially tangers/dumos fault for poor communication) were bad. Like realy bad. That penalty could have changed the game. It didn't very fortunately. It was crazy selfish, though.

But there are so many great things to discuss. It's not worth harping on 71.

 

[KIRK]

Yuri literally wrote that Geno had a better game than Sid. It's not worth responding. My problem with Geno is that he had bad moments. He had great moments. I'd take steady before running these absolute garbage shifts mixed with great shifts.

G's penalty and defensive responsibility (partially tangers/dumos fault for poor communication) were bad. Like realy bad. That penalty could have changed the game. It didn't very fortunately. It was crazy selfish, though.

But there are so many great things to discuss. It's not worth harping on 71.

Funny, everyone today in the media, the Geno critics included, are saying he played really, really good yesterday. Your blinders with Geno have reached Yuri with Sid level. It's that bad. Malkin wins a 1 on 3 battle to get the puck to Kunitz who's watching a few feet away, and you chime about how great Kunitz looks on the play. Malkin beats two people to get open in the slot, Rust ignores him, you criticize Geno's positioning. Stuff like that from you all night. At least one has come to expect it from Yuri . . .

EDIT: An just in case you wish to project again, I'll just repeat in advance that I agree with IC's evaluation (which seems to mirror the public one):

Everyone is wrong.

Geno wasn't their best player last night, but he was very good. His point totals over the past two games do not reflect his level of play.

Geno's wingers aren't great or ideal, but they aren't the worst wingers ever and they've both contributed something recently.

 

[Call me betty*]

Even though Sid had an awesome goal and was solid on offensive but he was at his best defensively, i noticed him helping out the defense down low every single time and generally had great positioning in the D-zone all game long.

 

[The Greatest 101]

Yuri literally wrote that Geno had a better game than Sid. It's not worth responding. My problem with Geno is that he had bad moments. He had great moments. I'd take steady before running these absolute garbage shifts mixed with great shifts.

G's penalty and defensive responsibility (partially tangers/dumos fault for poor communication) were bad. Like realy bad. That penalty could have changed the game. It didn't very fortunately. It was crazy selfish, though.

But there are so many great things to discuss. It's not worth harping on 71.

Kudos to you.I'm so glad refugee crisis is no longer Malkin's fault.

 

[TheSniper26]

Yeah I just don't get what's so hard about acknowledging that both Sid/Geno stepped up and raised their game last night. I'm gonna let people in on a little secret... get ready for this mind-blower guys... Sid and Geno... both play for the Pens. Lucky us, right?

 

[Zirakzigil]

Yeah I just don't get what's so hard about acknowledging that both Sid/Geno stepped up and raised their game last night. I'm gonna let people in on a little secret... get ready for this mind-blower guys... Sid and Geno... both play for the Pens. Lucky us, right?

Outside of the goal called off and his slashing penalty, I agree that Malkin had a great game, he looked really good on the powerplay as well. Crosby had a great overall game and he was finally shooting. Should have had at least 1 more goal last night.

 

[ColePens]

Funny, everyone today in the media, the Geno critics included, are saying he played really, really good yesterday. Your blinders with Geno have reached Yuri with Sid level. It's that bad. Malkin wins a 1 on 3 battle to get the puck to Kunitz who's watching a few feet away, and you chime about how great Kunitz looks on the play. Malkin beats two people to get open in the slot, Rust ignores him, you criticize Geno's positioning. Stuff like that from you all night. At least one has come to expect it from Yuri . . .

EDIT: An just in case you wish to project again, I'll just repeat in advance that I agree with IC's evaluation (which seems to mirror the public one):

To pull a simple Mark Madden - my assessment was 100% spot on. There is no way else to discuss it. So let's reset.

1) Kunitz: No.. he's not the #14 from years ago. When I give him credit, it's because he's dug himself out of the hole that he created for himself. I have said it many times that I assess players based on their expectations (whether it's fair or not). No... Kunitz is not setting the world on fire, but he is playing absolutely incredible for the dead corpse he was earlier in the year and beginning of the playoffs.

2) As I said about Geno, I want consistency. I do not want one insanely selfish penalty, one bad shift, 3 okay shifts, 2 great shifts. I want consistency. I give him a lot of credit. After his dumb penalty, he REALLY simplified his game and got to work. As I noted, 14 and 17 should have had a goal each because of his work. I still do not like his defensive responsibility. He's trying to move up before we are out. The other centers are not doing that.

KIRK - admit it. It's like my sad sad love of Vitale. It's like IC's love of Despres. You freaking adore Geno. There is no shame in that. You picked a lot better of a player than I did. But I'm never, and I mean ever, going to believe he played a great game last night. He didn't. The consistency needs to be there.

And why the hell are we wasting this much time on 71? Are we really that bored? It's such a minor discussion to a game that had so much to it. It's just ridiculous that people let this discussion blow up.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I thought Geno had his best game of the series last night. No, he wasn't perfect throughout, but he was definitely playing like he wanted to live up to his quote about coming back to Pittsburgh.

I agree with both Kirk and Cole, I guess. Geno was very good for flashes and one of our best skaters at times, but he still had some bad shifts (bad as in almost cost us) and a stupid, selfish, retaliatory penalty.

Hopefully he eliminates the bad and continues with the good tomorrow night. We're gonna need all of our big guns to be on their A game again; Sid, Geno, Kessel, Letang, Murray.

 

[Shaftception]

And why the hell are we wasting this much time on 71? Are we really that bored? It's such a minor discussion to a game that had so much to it. It's just ridiculous that people let this discussion blow up.

Because certain people's entire posting history seems to be comprised of nothing but comments related to if not entirely about specific players. Whenever these players are mentioned, even in passing, the same names are entirely incapable of not offering their opinion on it for the ten thousandth time. And when these people post as often as they do, it derails every discussion they happen to be contributing to, for pages on end.

If discussion about maf was derailing discussion enough to require his own thread, certainly the two centers require the same at this point.

 

[Son Goku]

I'm gonna say this next game Sid and Geno will lead the charge. They're finally ready.

 

[BeautiPhil]

I just wanted to say Kessel's handeye is pretty insane to be batting pucks out of the air like he was last night.

 

[Fordy]

Because certain people's entire posting history seems to be comprised of nothing but comments related to if not entirely about specific players. Whenever these players are mentioned, even in passing, the same names are entirely incapable of not offering their opinion on it for the ten thousandth time. And when these people post as often as they do, it derails every discussion they happen to be contributing to, for pages on end.

If discussion about maf was derailing discussion enough to require his own thread, certainly the two centers require the same at this point.

beau bennett is the best player on this team

 

[Speaking Moistly]

The issue is, of course, that they only really have two people who seem to be able to play competent LW, and one of those two is their 4th line center.

It's a ****** situation. Cullen needs to go with one of Sid or Geno, whichever creates the three-best lines.

I'd be shocked if Cullen could handle the workload.

 

[billybudd]

I'd be shocked if Cullen could handle the workload.

Cullen hasn't looked the same since he blocked that shot and had to one foot it to the bench. He's still planning like a master artisan, but the chisel isn't necessarily carving the stone quite as well.

I think he's where he needs to be. His line's an ER unit, but it's not ineffective, mostly because he's so frickin smart.

 

[StaalForOne]

Cullen hasn't looked the same since he blocked that shot and had to one foot it to the bench. He's still planning like a master artisan, but the chisel isn't necessarily carving the stone quite as well.

I think he's where he needs to be. His line's an ER unit, but it's not ineffective, mostly because he's so frickin smart.

Cullen definitely hasn't been as noticeable this series as the past two, but like you said he has still been good, and still is a huge contributor in the dot. I wasn't sure if it was injury or just playing a faster team now in the Bolts, but he definitely is missing a little pop.

 

[Penguinsyay]

Rust saved us from what was shaping up to be another third period collapse. This team really needs to play for all 60 minutes, letting up a little and "protecting the lead" just seems to backfire for them. But they pulled it off and came away with a win so I guess that's all that matters. Please win game 7!

 

[Guins71]

Tampa Bay is basically the 2010 Montreal Canadians. They have their backup goalie playing extremely well. They get play taken to them for long stretches of the game. They are extremely dangerous on the rush. The series are extremely similar. Hopefully the game 7 in this series goes the Pens Way.

 

[vikingGoalie]

Cullen definitely hasn't been as noticeable this series as the past two, but like you said he has still been good, and still is a huge contributor in the dot. I wasn't sure if it was injury or just playing a faster team now in the Bolts, but he definitely is missing a little pop.

I think maybe the extra speed (as you pointed out) combined with the fact that he is like almost 40 and might just be slowing down a tad from the grind of getting this far into the playoffs.

Our stars where our stars last night. When is the last time we can say that? I'm trying to temper my expectations but I really think we will beat the lightning and that whoever comes out of the west won't be as difficult of a matchup. It has always come down to Sid, Malkin, Letang. When those 3 play to their potential we win. It's that simple.

 

[TheSniper26]

Rust saved us from what was shaping up to be another third period collapse. This team really needs to play for all 60 minutes, letting up a little and "protecting the lead" just seems to backfire for them. But they pulled it off and came away with a win so I guess that's all that matters. Please win game 7!

This is actually a self defeating mistake that most people make in competitive situations. It's definitely not limited to the Pens. An advantage is gained, a comfort zone sets in, and then the logical misstep of "protecting" the comfort zone is made instead of continuing to do the things that gained the initial advantage.

I'm not excusing them for letting up by the way. Just pointing out that I don't think this is a problem limited to the Pens. It's just a fallacy in competitive thinking.

 

[Joejosh999]

This is actually a self defeating mistake that most people make in competitive situations. It's definitely not limited to the Pens. An advantage is gained, a comfort zone sets in, and then the logical misstep of "protecting" the comfort zone is made instead of continuing to do the things that gained the initial advantage.

I'm not excusing them for letting up by the way. Just pointing out that I don't think this is a problem limited to the Pens. It's just a fallacy in competitive thinking.

Agreed.
So tempting in any sport where a clock can be run out.