Post-Game Talk: GAME 37 - Penguins 6 BRUINS 5

mar2kbos

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Sep 28, 2017
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Lohrei is a defensive liability at this point. Send him back to Providence for more seasoning and play Wotherspoon until Forbort comes back.
He wasn’t great but name one defenseman that was tonight. They were all pretty bad, it’s just easy for Monty to bench a rookie and try to pin it on him. You don’t let up that many goals and say it’s one defenseman causing all your problems. It’s a cop out
 

Mione134

Queen in the North
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Mar 30, 2010
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We need more physicality. I don't how we get it from guys who should be doing it, but we need it. It was a crazy game. And we almost got a win, but we can't give up 6 and expect to win. Lots of good things from players, lots of not so great things. Shame it off. Move to the next one.
 

dugg133

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Jan 11, 2023
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Honestly the more I think about it the more annoyed I get about them calling up Merkulov after he had like 16 points in 10 games for Prov, only to end up playing him 6 min on the 4th line. It's just so self-defeating and stupid, it drives me f***ing crazy.
 

the negotiator

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Just in from the GArden

Well that wasn't fun.....hard to believe an NHL game had a COMBINED 3 hits in the first period....in essence an exhibition game level of intensity ...and this type of skate and skill game plays right into the Penguins playbook

Pasta, Geekie, McAvoy stood out to me on the plus side. Marchy had his moments but wasn't consistent

Lindholm and Grizz didn't look good while a number of players- Coyle, Zacha, JDB, JVR just didn't bring much

I felt bad for Sway who had a true Jekyl and Hyde game....gave up a couple of softies while at other times made spectacular saves ( two in a row from the slot in period two stood out) while his teammates watched. Charmin soft in the d zone from both forwards and D made it way too easy for the Penguins who seemed to win every important face-off

All in all a very winnable game which ended up as an L
 
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Aussie Bruin

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Just to come back to the 4th line again – I get why Monty is leery about using them much. They barely managed a single shot attempt between them, and spent most of their time chasing pucks and opponents and giving up multiple good scoring chances, although, perhaps more through luck than anything, only Beecher wound up with a -1 against his name. Clearly they weren’t good. But when you play 2 rookies together with a fringe player who’s still somewhat inexperienced himself at this level then this really probably isn’t much of a surprise. And you can’t keep giving your 4th so few minutes a night – this was a particularly light-on outing for them, but their average TOI/G has reduced from 10-12 mins last season to 9-10 this year. That adds up pretty quickly over time in terms of load that has to be borne elsewhere.

The cattle at the coach’s disposal aren’t great. That has to be acknowledged. But I think more could be done either to find a combo that works better and stick with it, and/or find times and situations during games where they can soak up some more minutes without, at the very least, causing any harm. Don’t know if it’s a major issue, but what we're seeing at present certainly feels less than ideal.

Lots going well for the Bs, obviously. Can't complain too much. This is just one thing that stands out as a bit problematic and something that could bite when we least want it to.
 
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JoeIsAStud

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Feb 27, 2002
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Honestly the more I think about it the more annoyed I get about them calling up Merkulov after he had like 16 points in 10 games for Prov, only to end up playing him 6 min on the 4th line. It's just so self-defeating and stupid, it drives me f***ing crazy.

Should they have benched Zacha? Coyle? Or maybe forced one of their top 2 Centers to move to a different position so they can make room for him?
 
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dugg133

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Jan 11, 2023
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Should they have benched Zacha? Coyle? Or maybe forced one of their top 2 Centers to move to a different position so they can make room for him?
There's this thing you seem to have forgotten about called the "third line". It's where they played Merkulov in his first game after his call up, the JVR-Merk-Freddy line played 10 min at 5v5 that game and had an 88% xGF%. They should've just stuck with that cause it worked.
 

22Brad Park

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Nov 23, 2008
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I don't agree.
The only play that stands out to me as bad for Charlie was when he cornered himself and the delay of game penalty ensued.Not sure what you expect from him without a cape on because he eats a crapload of minutes.Its near impossible in today's game to play flawless out there just about half the game.
 
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bruins19

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Aug 11, 2005
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Just in from the GArden

Well that wasn't fun.....hard to believe an NHL game had a COMBINED 3 hits in the first period....in essence an exhibition game level of intensity ...and this type of skate and skill game plays right into the Penguins playbook

Pasta, Geekie, McAvoy stood out to me on the plus side. Marchy had his moments but wasn't consistent

Lindholm and Grizz didn't look good while a number of players- Coyle, Zacha, JDB, JVR just didn't bring much

I felt bad for Sway who had a true Jekyl and Hyde game....gave up a couple of softies while at other times made spectacular saves ( two in a row from the slot in period two stood out) while his teammates watched. Charmin soft in the d zone from both forwards and D made it way too easy for the Penguins who seemed to win every important face-off

All in all a very winnable game which ended up as an L
When we scored the first goal 20 seconds in, I thought we were off to the races. Then it turned into Monday night pickup with back to back opposing goals. The total lack of hitting precluded slowing the Pens down or preventing their stretch pass/long dump plays like the one that led to the goal (as drawn by the ESPN crew multiple times). The officiating was uneven and awful and the winning goal was an NHL/ESPN gift to Crosby. I get the call on McAvoy, but the Pen who he hooked then committed two infractions: unsportsmanlike for throwing McAvoy’s stick and then roughing for popping him in the face. No call. Further, when the ref was yelling at McAvoy in the scrum, I thought he was telling him to stop because the Pen was also going to the box. Nope.
 

Bridges31

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Oct 7, 2007
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Honestly the more I think about it the more annoyed I get about them calling up Merkulov after he had like 16 points in 10 games for Prov, only to end up playing him 6 min on the 4th line. It's just so self-defeating and stupid, it drives me f***ing crazy.
He hasn’t looked like he belongs on this roster in the minimal games he’s played.
 

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