Post-Game Talk: Penguins 2, Islanders 1 (OT) - CDS Saves Dead Team Skating

[AuroraBorealis]

Brassard can't run a third line here. At least not with ZAR and Rust.

So ether he needs to play higher as a wing, or you trade him for somebody or more that can make an effective third line.

Probably easier to trade others to get him better wingers .

The solution's so obvious. You trade Maatta.
We spend way too much on a D-corps that isn't good anyway. Riikola takes his spot. The blue line gets faster and more dangerous offensively. You save 3 million and upgrade the winger depth. Schultz returns in February.

 

[billybudd]

Not entirely sure what it is, but this team is nearly as boring as Mike Johnston's.

 

[mpp9]

Not entirely sure what it is, but this team is nearly as boring as Mike Johnston's.

I like Rutherford, but the past season and change has been bad for him.

His impact trade deadline acquisition has been nowhere near impactful enough to warrant what was moved out.

He traded a fast depth scorer so he could sign Jack Johnson.

Giving Rust money and term instead of selling high on him this summer.

Building a defense that apparently goes into suck mode without a guy who wasn't guaranteed to get an NHL contract not too long ago.

 

[Turin]

Not entirely sure what it is, but this team is nearly as boring as Mike Johnston's.

No young good guys, the D is missing two offensively inclined dmen.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

DeSmith won that game for the Pens.

So many passengers on the team right now. So many players making the dumbest mistakes on relatively simple plays.

Our bottom six basically brings zero offense to the table.

You're up, JR. Do something to fix this.

 

[WayneSid9987]

They're still on the right side of shot volume. They simply need more production. I know this D without Schultz doesn't help things a ton either. If the likes of Rust, Wilson, etc. etc. bring nothing to the table. Get em down to WB or sneak em on IR and bring up some damn new blood.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Some of you guys are pretty rough on the team tonight.

They out chanced NYI and had the better possession numbers at even strength.

Most importantly they won the game

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

He almost won a board battle by himself tonight when the defender turned his hips wrong and ZAR tried to come off the boards with the puck but fell down. It was like when a baby learns to walk and gets all excited when they can take more than three steps... then boom.

I couldn’t stop laughing until his next shift when I remembered he’s the next Hornqvist.

ZAR on that one particular penalty kill almost had me tossing my remote at the TV. I believe it was two failed clearing attempts, then he did something else stupid (my brain shut down watching that sequence so I'm drawing a blank on the third mistake he made).

I just don't know what the guy actually does well. If someone says "blocks shots", I swear we're back to the reason why Craig Adams absolutely had to dress every night.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I like Rutherford, but the past season and change has been bad for him.

His impact trade deadline acquisition has been nowhere near impactful enough to warrant what was moved out.

He traded a fast depth scorer so he could sign Jack Johnson.

Giving Rust money and term instead of selling high on him this summer.

Building a defense that apparently goes into suck mode without a guy who wasn't guaranteed to get an NHL contract not too long ago.

It's unfair to hold a GM responsible for sudden drops in play of players. No one expected Rust to be this bad or Brassard to be worse than Bonino. It's on the coaching staff and on the players themselves.

Would say that Johnson's been trending upward for a while now, although the term is bad at his age.

The Sprong trade was good. Acquiring Pearson was good. And I'll also credit him for not trading Kessel or Letang.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Not entirely sure what it is, but this team is nearly as boring as Mike Johnston's.

I went to do something else after the 2nd and honestly forgot about the game until it was over.

 

[Turin]

It's unfair to hold a GM responsible for sudden drops in play of players. No one expected Rust to be this bad or Brassard to be worse than Bonino. It's on the coaching staff and on the players themselves.

Would say that Johnson's been trending upward for a while now, although the term is bad at his age.

The Sprong trade was good. Acquiring Pearson was good. And I'll also credit him for not trading Kessel or Letang.

Why is it the coaches fault that Rust sucks? Or that Brass is soft in his role?

 

[StroShow]

Crazy how after all this Pens are just 5 points back of the division lead

 

[billybudd]

It's unfair to hold a GM responsible for sudden drops in play of players. No one expected Rust to be this bad or Brassard to be worse than Bonino. It's on the coaching staff and on the players themselves.

Would say that Johnson's been trending upward for a while now, although the term is bad at his age.

The Sprong trade was good. Acquiring Pearson was good. And I'll also credit him for not trading Kessel or Letang.

I was suspicious that Rust might have already played his best hockey and wanted to sell high on him instead of giving him a contract extension, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he'd fall this far, this fast.

 

[Doogle]

Reading through this thread, one could easily assume that we lost 5 1. And Brassard got our one goal, I'm not sure why he's getting a bulk of the criticism tonight.

It's clear that we still need more forward depth and that we need to straighten out our defense, but let's at least acknowledge that we came back from down a goal to win the game tonight. That's something to not be miserable about. Two points is two points

 

[Turin]

I’m still all for laterally moving away from every late 2017/ early mid 2018 acquisition. Just change the style, because they’re either milquetoast (Brass, Sheahan) or incredibly low IQ (Oleksiak/Johnson). Pearson, Riikola and Pettersson are fine. Brass could eventually work out but his style is at least underwhelming for his role.

That said, they haven’t played terribly. I think the foundation is there, but they look old. They need more enthusiasm/energy and an impact guy on D.

 

[BmxHockey]

This was a Bylsma style win from what I saw.

Sans The Stretch Pass....

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

I'll definitely take the win. I think DeSmith is saving our butts. It's a beaut.

I'll say this, no matter how frustrating it is, i'm 100% not taking these Sid moments for granted. He may not be getting 4 points a night, but he's dominating these games. The one play where he was on the ground and got up while doing a spin move around the dman to control the puck was insane. I'll never take a night for granted because it's going to be over soon.

But at the same time, the mass frustration from Dumo (tonight), Rust, Sheahan, Maatta, Oleksiak, Brass, etc. Just drives me crazy. Fine young cannibals crazy.

My 12 year old son lost his **** watching that insane play where Sid outplayed dude while on his knees/***. Amazing. Lower body strength rivals a T-Rex. We endured NHL.com madness repeating it a couple of times. And Mearsy and Co. were silent. WTF?

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I went to do something else after the 2nd and honestly forgot about the game until it was over.

The Isles are in full Trotz mode right now. They're lacking in overall talent, so they're more than happy to obstruct and slow down the game.

It's like playing the old Devils or the Senators. Survival and two points are all that matter.

 

[robes1]

Reading through this thread, one could easily assume that we lost 5 1. And Brassard got our one goal, I'm not sure why he's getting a bulk of the criticism tonight.

It's clear that we still need more forward depth and that we need to straighten out our defense, but let's at least acknowledge that we came back from down a goal to win the game tonight. That's something to not be miserable about. Two points is two points

This. Especially regarding Brass. He didn't play a perfect game tonight, but he's been better lately. I think a lot of people recognize that he needs better wingers on his line (No ZAR!), but fan-bases tend to single out certain players regardless. Can he be better? Absolutely, but so can the rest of the team (minus maybe Sid who is playing well).

 

[ncm7772]

He almost won a board battle by himself tonight when the defender turned his hips wrong and ZAR tried to come off the boards with the puck but fell down. It was like when a baby learns to walk and gets all excited when they can take more than three steps... then boom.

I couldn’t stop laughing until his next shift when I remembered he’s the next Hornqvist.

Remember that exact play. Putrid.

I mean, I’m not really sure what else you want him to say. Honestly, that PK was probably the best sequence I’ve seen from the Pens in 3v3 all year outside of the Sid goal.

Was a very solid kill, but Sullivan is just reaching for anything to fit his narrative that ZAR is an NHL player at this point.

We suck a great deal more than I would have thought possible with this roster. Fortunately this year our division in general sucks more than I thought it would also, so we have a decent amount of time to get it right and still contend for the division.

But again, I really thought we would be better than this.

Spot on.

1 goal in 29 games now for Rust!

Last(and only)scored almost a week before Halloween.

On pace for 2.8 goals! I'll be liberal and give him 3. And that's if he plays all 82 games. Pathetic.

No BS, I honestly completely forgot about Rust until the 3rd period. Like, literally didn't see him, hear his name, etc. He is absolutely pathetic this year. What happened to his speed? Never a real burner, but he's flat out slow this year. Less than zero physicality. Invisible in the offensive zone. No "grit." It's almost unfathonable to me how bad he's been.

Never thought he'd be a star, but you've gotta figure he could at least be a consistent 15 goal scorer.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Some of you guys are pretty rough on the team tonight.

They out chanced NYI and had the better possession numbers at even strength.

Most importantly they won the game

True but it felt like another one of those games where they were gonna leave points on the board.
They finally scored 5on5 when Brass moved to Sid's line.
Sid's line was actually doing fine with Phil but Geno was dying alive/Brass's was nothingness so Sully made the change.

Like i said, hopefully they get some bodies back. They should also keep Brass on top 6 wing if just Horny and Cullen get back as well.
+keep Dea in the lineup
+get Riiko back in the lineup

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Not entirely sure what it is, but this team is nearly as boring as Mike Johnston's.

Sully playing a tighter game to save his job.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

My 12 year old son lost his **** watching that insane play where Sid outplayed dude while on his knees/***. Amazing. Lower body strength rivals a T-Rex. We endured NHL.com madness repeating it a couple of times. And Mearsy and Co. were silent. WTF?

Mearsy & Co were reading the text messages from Penguins head office for what positive hot air they needed to blow up our asses to distract us for the turd this team drops each game. In doing so, they missed that golden nugget that Sid dropped on them.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I missed the second half of the game, but from what I saw, the Penguins generally controlled the play. I don't know why people are freaking out about this game, it was the same way against Ottawa. The Penguins have gotten points in 9 of the last 11 games and are 6-2-3 in over that stretch, while being dominant at ES (2nd in CF%, 3rd in GF, 5th in GA, 1st in GF%, 4th in HDCF%). The team has fixed its defensive issues, with being a top-5 team in all of HDCA, SCA, CA and GA, while still being a top offensive team.

I just don't get why the mood here is so poor, this team is playing legitimately great hockey recently while dealing with injuries. The team has seemingly turned a corner after that atrocious stretch, but people are still acting like they suck right now. This place is way too predictable, people are complaining about the same whipping boys regardless of whether they win or not.

 

[Rakell67]

ZAR on that one particular penalty kill almost had me tossing my remote at the TV. I believe it was two failed clearing attempts, then he did something else stupid (my brain shut down watching that sequence so I'm drawing a blank on the third mistake he made).

I just don't know what the guy actually does well. If someone says "blocks shots", I swear we're back to the reason why Craig Adams absolutely had to dress every night.

After the 2 failed clearing attempts, I believe what thenother stupid thing you are referring to ZAR as doing was when he, in an attempt to distract the Islanders, he began doing the floss, but to no avail.