Series Talk: MDSF: (3) Penguins vs. (2) Islanders - Part II

[ColePens]

You mean like McCann?

Hey... another ColePens call, eh? I love that kid and wanted him for waaaay over a year.

 

[ColePens]

We talked about the trap in last year’s series against the Caps...it’s a good idea against Trotz teams but Sully will never do it...you’d think they’d try everything possible to win this game...

Love that neutral zone right now! Nothing like letting teams skate right through it. If only you had feisty speedy guys who can fly around being little gnats all over the ice.

Nope... just allow teams to fly right on through. Nothing to see here! ZAR, Wilson, etc. will just do their board work. Old skool hocket

 

[Andy99]

Love that neutral zone right now! Nothing like letting teams skate right through it. If only you had feisty speedy guys who can fly around being little gnats all over the ice.

Nope... just allow teams to fly right on through. Nothing to see here! ZAR, Wilson, etc. will just do their board work. Old skool hocket

A huge issue is that ideally we’d want our D to get back quickly in our zone and retrieve pucks and move them out before the Isles can establish their forecheck...that to me has been the biggest problem the Pens face, especially with Letang and Dumo playing thru injury...but given the lack of speed and stupidity of our D it’s not happening...that’s why a form of trap or more conservative D like the Isles are playing would really help our current roster..

Edit...also AJ with his quick forecheck would help in this series...but where is he and why is ZAR still in there?

 

[WayneSid9987]

Love that neutral zone right now! Nothing like letting teams skate right through it. If only you had feisty speedy guys who can fly around being little gnats all over the ice.

Nope... just allow teams to fly right on through. Nothing to see here! ZAR, Wilson, etc. will just do their board work. Old skool hocket

Why i hate the way they're treating Blueger. If anyone is smart enough to fix the NZ, he's one of the guys.
Playing ZAR/Wilson in the same lineup and especially on a 4th line you play in a defensive role is so dumb.
Playing ZAR higher than the 4th line, even dumber.

 

[mpp9]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

 

[Ugene Magic]

 

[WayneSid9987]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

Not really.
Just think this Isles team with the craptacular D that we have right now has sapped all the get up and go of guys like him and Sid.
Both are expected deep in their own zone and it's needed to successfully break pucks out then to chip pucks and do everything in the OZ.
Least thats how i see things.

Always a thing where when a guy gets paid he may not have that fire but for a guy like Jake, i don't see it as a problem for him over the length of his contract.

 

[Terrapin]

While the defense can't move the puck, what's the excuse when the Pens are in the zone and/or on the PP? It's the forwards refusing to even think about engaging in a puck battle

 

[WayneSid9987]

While the defense can't move the puck, what's the excuse when the Pens are in the zone and/or on the PP? It's the forwards refusing to even think about engaging in a puck battle

#FireRecchi

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

While the defense can't move the puck, what's the excuse when the Pens are in the zone and/or on the PP? It's the forwards refusing to even think about engaging in a puck battle

Or how on a 3 on 1?

Even the worse players can get a great chance out of that. Not our guys!

That was like the game right there, or at least the confidence boost they needed.

 

[zero8771]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

who would possibly be worried about jake guentzdaddy?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

Anyone worried about Jake moving forward is a big ol' dumb dumb. Jake's one of the bright spots for this team for the next decade.

As much flak as Sid and Jake get, and rightfully so--they've been bad, the Bolts' big four (Hedman, Kuch, Stamkos, Point) have a combined zero points to their name as well. Sometimes really, really good players just don't produce or play well. It happens. It doesn't make them any worse as players.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Anyone worried about Jake moving forward is a big ol' dumb dumb. Jake's one of the bright spots for this team for the next decade.

As much flak as Sid and Jake get, and rightfully so--they've been bad, the Bolts' big four (Hedman, Kuch, Stamkos, Point) have a combined zero points to their name as well. Sometimes really, really good players just don't produce or play well. It happens. It doesn't make them any worse as players.

The Pens guys also have cup rings on their fingers and aren’t staring down what I’d consider the worst upset in NHL history.

Not only has no President trophy winner ever been swept in round one, but TB put up a historical season.

That’s just... so bad. And the bigger kick in the sack is it happens when the West is as weak as ever.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

I'm not worried about Guentzel moving forward. He's a good/great player. But as a fan I'm upset with how poorly he's played over the last 5 days.

 

[BeatenLikeRentedMule]

If the Pens checked out of Game 3, I hope there will be empty unpaid seats for Game 4 (not likely). The fans paid a fortune to support them and these multi-millionaires can't even give an effort worthy of a pre-season game? In a lot of buildings around the league their fans would be throwing garbage on the ice after such a putrid effort. F.O needs to be sent a message that it's not acceptable, not even after back-to-back championships.

It's one thing to lose, it's another to not even give an effort as professional athletes for.

 

[Hockeyholic]

How did this guy not get a beer shower at minimum? Seriously. Can you imagine if he wore a "Bergeron sux" jersey in Boston? Or a "Giroux sux" jersey in Philly?

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Hey... another ColePens call, eh? I love that kid and wanted him for waaaay over a year.

Lol...honestly I know you do a lot here, but I show up sporadically so I didn't know that was your call. I'll take your word for it .

I think Sullivan is actually a great coach, but our core has won so much, that they seem to tune out coaches quickly, or at least that's how I'm feeling it.

As for JR...
Aside from JJ, I don't think he did a bad job. Everybody forgets that he didn't have much to work with. I'm actually impressed he managed to fit everything under the salary cap. If you see what happened to Chicago, at least we haven't gone down that path (yet).

Even JJ is a serviceable 3rd pairing, and I'm sure that's how they looked at it. With Gudbranson though, he's expendable, and Sully had the balls to bench him game 1.

What I like about JR that he doesn't just for the shiny new obvious toy but tries to find diamonds on the rough for not too much cost. Also he's great at polishing copper and pawning it off as gold (aka Brassard this year).

Do you think we're done tomorrow, or we taking it any further?

I honestly think where we land will really decide what happens. Going in 4 sends a different message than battling it out until game 6 (say).

 

[Pancakes]

We look toast, but I expect the team to at least try to put together a good effort in game 4. These are still proud athletes. Nobody wants to be swept.

Hard to see this getting past game 5 though unless Murray dominates. It becomes an interesting series in a hurry if we win games 4 and 5 though. Our house would be rocking for game 6.

 

[Dangles78]

Anyone worried about Guentzel moving forward, take a look at Pastrnak in his series. Just as bad if not worse.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m definitely worried. Only 23 goals in 40 playoff games and a 40 goal regular season. Very concerning numbers and he just signed an extension. JR should look to move that contract ASAP

 

[WayneSid9987]

They gotta fix this D and it wouldn't take a ton to do it i believe.
First and foremost shed cash any and every way.
MP/Guds/Riiko or Ruh is fine for depth D.

Either get a really solid 2nd pairing LD OR a RD that has offensive skill and is capable of better defending than Schultz.

It were me since Phil is probably dealt i look for that D in that deal.

Even at minimum if you just shed the cash on it and do things like play MP or Riiko up in the middle LD spot/let Addison dabble a bit earlier than you'd want, you're headed in the right direction.
What you don't do is get scared of ^ and go out and sign JJ(he'll probably still be here anyway but you get my point.)

So at minimum if you just ship off Olli and have:

Dumo-Tang
MP/Riiko-Schultz
MP/Riiko-Guds
Addison
(JJ if he's still here)

You're ahead of the game BUT...
They GOTTA treat JJ like that if he stays here.
Obviously i prefer everything from trading him, buying him out, burying him in the minors...

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Brian Dumoulin taps into 2013 memory with WBS to show Penguins can rally from 0-3 deficit

“We have a lot of playmakers that can make plays off the rush, and it doesn’t have to be a 2-on-1 rush, we can take advantage of 2-on-2 rushes too,” Dumoulin said about playing to the Penguins’ identity. “We have to really recognize when it’s a 2-on-2 rush or it’s a 2-on-4 rush. Those are the times we have to dump the puck in and (avoid) creating turnovers, which feeds (NYI) into their forecheck. If we take advantage of the chances that we do get, it’ll benefit us.”

They could't figure this basic change after game 1?

I will give Sullivan credit for ACTUALLY trying to tweak the strategy vs DB (where is that classic jpeg?) even though it's after the 11th hour.

 

[Andy99]

We look toast, but I expect the team to at least try to put together a good effort in game 4. These are still proud athletes. Nobody wants to be swept.

Hard to see this getting past game 5 though unless Murray dominates. It becomes an interesting series in a hurry if we win games 4 and 5 though. Our house would be rocking for game 6.

The only way we’re winning any game in this series is if Murray stands on his head and posts a .960+ save % and it might have to be .1000...

 

[Pancakes]

The only way we’re winning any game in this series is if Murray stands on his head and post a .960+ save % and it might have to be .1000...

You never know. If the games open up at all, we can pile up goals in a hurry. Isles look like a well oiled machine though. They might stumble for a game, or even two, but four in a row?

But you know I was thinking today that Sid and Geno have done it all. Art Rosses, Richards, Cups, Smythes. You know what they haven't done? Come back from being down 0-3 in a series. Wouldn't that be a feather in their caps?

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Why i hate the way they're treating Blueger. If anyone is smart enough to fix the NZ, he's one of the guys.
Playing ZAR/Wilson in the same lineup and especially on a 4th line you play in a defensive role is so dumb.
Playing ZAR higher than the 4th line, even dumber.

I don't know how sully can essentially go to the exact same lineup (adding McCann) the game after getting schooled Fri night

But indeed he did and here we are where in some universe fresh off long term injury ZAR, is better than rust and blueger

 

[WayneSid9987]

I don't know how sully can essentially go to the exact same lineup (adding McCann) the game after getting schooled Fri night

But indeed he did and here we are where in some universe fresh off long term injury ZAR, is better than rust and blueger

Yea thats the most maddening thing is Blue scored/did all those good things down the stretch and they just throw in ZAR, who everybody on the staff should know the guy takes a while to get going. Throwing him right into a PO series was dumb and not only did they do that, they promote him him to play top 6 wing when McCann couldn't go.

The other most maddening thing is putting Jake-Sid-Rust together with what it looked like last time it was together. It was playing alot of hockey in it's own end of the ice is what it was doing.

The lines that worked down the stretch were McCann-Sid-Jake and Simon-Bjugs-Horny. They shouldn't have broke them up.
Just had to slot someone like Blue/Johnson beside G-Phil and let 'em go out and play.

I don't even know if all that would've made a difference against these Isles but it would've been a helluva lot smarter to start with that.

Atleast they got the D right. It's just Dumo-Tang are banged up/just got back and Olli had wut, 2 games to prepare for the ratcheting up.