Post-Game Talk: It's been one hell of a ride, boys. One HELL of a ride.

[The Greatest 101]

Not even remotely surprised.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

It's a tiny city. A shadow of what it was in the early 1900's. Pennsylvania is coal country and one of the oldest states in the country. It doesn't attract crazy kids outside of the college scene, which get what 2,000 reserved seats?

DC has 700 thousand roughly living there but they are crazy. I never felt an arena rock my arse like I did in DC when I lived there. Maybe the Byrd arena in NJ in the 90's or Flyers in early 2000.

Pittsburgh crowd was always tame and quiet compared to the rest of what I ever seen. It's not even a question it's fact.

As a freshman at Pitt in 1983, I can tell you bball games at Fitzgerald Field house against the likes of G'town/Ewing, St. Johns/Mullen, Syracuse/Pearl, WVU/whoever were nothing approaching tame and quiet. Nor were Pens games in the Igloo I attended until I left the city in 1990. Also, the coal industry is pretty much long gone, as is steel, and this isn't news to anyone who has been paying attention for the last 40 years. As for DC, Caps' home ice was DEAD QUIET for 2/3's of game 5, just like they were for 2/3's of last year's game 7 loss to the Pens. Danny Snyder had to cover up 30% of the upper deck at FedEx field with painted tarp to hide the apathy of Redskins fans. Your facts aren't facts. And seriously, you actually had a positive fan experience at the Brendan Byrne arena in the Meadowlands in the 90's? Wow. That is amazing... I've watched many Devils and Nets games there and found the place beyond antiseptic.

 

[LOGiK]

As a freshman at Pitt in 1983, I can tell you bball games at Fitzgerald Field house against the likes of G'town/Ewing, St. Johns/Mullen, Syracuse/Pearl, WVU/whoever were nothing approaching tame and quiet. Nor were Pens games in the Igloo I attended until I left the city in 1990. Also, the coal industry is pretty much long gone, as is steel, and this isn't news to anyone who has been paying attention for the last 40 years. As for DC, Caps' home ice was DEAD QUIET for 2/3's of game 5, just like they were for 2/3's of last year's game 7 loss to the Pens. Danny Snyder had to cover up 30% of the upper deck at FedEx field with painted tarp to hide the apathy of Redskins fans. Your facts aren't facts. And seriously, you actually had a positive fan experience at the Brendan Byrne arena in the Meadowlands in the 90's? Wow. That is amazing... I've watched many Devils and Nets games there and found the place beyond antiseptic.

No. Just not going to happen. You really think the penguins have a more raucous attendance than DC, Philly, or North Jersey?
C'mon man. Dont try to be smart and end up stupid.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Can't really be anything but disappointed. Guys underachieved, we handed them two games that we absolutely had won.

It'd be one thing if we lost to a better team, but we lost this series more than they won it. Call me bitter, but I'm not saying we're an awesome team either. But we had this one in the bag and lack of finish coupled with several gigantic gaffes from our blueline cornerstone defenseman making $7.25M/yr handed the Caps this series on a silver platter.

I'll be pretty frustrated if Letang is on this team come October. He needs to go. His issues will get worse before they get better--let someone else think they can fix him. We need to go a different direction, period.

 

[Treent1]

Pretty insane stat: Malkin was on ice 27 High danger scoring chances for and they only scored 2 goals. Absolutely insane HDCF% 71.05. He also had rock bottom PDO 0.87

This is what killed them

 

[Turin]

Pretty insane stat: Malkin was on ice 27 High danger scoring chances and they only scored 2 goals. Absolutely insane HDCA% 71.05. He also had PDO 0.87

This is what killed them

No finish (or luck) and below average goaltending will get you every time. I’d say Phil Kessel going from playoff Phil to below replacement lvl 5 on 5 player was the single biggest issue though. Overall though, just too many things didn’t work at the same time, and it resulted in them losing to a pretty f***ing bad team.

 

[Smasher]

Thank you Penguins. One hell of a ride.

Here's a moment I'll never forget:


View media item 2247

 

[LOGiK]

Thank you Penguins. One hell of a ride.

Here's a moment I'll never forget:


View media item 2247

Did you touch it? You had to touch it no matter who was ganking.

 

[Smasher]

Did you touch it? You had to touch it no matter who was ganking.

Of course not! You have to win it to touch it

 

[LOGiK]

sssss

Of course not! You have to win it to touch it

Oh lord stanley.
What a victory.
Like none sports have ever witnessed.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

No. Just not going to happen. You really think the penguins have a more raucous attendance than DC, Philly, or North Jersey?
C'mon man. Dont try to be smart and end up stupid.

I'm not the one pretending anecdote is reality, I just disagree regarding your diss of Pittsburgh. Our fans kick Caps fans a$$es, ain't close. Notice how 20% of Caps fans are wearing black and gold? Also, how the "let's go Caps" cheer morphs into "let's go Pens"? I didn't mention the Philly savages, neither should you. The Meadowlands is BY FAR the least impressive hockey experience in that region. Flyers is better, Rangers is WAY, WAY better, and (LI) Islanders blew it away before the ill-conceived move to Brooklyn. Bryne arena was lame, other than the easy access by train. At least it takes work to get to the Igloo/Mellon/Consol/PPG Paints Arena/whatever... ;-) Disclaimer- been to Sixer home games but not Flyers, but have little doubt the atmosphere there is strong.

 

[Turin]

Kessel's decision to put his iron man streak over team success was very disappointing

Might have been a situation where he either had to play through it or be done for the rest of the year. I agree that NHL players put way too much stock in those streaks though.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Kessel's decision to put his iron man streak over team success was very disappointing

Do you think his absence makes us a better team? Who replaces him? Daniel "Sully didn't give him a shot in the regular season" Sprong?

Hobbled or not, Kessel had the ability to change games when he was out there. He showed it a few times, but not often enough. There was no other option worth forcing him out of the lineup--and I say that as a huge Sprong fan.

 

[Hockey Freak 7]

I never said he was the best defenseman in the league. If that's your reasoning for trading him, then wewill be trading defensemen every year until we end up with Hedman.

Letang is injury prone.
Another injury waiting to happen for 25+ games for iR
Careless/ reckless hockey player. Low hockey iq . He has bad passing and very brutal on transition defense. He can’t create off the rush. Miss read plays. Always out position. Standing around / screening Murray to much. Constant mental lapses and do to much.
He’s weak. Out man and out muscle. Weak on winning puck battles . He gives puck to opponents all the times..He cross checks like it like it’s defense. He make constant bad clear attempts and he bad in the d zone and neutral zone. He throws the puck anywhere. His passing never connects. He hurts Geno and sid’s Line they are constantly defending in D zone after his bad passing or turnovers..
He consistently inconsistent. Constant turnovers.
He’s hurting this team than helping it . He doesn’t play defense and isn’t great that offensively. He plays loose sloppy unwatchable hockey. He’s a 3rd / bottom pairing defenseman. He’s gone. His contract is bad. He turn the puck over to much from beginning and end of every game . I have valid points to want Letang gone.
Where I’m wrong ? Imo and solid facts from eye test. His older no more great upside . You can’t teach old dog new tricks nor rely on him.
He has never evolved as player individual nor for the betterment of this team regardless his injuries.
I’m not try be funny or tryna sound right . It’s true.
My reasons and opinions are valid . It’s truth to it. Points and stats are very misleading with Letang especially when he rides elite top notch great centers cocktails for points..
Please rewatch games and you will see.
Hes a momentum killer. He give up leads for pens anf give goals to other teams..
It’s absurd and asinine to keep Letang on this D Corp . It’s time to move on. Like I said I believe wholeheartedly Letang won’t be a Penguins in October let alone this summer..
Rutherford can revamp D core with Hunwick and Letang.. plus whatever else.
Penguins d Corp shouldn’t be build around aLetang it’s should be Shultzy and Dumoulin..

 

[Hockey Freak 7]

For all the other posters wanting to move Letang, unless that package contains another #1 D, that move effectively makes every D man worse because their responsibilities increase. We don't have anyone else capable of doing as much as Letang does with his minutes as he does, even with all the mistakes. If you remove him, our D corps becomes a huge weakness.

I like the vast majority of our roster. Some tweaking and our first long break since 2015 should have us coming back strong next year.

Their d Corp won’t be weak . It will be better and fresher. They have good players Pedan in WBS to bring along plus someone like Jacob Trouba to get.if it’s possible.
Pens D will be ok and better without Letang . Not weak . It’s funny to me that many excuses are for Letang. Letang will not get better. Decent return with a number 2 defenseman that’s capable to play spread minutes with Shultz and Dumoulin.
I don’t see no problem there. Letang is replaceable.. he needs to go..

 

[Icarium]

I am not mad that the Pens lost but the way they lost hurts. What a horrible performance. We created like three chances to score all game long and the goal we scored was a fluke. Kudos to the Caps for following their game plan but they aren't some all-time great defensive team to stifle us like that without our players playing badly. I sure hope Kessel is injured because otherwise he would have an inexcusably poor performance. Malkin was too static defensively, battled hard offensively created some chances but so many plays died on the stick of Phil. Sid and Jake can't carry the team in every game, zero even strength goals from all forwards except for those two and Horny is simply beyond terrible, especially with the Caps depth being worse on paper than in 2016 and 2017. So many lazy and/or bad clearing attempts. We had one surge after the lucky goal and that was it, the rest of the game we were about as likely to score as in the worst days under Mike Johnston. We can point fingers and Letang, Brassard, Kessel, whoever, the truth is no Penguin was much good in this game. Very little cohesion or coordination. And we still came inches away from winning but that would have been mostly luck, to be honest.

Also, two wins and four losses on home ice is inexcusable and really odd after the great home performances in the regular seasons.

That said, hell of a ride in the past three seasons, it was bound to end at some point. Rest and come stronger next season.

 

[Hockey Freak 7]

Was there any doubt they'd celebrate like it was the Cup? Heh. Let 'em have it; it's as close as they're likely to get this year. Because they're not getting past Tampa Bay unless a couple of their top guys get Wilsoned / Oshied and miss games. Tampa looks like a machine right now and they're well-rested.




I wouldn't have a problem with it but I'm pulling for the Jets to make it through. Would love to see that city in the Finals and win a Cup. Their fans would go absolutely ape-**** in a way we're just not going to see from other fan-bases. Would be really cool to see (and hear). Plus it's been fun to watch that team of young talents slowly gel into great players and a great team in an era of impatience and "all top draftees must produce immediately or they're disapoint." The way it's happened there, is the way it normally happens. Slowly.




He was. Unfortunately he was playing behind a defense that was well below average. If they had even played "steady" most games we'd probably still be playing. Honestly the team has been showing signs all year that the D was not up to the task of a three-peat. This result isn't that surprising to me. Especially when you consider how late into the last two summers they played + injuries during the series. We weren't getting past Tampa either way though. IMO they're going to the Finals barring some bad injuries or major league BS reffing.




I disagree. Tampa has as good a shot as any team in the field. They're a really good team with a lot of confidence and well-rested. Really the only thing that would piss me off with the remaining teams is Washington. Not because they beat us (was kind of expecting it), but because of Leonsis and how poorly he's handled past defeats. I don't ever want to see that guy rewarded. Don't feel sorry for Ovy either. Yeah he hasn't won it and he's a great talent, but if he loses he'll have more time to talk up his Team Putin initiatives and help the Motherland. In Soviet Russia, golfing season find you. (Well, seeing Nashville win it might tick me off a little... but only because their fans throw catfish.)

My Root Rankings would go like this

Winnipeg (would enjoy it)
Vegas (would enjoy it)
Tampa (meh - don't care either way)
Nashville (would bug me a little)
Wershington (would piss me off)

Yea . Either way . It might be Jets vs Vegas or Tampa vs Vegas. I dk . Someone will win not my pens..

 

[Treent1]

Do you think his absence makes us a better team? Who replaces him? Daniel "Sully didn't give him a shot in the regular season" Sprong?

Hobbled or not, Kessel had the ability to change games when he was out there. He showed it a few times, but not often enough. There was no other option worth forcing him out of the lineup--and I say that as a huge Sprong fan.

No. I meant his regular season streak. He was clearly laboring something long before PO's

 

[flaneur]

Do you think his absence makes us a better team? Who replaces him? Daniel "Sully didn't give him a shot in the regular season" Sprong?

Hobbled or not, Kessel had the ability to change games when he was out there. He showed it a few times, but not often enough. There was no other option worth forcing him out of the lineup--and I say that as a huge Sprong fan.

I think there is a misunderstanding here. The iron man streak that the poster was talking about was for the regular season. After the Pens locked up their playoff slot Kessel should have sat, rested, and healed whatever problem he was having. But he didn't, probably because of his ongoing ironman streak. It was a stupid and selfish move based on ridiculous machismo and not common sense.

Oh well.

 

[JakeNBake59]

man Im super disappointed, why did it have to be the Caps. Hate that team more than I hate the Flyers

Eventually it will sink in and we can all reflect on what a f***ing rollercoaster it was and what an achievement as well, to be the first to win back to back cups in the salary cup era!

Roll on the draft and the next season for a chance to be rejuvenated and return to the top again
until then
Go Bolts and Knights

 

[Burn]

For those rooting for Ovi to win the cup, just remember if he wins that puke Tom Wilson also gets it as well.

Is there any footage of Ovy snowing over that kid and dumping water on him? The Montreal flag waver.

I know the off ice issues of the Caps from those days are gone but that was still despicable and part of the reason I dont like him.

 

[Angrrus]

This was the moment when Crosby could show he really deserved his Conn Smythe trophies. Now, when Pens had no secondary scoring like the previous 2 years, he could really lead the team to victories like a true MVP should.

The result? 1 even strength point (a secondary assist) in games 5 and 6 and a dumb turnover which sprung Kuznetsov on a breakaway for a series clinching goal.

So much for the great playoff leader and MVP. Fake leader and MVP, rather.

 

[Burn]

Turn overs all night from the Pens best players but Crosbys Crosby.

 

[BetterCallSaul]

We're still in a good position to be the next 5-6 years a powerhouse. I'm confident GMJR knows what has to be done in the summer. It was a hell of a ride the last two years and my dissapointment is already gone. Can't win every year.

 

[Icarium]

Don't you just love posters who never show up after a win but always show up after a loss and act angry even though they are clearly happy to have something to rant about?