Post-Game Talk: Lightning 5, Penguins 4 - Pens Prevent the Empty Netter

[Anita L]

this team right now looks very similar to the team that was playing under coach Dan Bylsma right before his firing.
they look disengaged lack of discipline and focus lack attention to detail and not interested in playing together as a team total disarray. if they don't get on track soon sully could be on the hot seat.this defense giving up so many breakaways and shorthanded goals along with giving up soft goals and the stars not scoring are all coming to light, someone has to step up on this team and get them in the right mindset and unity before its to late.

 

[Angrrus]

No. You trade it for an impact Dman. Gotta go for it.


The Pens can't look like they're not trying to win the cup.

They've looked like it on the ice fro 18+ months already.

 

[pensfansince88]

Kessel sucks

 

[Zirakzigil]

this team right now looks very similar to the team that was playing under coach Dan Bylsma right before his firing.
they look disengaged lack of discipline and focus lack attention to detail and not interested in playing together as a team total disarray. if they don't get on track soon sully could be on the hot seat.this defense giving up so many breakaways and shorthanded goals along with giving up soft goals and the stars not scoring are all coming to light, someone has to step up on this team and get them in the right mindset and unity before its to late.

Time to fire the coach and win a Stanley Cup. Past history has shown this is the winning formula. I’m sure Coach Q would be interested.

 

[Al Smith]

We don't really have many picks to trade with either. Well, this years anyway. I don't think we should trade our 1st in case we do miss out. We only have a 4th after that until the later rounds.

This team isn't terrible but it's in a funk.

It's not terrible, but I don't think it's in that much of a funk. It's a pretty mediocre team right about where it should be in the standings.

 

[Icarium]

This team has lost enough to miss the playoffs. Nobody is mad at this game in a vacuum.

Of course, but still this thread is already bigger than the thread after the CAR game which was far more of a debacle.

 

[Angrrus]

special teams once again loses us a game. You would think these clowns would be playing smarter and defensively responsible on the PP when they know they're on pace to be an embarrassment in the history of PK goals allowed by a team..

They. Just. Don't. Care.

 

[Angrrus]

A really nice way to not get scored against is to be playing offense. Both of those guys should help us do that, though obviously it depends on what version of Geno comes back. Schultz is just a plain better player than at least half of our d-men too. Again, it's no guaranteed win or anything with them in, but they are both clearly better players than the guy they would be replacing.

That all is fair and legit, but that doesn't mean that the guys who are left should just throw in a white towel and lose games in bunches until the injured bodies come back.

 

[joeyjake5]

a loss to the flys on Monday night, and Lemieux will panic. He will tell JR to mortgage the future to try to make the playoffs. Also, on NB did he get cut or land on his elbow or shoulder???

 

[Ogrezilla]

That all is fair and legit, but that doesn't mean that the guys who are left should just throw in a white towel and lose games in bunches until the injured bodies come back.

Well yeah. I don't think anyone watched last night's game and thought we threw in the white towel though, right?

Our team has a huge problem of losing a lot of games against bad teams. Major legit issue. But then we also compete and often beat the top teams. So I have a weird mixed view of the team. Could we miss the playoffs? Yeah. Do I think we have a chance to succeed in the playoffs? Yeah. The team has shown both of those things imo. We play too well against good teams for me to just say we suck. We clearly don't. But we lose too many games to say we are perfect too. theres clearly something wrong at some level.

 

[Corvidae]

Healthy Malkin, Schultz and Murray, Pens can take these guys in a seven game series.

Maybe, but only because they're coached by a thin, younger Boudreau. Cooper is a garbage coach in the playoffs.

Actually, still no chance. Pens will get stomped if they meet in round 1 and then they'll choke in 2 or 3. At least this year he can't throw the Callahan/Kunitz line out as a constant counter punch so they have a better chance.

 

[Rossi Rat]

I said in another post there are two absolute inevitables with this team, as constructed:

Phil gets traded.

Sully gets fired.

Just how soon those two will happen is up to how things wind down here.

I do think they’ll make the playoffs - but will go one and done.

 

[Pete Gas]

Each minute that goes by without Sully being fired -Doc Rivers gif-

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Well yeah. I don't think anyone watched last night's game and thought we threw in the white towel though, right?

Our team has a huge problem of losing a lot of games against bad teams. Major legit issue. But then we also compete and often beat the top teams. So I have a weird mixed view of the team. Could we miss the playoffs? Yeah. Do I think we have a chance to succeed in the playoffs? Yeah. The team has shown both of those things imo. We play too well against good teams for me to just say we suck. We clearly don't. But we lose too many games to say we are perfect too. theres clearly something wrong at some level.

Unless something significant changes I don't see how we're doing anything of consequence in the playoffs. Too many question marks and too much quality competition in the East. JR's gonna have to have himself a deadline if we want to do any better than last year.

 

[Andy99]

Yep, this team is what it’s record is...mediocre....can they somehow make it into the PO and win a 7- game series? Sure, but the odds are really against it, especially since they’ll be playing better teams in round 1 like Wash or TB given their struggles in the standings...odds are they will be one and done...if you knew that now, would you still want them to make the POs? Personally I’d rather them tank for a lottery pick that could boost the teamin the next couple years

 

[Ogrezilla]

Unless something significant changes I don't see how we're doing anything of consequence in the playoffs. Too many question marks and too much quality competition in the East. JR's gonna have to have himself a deadline if we want to do any better than last year.

Yep, this team is what it’s record is...mediocre....can they somehow make it into the PO and win a 7- game series? Sure, but the odds are really against it, especially since they’ll be playing better teams in round 1 like Wash or TB given their struggles in the standings...odds are they will be one and done...if you knew that now, would you still want them to make the POs? Personally I’d rather them tank for a lottery pick that could boost the teamin the next couple years

eh, I disagree. I mean, we aren't favorites. But I think this team can do some damage. There's no one (at least in the east) that I think we can't beat. Even last year, our entire offense outside of 1 line disappeared and we largely played like crap, but we still made it 6 games against the eventual champs. This team is still really freaking good despite itself. The good players are just too good for me to ever consider us out of contention.

And f*** that tanking idea.

 

[USMC607]

a loss to the flys on Monday night, and Lemieux will panic. He will tell JR to mortgage the future to try to make the playoffs. Also, on NB did he get cut or land on his elbow or shoulder???

Apparently a TB player fell and his legs/skates flew up in the air and caught him under him his upper left arm.

He immediately left the ice holding it.

 

[billybudd]

this team right now looks very similar to the team that was playing under coach Dan Bylsma right before his firing.
they look disengaged lack of discipline and focus lack attention to detail and not interested in playing together as a team total disarray. if they don't get on track soon sully could be on the hot seat.this defense giving up so many breakaways and shorthanded goals along with giving up soft goals and the stars not scoring are all coming to light, someone has to step up on this team and get them in the right mindset and unity before its to late.

I don't see that. DB's last club was bored (Sutter, Neal), joyless and over the hill (Glass, Adams, Pyatt, Orpik, Kobasew, Scuderi). Maatta aside, what few young players it did have were either terrible (Gibbons, Bennett, Vitale, Megna) or scratched (Despres, Bortuzzo).

The team I see on the ice isn't disengaged like DB's was, nor do there seem to still be useful players sitting in the press box. It wants to win but can't, something like how Mike Johnston's club looked. It's better than that one, but like MJ's Pens, it doesn't have a critical mass of puck movement or speed to be able to force the circumstances on the ice to its own advantage. Schultz should help with puck movement, but I don't think he's a magic bullet.

 

[ronduguayshair]

Silly idea to fire the coach. Silly.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

In a 7 game series with a healthy line-up I feel we can take these guys.

Making the playoffs is a serious concern right now. This is the time we need to start going on that run!

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

eh, I disagree. I mean, we aren't favorites. But I think this team can do some damage. There's no one (at least in the east) that I think we can't beat. Even last year, our entire offense outside of 1 line disappeared and we largely played like crap, but we still made it 6 games against the eventual champs. This team is still really freaking good despite itself. The good players are just too good for me to ever consider us out of contention.

And **** that tanking idea.

Definitely with you there. But we need to address our actual issues if we want to make an extended run rather than console ourselves with being a hard out. Bjugstad and McCann might have been decent value (and I have considerable doubts about Bjugstad's contract and fit here), but they don't solve any of our biggest problems. It's just moving deck chairs.

The situation of the entire offense disappearing outside of 1 line and largely playing like crap looks awful familiar this year - and now we have f***ing Jack Johnson to contend with nightly . IMO we either need to add a forward who can jumpstart Malkin or Kessel, or an impact defenseman who can solidify the blueline if we want to avoid a similar outcome. What we have won't get it done, and praying for Malkin and Schultz to come back at full strength to lead us out of the mire seems more like wishful thinking than anything.

Looking at the Pens situation clear-eyed...is there anything in the Pens' play this season that suggests they're legit contenders at this point?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This team has lost enough to miss the playoffs. Nobody is mad at this game in a vacuum.

Yeah, I never understood the posts that make it sound like all the anger or frustration in a PGT is entirely about *that* given game.

 

[LittleSpoon]

Once we get Schultz and Malkin back I bet this team goes on a run. We will finish probably second in the division and will either win the cup or be knocked out in the second round. This of course depends on if Schultz is as effective as I believe he’s going to be. Our transition is an issue right now which leads to further issues in the dzone. We are getting some secondary offensive help, and I just find it hard to believe that fully healthy this team doesn’t at least seriously compete. If I’m wrong then oh well, but there are some hungry guys on this team and on paper I think our forward group is deeper than ever. In Schultz I trust.

I mean we did just compete pretty hard against the best team in the league under pretty crippling circumstances.

Double edit: everything isn’t always roses and butterflies. Sometimes you got thorns and fugly caterpillars, until the beauty starts to show.

 

[Pancakes]

I think Schultz will be a huge shot in the arm, but we are at the point now where we're one of many teams competing for the last spot. We might end up on the outside if those guys don't come back and make an immediate impact. I don't think Buffalo and Carolina are going away.

 

[EightyOne]

Once we get Schultz and Malkin back I bet this team goes on a run. We will finish probably second in the division and will either win the cup or be knocked out in the second round. This of course depends on if Schultz is as effective as I believe he’s going to be. Our transition is an issue right now which leads to further issues in the dzone. We are getting some secondary offensive help, and I just find it hard to believe that fully healthy this team doesn’t at least seriously compete. If I’m wrong then oh well, but there are some hungry guys on this team and on paper I think our forward group is deeper than ever. In Schultz I trust.

I mean we did just compete pretty hard against the best team in the league under pretty crippling circumstances.

Double edit: everything isn’t always roses and butterflies. Sometimes you got thorns and fugly caterpillars, until the beauty starts to show.

Lol. Well. We'll see.