Post-Game Talk: Habs 4, Pens 3 (SO) - Well That Sucked

[EightyOne]

I like Maatta although I’d trade anyone if it made the team better.

We want a LW with him. And being down a D that wont happen. And there is no D that straight up with Maatta will make this team better.

I didnt really mean to call you out. I just know you were in the 'pump the brakes dont trade yet' camp.

 

[madinsomniac]

Letang and DeSmith were really, really good. The PK was too.

Nobody else really was. They ranged from decent to god awful, and you know what, Sid may have been about the worst of the lot. A total no show tonight.

Which leaves this point . . . regarding that delay of game penalty, I've seen it with the roles reversed, and people criticize Geno for being lazy because he's gliding to a change but not Sid for jumping on early. Tonight, with the roles reversed . . . well, we can't say Sid was lazy, can we?

I mean, Geno and Phil have been a total adventure. But, in 4 games, Geno has 8 points and Phil has 7. They are the team's two leading scorers. Maybe a little less focus on their shortcomings and a little more on the other paid guys up front and on the blueline who aren't earning their keeps?

EDIT: I still think Riikola is the 3rd best defenseman on the team, although tonight that was a comment about how bad Maatta and Johnson (except for the 5 on 3) were and not a big endorsement of Riikola, who was good and bad tonight.

Here is a hint... when crosby is engaged he is creating scoring chances all the time... when he isn’t engaged his scoring slides.... i think he needs motivation in regular season games these days

 

[PensandCaps]

I don't even know if this team needs another mobile shutdown defenseman, they just need guys who fit Sullivan's system or they need to make Sullivan's system more friendly to the defensemen they already have. With how Letang is playing, you should have 3 legit shutdown D with Letang, Dumoulin and Riikola (although he was iffy tonight).

The surprising thing is that Sullivan hasn't tried Johnson and Letang as a D pair, I kinda expected him to at least give it a shot. I'd rather see both Dumoulin and Letang on their own pairs, they can both stabilize a pair.

Oh god. Nope, no no no to a Johnson/Letang pair.

Id go Dumo/Johnson if we were breaking up Letang and Dumo.

Riikola/Maatta - Letang
Dumo - Johnson
Maatta/Riikola - Oleksiak(Id go Ruh, but not realistic)

 

[Ogrezilla]

Wait, what? Have we played 8 games?

5 of 8 points. I'm apparently drunk

 

[Andy99]

Geno speaking some truths. Getting back to help more when the D is down to 5 and work away from the puck.

I only believe what he says when he’s prognosticating....if he’s not telling us the Pens are going to win their next game, take what he says with a grain of salt....

 

[PensandCaps]

Usually when Malkin speaks up and takes lead, the team listens and responds with a great game.

 

[CertifiedLurker]

I only believe what he says when he’s prognosticating....if he’s not telling us the Pens are going to win their next game, take what he says with a grain of salt....

I'll settle for Maatta not straight up falling down without anyone touching him as an improvement for next game.

 

[EightyOne]

Here is a hint... when crosby is engaged he is creating scoring chances all the time... when he isn’t engaged his scoring slides.... i think he needs motivation in regular season games these days

Can we just convince Sid that he isn't playing professional hockey, but he is running a youth summer hockey camp and that these kids reallllllly need an example to follow? And not to worry about why the kids have beards in this camp.

 

[USMC607]

I know some bars in Pittsburgh carry Unibroue beers. Drink a Fin du Monde for Letang (and a second one for me).

Ayeeee!!!

They got Fin Du Monde down here in Orlando. Disney Springs has it at Raglan Road an Irish Bar, and you can find them at Publix too on occasion for alot cheaper than Disney (Obviously)

 

[FreeBobbyFarnham]

I thought Rust was terrific tonight. Sprong too, well for the 2 shifts he played that is.

 

[Night Shift]

We want a LW with him. And being down a D that wont happen. And there is no D that straight up with Maatta will make this team better.

I didnt really mean to call you out. I just know you were in the 'pump the brakes dont trade yet' camp.

I agree..can't trade him now. I think they will turn their attention to looking for another Dman at the deadline.

 

[Peat]

What happens when/if the whole team decides to do the same? I honestly don't like that mentality and I bet Sully isn't fond of that either, especially coming from his captain. Besides, it's not like Sid is a 50 year old, out of shape dude working at McDonald's. The guy is an athlete in his early 30's coming off a long off-season. I'm sure he'll be fine if he shows up for 20 minutes a night.

Sully's managing a balancing act. No one wants them going all out and killing themselves before April comes round; no one wants complete slacking and bad habits and failing to accumulate points. Part of that balancing act is going to include accepting that players will not give 100% all night every night.

I'm not sure whether Sully likes this, but I'm pretty sure he accepts it. It's been the same pretty much every season since he's got here.

 

[Andy99]

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t know right now if Schultz had a broken bone .... you don’t need further evaluation in Pgh for that...they have X-ray machines in every hockey facility....

The only reason to need further evaluation is if it’s a soft tissue injury...ligament, meniscus etc....and you need a mri....maybe that says his could be something else like torn ankle tendon, Achilles....which could be worse I guess

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t know right now if Schultz had a broken bone .... you don’t need further evaluation in Pgh for that...they have X-ray machines in every hockey facility....

The only reason to need further evaluation is if it’s a soft tissue injury...ligament, meniscus etc....and you need a mri....maybe that says his could be something else like torn ankle tendon, Achilles....which could be worse I guess

If it's swollen to shit it could f*** up the x-ray, I think.

Again, I'd be floored if his tibia isn't broken.

 

[EightyOne]

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t know right now if Schultz had a broken bone .... you don’t need further evaluation in Pgh for that...they have X-ray machines in every hockey facility....

The only reason to need further evaluation is if it’s a soft tissue injury...ligament, meniscus etc....and you need a mri....maybe that says his could be something else like torn ankle tendon, Achilles....which could be worse I guess

I think it is more like 'we are pissed and dont want to show our hand the NHL doesnt make us disclose shit so whatever f*** you media you saw the f***ing game'

 

[Peat]

We want a LW with him. And being down a D that wont happen. And there is no D that straight up with Maatta will make this team better.

I didnt really mean to call you out. I just know you were in the 'pump the brakes dont trade yet' camp.

Of course, this is a big part of why people said pump the brakes. Just knew that situation wasn't going to stay simple.

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t know right now if Schultz had a broken bone .... you don’t need further evaluation in Pgh for that...they have X-ray machines in every hockey facility....

The only reason to need further evaluation is if it’s a soft tissue injury...ligament, meniscus etc....and you need a mri....maybe that says his could be something else like torn ankle tendon, Achilles....which could be worse I guess

Possible swelling issues?

Could just be as simple as Sully refusing to say anything when he has even a whiff of an excuse mind.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Usually when Malkin speaks up and takes lead, the team listens and responds with a great game.

Got a vid? I hope he at least blamed himself...

 

[Gurglesons]

Got a vid? I hope he at least blamed himself...

It’s on the twitter feed.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

@Warm Cookies How are you dealing with that goal?

Simon scoring on a Sprong / Letang set-up.

Everyone you hate and everyone you love.

I like Simon and Good Letang, which he's been all season so far. If Letang played like this last year, I'd never have had a problem with him - kudos for a nice rebound to this point. That Sprong character is somehow managing to get some points in spite of Sully, so great for him.

How are you dealing with:

The coaching staff doesn’t see Rust as a LW.

Then the coaching staff immediately puts Rust on LW...in order to put our 3C Brassard on 1RW, our 1LW Guentzel on 1RW, and unite the awesomely useless trio of Rust-Sheahan-Hornqvist?

Those lines were a total shit show. Sully's really getting creative in the ways he can avoid putting Sprong in the top 9. The "No Rust on LW" narrative is blown now too.

Also, I think it was a perfect example of why Rust shouldn't play LW. He was a ghost out there.

That's what you're going with, huh?

Because the first thing everyone thought when they saw that line together was "Ooh, I bet that'll work!"

Hornqvist and Sheahan were ghosts too, so I guess they shouldn't be RW or C anymore. Their whole careers have been one big lie.

 

[Peat]

Another angle on the frustration -

That's the 3rd game in a row we'd had less than 30 shots on target and less than 60 chances. Pretty crappy return. Its probably not sustainable to keep scoring as much as we do on the back of that.

 

[Tom Hanks]

We want a LW with him. And being down a D that wont happen. And there is no D that straight up with Maatta will make this team better.

I didnt really mean to call you out. I just know you were in the 'pump the brakes dont trade yet' camp.

That’s what JR will do though unless there’s a no brainer deal. He also loves D and Goalie depth. and centre depth lol

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

It's almost like he shouldn't have been thrown right back into the line-up after one HS where we looked good without him.

 

[vodeni]

first of all the bs how this is only beginning of the season and they don't care....well Sully is doubleshifting Sid and Geno, taxing them as if it was the seventh game of SCF....If this is not the time to try new guys, to check things out,
for example: you don't need to be an expert to see that Cullen is done, well try something else, Johnson, Blueger, give them a shot.....

I'll say again: i was very happy to see how they bounce back in the third: At this juncture, i don't care about results, i care about the process: I saw JJ who played really well, our entire defense started finally pushing the blue line and not backing off, that immeadiatly translates in more offensive zone time

Really liked what I saw from line 2, condidering that he won't change that line, happy to see malkin finally taking over...some posters blindly repeating lazy mantra, could not be more wrong: Geno is skating hard, he cares

Loved Brassard in first and third, once Sid starts playing that will be the line.....

I am afraid that Sprong experiment is over, he is as good as gone, he won't get a chance on pens much to my chagrin,

Riikola is a very smart player, I feel bad for Shultz, on human level, however I don't see this as an issue that cannot be handled, we have a bunch of border line 6-7 D-man, if juuso and either JJ or Maata step up to be a good second pairing, Ruh or Trottman can handle no.6

casey was good but boy is he small, it seemed like he would be scored on 100 out of 100 penalty shots....

 

[Peat]

Maatta's stats sucked a lot more than his actual play today. Lot of strong plays to break things up in the defensive zone. Lucky his biggest gaffe didn't cost us a goal and the transition play wasn't great, but that wasn't the worst professional game of his career or most other dmen's career.

Incidentally... praise for the goals, but I can't help but notice most of the defensive units drawing Geno as main attacking line are getting their possession stats smashed in.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I dunno, man. Maatta's been failing the eye test to an extraordinary degree for the past couple of years and people point to advanced stats to say he's not a problem. He continues to play like shit, and his advanced stats are horrible, and he's still not seen as a glaring issue. /shrug

Dude sucks. He's smart, but he's sticking out like a sore thumb on a team trying to play fast and whenever we have to play fast teams he's toast. He shouldn't finish the season here.