Post-Game Talk: | Game #1 | Pens win over Yotes | Zucker and Geno appreciation thread

[jmelm]

Can someone please make a .gif of that Letang hit?

 

[OnMyOwn]

Heinen is such an underrated aspect of this team. Made nice little plays several times last night.

The top 6 looks good, so hopefully they can keep it up.

Swap POJ for Smith and I really like the D pairs. Dumo still looking slow as hell, but I didn’t notice him in a negative way outside of that. Him being up in the play a few times was a plus.

 

[Ryder71]

I want good things for Zucker and Kapanen this season. This was a decent first step.

Absolutely! I thought both accorded themselves rather nicely.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

My hot take is that Malkin is better down low on the half wall than Crosby on the PP

Also, McGinn was mostly responsible for the PP goal against

 

[Flying Dego]

Absolutely! I thought both accorded themselves rather nicely.

You have to give Kap major credit. That shot was real nice. It showed a glimpse of why hes hit 20 goals in a prior season.

He just needs confidence and good direction. I think he'll be just fine in terms of his salary

 

[Extra Texture]

+ To Rust and the boys celebratory huddle after the scrum

That was really an awesome moment. Like “okay, we scored, then we kicked their asses in the scrum. What do we do again? Oh right, let’s celebrate the actual goal”

That moment was a whole lot of fun, just like the game itself. I’m hard pressed to think of any more balanced scoring I’ve seen in the last five years, and all of it from forwards. Literally, both 87, 71, Jake, Rust, Zuck (hell yeah), and…KK (what?!?!) tallying goals is as balanced and as badly needed a scoresheet as.I can recall: the big boys get going right off the mark, while the guys who struggled badly last year get an opening game tally to get some confidence rolling. Long may it continue.

Mix in a solid night for the debuts (Petry, POJ I thought both looked good, Rutta was awesome, Poehling was fine) and good support play from the likes of Carter, McGinn, etc, and as you said the FIRE and pushback they had. That could’ve easily been a vanilla exhibition style game, but Arizona pushed back after a humiliating start and the Pens found the little ball of hate they needed to smack them down. That is EXACTLY the kind of game I want the pens to have on opening night. Had a playoff bite to it, and let’s them know we’ve truly started.

 

[orby]

Zucker and Kapanen both off the schneid after one game, Geno with a goal, the first line looking fearsome, the defense looking formidable...aside from a shaky PK, not much to complain about here. It's only the Coyotes, so I'm not jumping to any conclusions, but that's about as good a performance as you can ask for in a season opener.

 

[pistolpete11]

Here's some positive outlooks for this year:
-If Zucker keeps healthy this is about as good a top 6 as we've seen in forever.
-Our 3rd line has the chance to really be a top notch line. All 3 players can be better than just "bottom 6" guys.

-my most important takeaway and this cannot be understated. Jeff Petry is going to pay huge dividends. Look at the ice time. Letang was able to scale back to around 22min with Petry at 21min. We can get higher quality from Tang and save his health.
-also a huge key look at Rutta getting 18+min near the same as Dumo.

That RD group is rock solid and I'm thrilled.

-Jarry looks par for the course. Think he'll have another good season for us.

I think that's going to have more to do with Rutta than Petry. Marino averaged 20:38 last year (similar to Petry last night), but Ruhwedel only averaged 15:20.

 

[Flying Dego]

I think that's going to have more to do with Rutta than Petry. Marino averaged 20:38 last year (similar to Petry last night), but Ruhwedel only averaged 15:20.

In terms of time I agree that Rutta taking the extra minutes does help a ton.

Expanding that the amount and quality of minutes Petry will give allows us to not worry about Letang playing 25+. Marino could provide safe minutes, where Petry can push the offense. Massive difference.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

You have to give Kap major credit. That shot was real nice. It showed a glimpse of why hes hit 20 goals in a prior season.

He just needs confidence and good direction. I think he'll be just fine in terms of his salary

Don't take this that I'm piling on Kap, but that shot wasn't great. Sure it was hard, but a regular goalie would have easily blocked it bc it went under his arm. If he stays compact, it's a relatively easy save

 

[pistolpete11]

In terms of time I agree that Rutta taking the extra minutes does help a ton.

Expanding that the amount and quality of minutes Petry will give allows us to not worry about Letang playing 25+. Marino could provide safe minutes, where Petry can push the offense. Massive difference.

I thought the ice time was your point, but yeah I agree. Petry will provide a boost in pretty much every facet of the game.

 

[HandshakeLine]

It's amazing how much better this team looks when it invests in players to shore up weaknesses instead of dumping everything into "puck moving".

 

[Icarium]

That feeling when the opponent's best player is their goalie and your team still scores six. Pretty nice.
Need to figure that PK thing. In the last two seasons the numbers were good because Jarry stood on his head on the PK for most of the season. When he was injured and/or unable to do that in the playoffs it was a disaster.
Zucker and Malkin look invigorated... too bad one or both is bound to get injured any day now, if the past is any indicator. Jake and Sid... what can you say? I know it's just the Coyotes but that chemistry is insane.

 

[Flying Dego]

Don't take this that I'm piling on Kap, but that shot wasn't great. Sure it was hard, but a regular goalie would have easily blocked it bc it went under his arm. If he stays compact, it's a relatively easy save

One thing about hockey. Don't open up the "should of been a relatively easy save" dialogue. You can go through 90% of goals and describe a twitch here or there would've made the save.

Kap helped create the 2 on 1 and sniped a nice shot through a small window as the goalie was sliding over. The major thing here is confidence and Kap needs every bit he can get to build a good season for us.

 

[Pens1566]

Happy with the result, but tempering expectations considering who the opponent was. The 'yotes are a bad bad bad bad team.

 

[Flying Dego]

Happy with the result, but tempering expectations considering who the opponent was. The 'yotes are a bad bad bad bad team.

I was more happy to see some of our guys be able to build confidence regardless of opponent.

Hopefully they can carry momentum into the Bolts game.

 

[BigEezyE22]

That was really an awesome moment. Like “okay, we scored, then we kicked their asses in the scrum. What do we do again? Oh right, let’s celebrate the actual goal”

That moment was a whole lot of fun, just like the game itself. I’m hard pressed to think of any more balanced scoring I’ve seen in the last five years, and all of it from forwards. Literally, both 87, 71, Jake, Rust, Zuck (hell yeah), and…KK (what?!?!) tallying goals is as balanced and as badly needed a scoresheet as.I can recall: the big boys get going right off the mark, while the guys who struggled badly last year get an opening game tally also cash in. Long may it continue.

Mix in a solid night for the debuts (Petry, POJ I thought both looked good, Rutta was awesome, Poehling was fine) and good support play from the likes of Carter, McGinn, etc, and as you said the FIRE and pushback they had. That could’ve easily been a vanilla exhibition style game, but Arizona pushed back after a humiliating start and the Pens found the little ball of hate they needed to smack them down. That is EXACTLY the kind of game I want the pens to have on opening night. Had a playoff bite to it, and let’s them know we’ve truly started.

Honestly the whole development of that goal, going back to all 5 skaters bearing down in front of Jarry to get the puck to safety, then out of the zone, and work as a unit the whole way till the puck went in. Just great 200' teamwork.

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

Thought it was interesting that Sullivan said the players decided who took the draws on the PP. I actually liked Malkin taking those draws. He always bears down on the ones that matter more and as long as he can keep winning those key ones, I like Sid up top QB'ing from there and distributing the puck. He was dangerous moving around up top.

Petry is just a good player, loved his game.

 

[Al Smith]

My hot take is that Malkin is better down low on the half wall than Crosby on the PP

Also, McGinn was mostly responsible for the PP goal against

There were 2 PP against. McGinn was on the second; Rust had basically the same breakdown, but not as blatant on the first.

 

[Josey Wales]

Had to DVR the game so late with my thoughts. Happy opener all! This is the first one without my Dad so.... it was a tough day. He used to always ask what the boards were saying when the Pens kicked ass. Lol!

++++ The defensive change was MONSTER. I thought POJ was the only meh. Petry was unreal. These guys are disrupting plays and it's a huge difference in the d-zone. Our d-zone was such an issue. I know it's only the Yotes, but it was the plays I saw that made a difference. I cannot say enough about Petry. SInce they decided to keep the core, I'm glad they got him. I loved Marino but Petry is really really solid.

Especially in front of the net. It felt like bodies were actually taking up space instead of standing/watching. We were hard to beat in the middle.

++++ Sid/G/Letang/Jake/Rusty/etc: I thought these guys were getting older and worse?!?!?!!? Holy heck they looked great. Brought a smile to my face. Jake Guentzel looks even better than ever. I'm blown away.

Geno looked fast in the 1 preseason game I saw. He looked REALLY fast tonight. Really powerful.



- Only negative I have is that 3rd line. Yikes. Early in the game the only zone time the Royes had was when the 3rd line was on the ice.

UGH I have lost Both My Parents & all my Aunts & Uncles. Sorry It gets easier, But Never Easy

 

[SaucyCelly]

Don't take this that I'm piling on Kap, but that shot wasn't great. Sure it was hard, but a regular goalie would have easily blocked it bc it went under his arm. If he stays compact, it's a relatively easy save

When you have a 2 on 1 at that speed, their defense needs to do everything in his power to block the pass. Making a move across like that and not being able to set yourself for that shot is why there was a hole.

 

[Pancakes]

Had to DVR the game so late with my thoughts. Happy opener all! This is the first one without my Dad so.... it was a tough day. He used to always ask what the boards were saying when the Pens kicked ass. Lol!

++++ The defensive change was MONSTER. I thought POJ was the only meh. Petry was unreal. These guys are disrupting plays and it's a huge difference in the d-zone. Our d-zone was such an issue. I know it's only the Yotes, but it was the plays I saw that made a difference. I cannot say enough about Petry. SInce they decided to keep the core, I'm glad they got him. I loved Marino but Petry is really really solid.

Especially in front of the net. It felt like bodies were actually taking up space instead of standing/watching. We were hard to beat in the middle.

++++ Sid/G/Letang/Jake/Rusty/etc: I thought these guys were getting older and worse?!?!?!!? Holy heck they looked great. Brought a smile to my face. Jake Guentzel looks even better than ever. I'm blown away.

Geno looked fast in the 1 preseason game I saw. He looked REALLY fast tonight. Really powerful.



- Only negative I have is that 3rd line. Yikes. Early in the game the only zone time the Royes had was when the 3rd line was on the ice.

Sorry about your Dad, Cole. Agree with your assessments here. The d looks great.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

There were 2 PP against. McGinn was on the second; Rust had basically the same breakdown, but not as blatant on the first.

I agree
I just don't understand what they're trying to accomplish with this structure. It's almost like they're trying to take away point shots by leaving BOTH F's up high? Are they using this as preparation for the Rags' PP?

Either way, it's a terrible set up and not going to work in the long run regardless of opponent

 

[Bnat66]

Has anyone ever heard Geno say "Ronald McDonald"?

 

[Bnat66]

UGH I have lost Both My Parents & all my Aunts & Uncles. Sorry It gets easier, But Never Easy

To add to that I lost my Mother on Father's day 2019 and I'm still not over it. I still feel a huge void without her in my life. And to make it worse my Stepfather has started a new life and abandoned us. My father also passed in 2003 from Leukemia. I know the feeling, didn't mean to turn this into a pity party.