Post-Game Talk: Penguins 3, Capitals 2 (OT) - They DESERVED That Outcome

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Pens x

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Oct 8, 2016
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You know they really might have. Had JR still been here Rust or POJ could be gone for some random player.
Congrats for doing nothing, Hextall.

tenor.gif


Maybe we are playing better because our defense is healthy and our goalie isn’t playing like a beer league scrub? It can’t be that...

Crediting Hextall is such a strange take.
 

ChaosAgent

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May 8, 2018
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A few thoughts about the game and season so far:

Zucker's fall looks very much like one I took about a decade ago. The damage for me was caused by my foot being twisted underneath me and ended up pointing at the back of my head by twisting the "wrong" way. (think of sitting on your foot, now rotate your toes down and keep rotating until your toes point straight back and then lean back on it, but all of this very violent and fast) if that was they way his leg/foot went, that's going to be a bad one. Side note on him, he's been working hard all season. Some games have been good, others have been poor decision laden but as far as effort is concerned I think he is one of the bright spots all year.

+++Geno looked like he was feeling it for the first time all season. I think the might be the most confidence based player I've ever seen. When he fails a slick move, he spends the rest of the game second guessing himself and nothing works and he ends up forcing plays and creating bad turnovers. This game, that goal gave him a ton of confidence and he was back to trying and completing some very slick stuff. Will be interesting to see if he starts believing in himself again, if he does, he will be back in a big way.

Matheson has been far better than expected and adds a much needed "pace" to the d-core. Sample size matters, but he is slowly alleviating my "WTF were you thinking JR?" mentality. That said, that first goal is 100% him. I think he would be the first one to tell you he played that wrong and should have just forced the guy behind the net instead of going for a half puck/half body play and getting out muscled. I'm excited to see how he develops in an organization that seems to be giving him a chance to redeem himself.

POJ most unexpected attribute for me has been his confidence. I didn't expect him to show up and act like he's been here for years. However, with health returning to the blue line, I agree that his minutes should be regressed to a more reasonable level. Depending on how he does with that, make decisions after based on his play and progression.

Blueger is as solid of a 3C as team could ask for. I'm with @UgeneMalkin though, I'm not prepared to anoint him more than that. Maybe he will be, but I don't think he is... yet.

Sid/Jake are the best example of time off/lack of practice affecting play. Their timing wasn't their early and Sid looked pretty bad because of it. Jake always looks good because he plays such a smart game but Sid's ability to do things at speed that the other team can't defend is what makes the line so dominant IMO. Now that their timing is back, they look dangerous every game if not every shift.

Letang is the player that intrigues me this year. I feel like he is realizing he needs to be a bit more deliberate in his risk taking. He's always going to have one or two amazingly brain dead decisions per game but you know Le'good with Le'bad. That said I feel like his schtick of trying to do too much for an entire game is more tempered than it has been in the past. I would be curious to hear other's thoughts on that.

I could go on for everyone but it's already a wall of text. Thanks for giving me a place to compare my perceptions even if I often don't agree with the recency bias that I feel a majority here are affected by. Back to lurking.

Very high quality post. Keep posting.
 

The Old Master

come and take it.
Sep 27, 2004
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Look, it was frustrating that this one went to OT.

It's frustrating what happened to Zucker, because it was just an awful injury and especially because he really was showing some excellent stuff tonight.

BUT . . .

1. From top to bottom, they showed some excellent structure and support all over the ice (not PERFECT, but light years ahead of what we've seen from them this season).

2. Malkin is alive. Counterintuitive, but he played a deliberate, patient game and for the most part cheated to defense in those 50/50 situations all over the ice. Positive things flowed from that. Hopefully, he builds on it.

Gonna add this:

Forget the score tonight.

Doesn't matter.

With the Sid, Geno, and Letang (and Jarry) I watched tonight, the Pens are going to win a lot more games than they're going to lose.
at the very least, it showed that they still have it. so now we need to see if they can keep it up.
 
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Darren McCord

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Dec 15, 2015
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Congrats for doing nothing, Hextall.

tenor.gif


Maybe we are playing better because our defense is healthy and our goalie isn’t playing like a beer league scrub? It can’t be that...

Crediting Hextall is such a strange take.

I think most are just saying it to be tongue and cheek. However players do respond to big moves even if they are in the front office.

Maybe the defense is playing better because they want to impress a new GM too?
 

Darren McCord

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Dec 15, 2015
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I think JR trading guys when adversity hit was bad for the room. New mgmt gives them a clean slate and some time.

I agree. JR made good moves, but got full of himself of the two cups. The Hagelin thing was a debacle.

Trades Hags for Pearson. Lets Pearson play like 40 games then trades him for grubs.
Then tries to trade back for Hags.

The dude just gets bored then goes to make trades.

Edit: Also wtf with Oleksiak passing him back and fourth with Dallas.
 

HandshakeLine

A real jerk thing
Nov 9, 2005
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Without us knowing I think it would be fair to give credit to the GMs AND the person people are refusing to give a little credit to - Sully. Hell maybe even TR. That powerplay shaped the f*** up in a big way with movement and shooting.

And hats off to guys like Letang who have been good lately. Marino makes some errors but his skating is out of this world.

I see people fighting over who to give credit to. :laugh: It's f***ing hockey. Hats off all around. I hope it stays like this so we can enjoy the year and fight for a Cup. It gets harder every year, but dammit even in the X-Gen years I said "Oh if they just get lucky! Maybe there's a chance" damn well knowing there was no change. :laugh:

I'm on the record of being quite tired of Sullivan (and a very public non-fan of Reirden), but if he manages to reassert control over the room and get everyone's head back where they belong, then the coaching staff definitely deserves kudos. :laugh: Hell, I'd love to be absolutely wrong on this.

In the interest of our grand tradition of armchair analyzing this team, I also suspect that not having a GM at the helm caused some degree of disconnect with the players-- not knowing who the new boss is or what to expect can be pretty disorienting for people. Having some structure in place at the top usually pays dividends below.

His skate seemed to touch a Caps' skate in a fairly innocuous fashion and he did something going down. Not quite the most out of nowhere injury I've seen as a Pens fan but close.

Yeah, I just saw it. Not good. Here's hoping it's a speedy recovery and nothing too serious.
 

Tom Hanks

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Nov 10, 2017
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Congrats for doing nothing, Hextall.

tenor.gif


Maybe we are playing better because our defense is healthy and our goalie isn’t playing like a beer league scrub? It can’t be that...

Crediting Hextall is such a strange take.

Looks like coaches have adjusted our defensive scheme in the D zone, finally. I get that coaches let things play out more than our patience here tolerates sometimes but it was a bad scheme for who we are right now.

I think that was probably the biggest issue for Jarry.
 

ChaosAgent

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Looks like coaches have adjusted our defensive scheme in the D zone, finally. I get that coaches let things play out more than our patience here tolerates sometimes but it was a bad scheme for who we are right now.

I think that was probably the biggest issue for Jarry.

The coaches are gradually fixing the special teams too, mostly.

Hard to win when you lose the special teams battle game after game after game.
 

Rakell67

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Sep 28, 2017
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I'm on the record of being quite tired of Sullivan (and a very public non-fan of Reirden), but if he manages to reassert control over the room and get everyone's head back where they belong, then the coaching staff definitely deserves kudos. :laugh: Hell, I'd love to be absolutely wrong on this.

In the interest of our grand tradition of armchair analyzing this team, I also suspect that not having a GM at the helm caused some degree of disconnect with the players-- not knowing who the new boss is or what to expect can be pretty disorienting for people. Having some structure in place at the top usually pays dividends below.



Yeah, I just saw it. Not good. Here's hoping it's a speedy recovery and nothing too serious.
I’m guessing broken left ankle.
 

Gurglesons

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Dec 18, 2009
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Congrats for doing nothing, Hextall.

tenor.gif


Maybe we are playing better because our defense is healthy and our goalie isn’t playing like a beer league scrub? It can’t be that...

Crediting Hextall is such a strange take.

I wouldn’t credit Hextall. But having a GM who isn’t inclined to blow up half the roster every 3 game losing streak probably has allowed this team to come together a little bit more than on the past two years when someone is traded every few weeks.
 

vodeni

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Oct 27, 2010
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McCann and Rodrigues would have but now McCann is going to get stapled to L2, I imagine.

Although @KIRK ZAR actually looked decent there.
ZAR should be there (forgive me Lord for saying this) He may be just what the doctor ordered...McCann coming from injury should finally get his own line and see what he can do, crappy players and all...but still...it may click with EROD and Sceviour...
 
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vodeni

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Advanced stats are not everything tho. They indicate a lot but in this game it was Marino being the best player on the ice. He really is playing flawless hockey now, almost mistake-free, logging heavy minutes, defending like a man possessed (saw that vs Barzal where analytics were not ideal but he gave him a hard time anyway), making clean breakouts and good decisions. Eye-test is still more than analytics to me and I was paying close attention to Marino this game especially. He was fantastic in everything, especially once in the defensive zone.
well analytics can be explained if they also watch the game...Marino was excellent last night, half of that was cleaning up after Mathesons defensive blunders and thats what the analytics see and paint him as negative, when in reality he actually was brilliant.
 

ChaosAgent

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well analytics can be explained if they also watch the game...Marino was excellent last night, half of that was cleaning up after Mathesons defensive blunders and thats what the analytics see and paint him as negative, when in reality he actually was brilliant.

The sooner that people understand that analytics in hockey = 'what happens when the guy is on the ice' and nothing more/nothing less, the better.
 
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