Line Combos: Fix the Pens

[Lemieuxfan]

With the season on the line all we can do is chance the lines and the tactics.


Which lines would you run?


I would go with:

Malkin-Crosby-Rust
Tanev-Carter-Kapanen
Zucker-McCann-Guentzel
Zohorna-Gaudreau-Rodrigues



Dumolin-Letang
Matheson-Ceci
PO Joseph-Marino


Legace
Jarry



I would also advice Sid and Guentzel not to shot from everywhere. I can't even remember how many turnovers/ruses there were because of these bad angel shots.

On the other side: take the shots if the lanes are free.

Get the line, buy some time and get a shot from the blueline as often as possible. The guys who don't have a shot - just try - can't get any worse. Just crash the ******** net for the ****** love of god.



53 and ZAR needs to sit. They were not really bad, but we need new believe. If we win game 6 with that lineup that can give the whole team a huge boost.


Florida showed us how to switch it up, let's follow.



Thoughts?

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[StaalForOne]

It's too late to throw the lines in a blender. All they need is some average to above average goaltending and to continue playing the same everywhere else.

 

[TimmyD]

Zucker Sid Carter
Jake Malkin Tanev
Kapanen Blueger Rust
McCann Gaudreau ERod

 

[T1K]

I don’t think we need to drastically shake up lines, we should have won last game.

 

[Houston Penguin]

For me, I'm not taking out Aston-Reese and Blueger. I'm blowing up their line though. McCann leaves my line-up and Guentzel and Zucker move down.

Tanev-Crosby-Rust

Crosby needs someone to do the work down low and allow him to be second man in. 59 and 17 ain't providing that. I left Rust as the lesser of two evils plus it sets up 59 to get away from the Islanders defense.

Aston-Reese - Malkin - Kapanen

Same idea. Kapanen can finish if given room. Zucker ain't helping with that. Even on one leg, Malkin can still pass and finish.

Guentzel - Carter - Gaudreau

Finisher, Passer, Checker ... and actually two finishers with how Carter has done. 59 should get opportunities here.

Zucker - Blueger - Rodrigues

Blueger has shown he can do something with people who can finish. However, with this group, I want them to buzz around the zone and force the Islanders to stay in their defensive zone.

While I would love to bring in size with Zohorna and Angello, the time to insert them would have been last night, not in an elimination game.

 

[molon labe]

Guentzel anywhere except line 1.

I can deal with the rest.

 

[Dangles78]

It's too late. As much as I like Zohorna, throwing him into the lineup at this point would be ill-advised.

The big issue is I feel like the bottom-6 lines have been playing well and Sully isn't going to change that up. So how do you fix Sid's and Geno's?

But whatever, Sully's job may be a line so blow the shit up and try to extend the series

Tanev-Crosby-Rust
McCann-Geno-Kapanen
Guentzel-Carter-Guadreau
Zucker-Blueger-ZAR

 

[paracord]

Keep everything the same and tell Jarry and Guentzel to play better.

Literally, that's all they need to do.

 

[JRS91]

It should've been this since the beginning.

Zucker - Crosby - Rust
Guentzel - Malkin - Kapanen
McCann - Carter - Gaudreau
Aston-Reese - Blueger - Tanev

The problem is aside from Zucker playing with Malkin and the first line largely being invisible offensively, our forwards haven't been the issue. The issue is everyone is playing hard and Jarry lets in a couple soft goals which completely kills momentum. Our defense has been great. There's no excuse for Jarry being as bad as he has been.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

GMR
MSC
ZGK
ABT

 

[Pens1566]

Line change discussions are moot unless:

1) injuries happen
2) Sully is fired

 

[Trade]

Guentzel-Sid-Rust
Zucker-Malkin-Kap
McCann-Carter-Gaudreau
BART

Murray

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Nope, keep it the same as what isn't working.
-Mike Sullivan

 

[SEALBound]

When they skate, these line combos dominate the play.

This is not a line combo issue.

This is a Jarry issue and a consistent level of play issue.

You want to mix and match in-game to throw something new at them, fine. New line combos, no. We are not here because of Rust with Crosby or GOAT with Carter or Kappy/Zucker with Malkin. We just aren't. We can look for things to blame after a loss but line combos are a shallow argument, at best.

 

[orby]

Glass-Adams-Vitale.

 

[dogthateats]

I would keep everything the same. We outshot them 41 to 20 in regulation.

 

[Fatty McLardy]

It's too late to throw the lines in a blender. All they need is some average to above average goaltending and to continue playing the same everywhere else.

Yep. You're right. 2 goals is more than enough to win games....

 

[Miro4Norris]

I would keep everything the same. We outshot them 41 to 20 in regulation.

And for example, Sid and Rust scored their only goal in four games in only shift Guentzel have been out of their line in this series as Malkin came from the box and played with them.

 

[SomeDude]

Ovechkin- McDavid - Crosby
Hall - Eichel - Malkin
Guenztel - Jeff MFing Carter - Rust
BART

Hedman - Letang
Heiskanen - Makar
Ceci - Matheson

Vasilevskiy
Kenny Wregget

Realistic improvements only.

 

[PensPlz]

Trotz is out-coaching Sullivan once again.

Sullivan refuses to line match or swap his lines to find more favorable match ups. And you see the results. This has been going on for a while. We won a couple cups because with the talent we had we had more favorable lines regardless of who they played against. But now that's not the case, hasn't been for 3 years, and Sullivan's refuses to do anything different.

So you can post lines all you want. Sullivan won't change. He's got to go.

 

[BrookswasHere44]

For anyone seriously advocating Legace to start needs to go get eff'd. Seriously. Jarry can suck. Jarry can essentially have his bags packed etc etc etc but starting Legace is and will always be worse and dumber than started Jarry.

Ridiculous

 

[Ryder71]

Trotz is out-coaching Sullivan once again.

Sullivan refuses to line match or swap his lines to find more favorable match ups. And you see the results. This has been going on for a while. We won a couple cups because with the talent we had we had more favorable lines regardless of who they played against. But now that's not the case, hasn't been for 3 years, and Sullivan's refuses to do anything different.

So you can post lines all you want. Sullivan won't change. He's got to go.

Trotz didn't outcoach anyone last night. Our goalie was brain dead. If their goalie played as ours did we would have one 6-1 or some such score.

 

[Anya6687]

Ovechkin- McDavid - Crosby
Hall - Eichel - Malkin
Guenztel - Jeff MFing Carter - Rust
BART

Hedman - Letang
Heiskanen - Makar
Ceci - Matheson

Vasilevskiy
Kenny Wregget

Realistic improvements only.

Can you plz find a spot for Bergeron so we can actually win a f**king faceoff..thanks

 

[Ryder71]

For anyone seriously advocating Legace to start needs to go get eff'd. Seriously. Jarry can suck. Jarry can essentially have his bags packed etc etc etc but starting Legace is and will always be worse and dumber than started Jarry.

Ridiculous

What's ridiculous was Jarry's inane nature in goal last night. That was beyond bad, it's almost as if he tried to throw the game. And if there's any question of that whatsoever all options should be considered. Again, not just bad, but almost criminal in nature.

 

[PensPlz]

Trotz didn't outcoach anyone last night. Our goalie was brain dead. If their goalie played as ours did we would have one 6-1 or some such score.

It's not just last night. We've won 3 playoff games in the last 15. 9 out of those 15 losses have been to Trotz.

If you think Trotz isn't eating Sullivan's lunch then idk what to tell you.