Post-Game Talk: Penguins 3|Kings 0|A Good Defensive game (gasp!)

[Raccoon Jesus]

If I'm a Kings fan (which I partially am), I'm as happy with that as I am as a Penguins fan. Williams has been listless thus far this year.

Yup, I'm good with guys like that channeling their frustration into something besides cheap shots or suckiness. Get all the bad chi out With the Kings, physical engagement = emotional engagement = good. I've seen the same when I've seen Malkin mad, too. Glad to see the Pens' premier players healthy and roaring this year.

 

[MtlPenFan]

"Mechanical, almost detched". Um that's Bylsma not Johnston. I have no idea what Dejan is trying to say there. Also not sure when Justin Williams became a "super-pest".

Williams has been a sneaky dirty little **** from back in his Carolina days.

 

[djt153]

getting a beer with johnston sounds a-ok to me. calmly answering questions with a insightful answers is a lot different than robotically spouting nonsensical garbage. abstruse over obtuse every day of the week.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Geno remembers it a bit differently: “He asked me to fight two times,†Malkin recalled, somewhat sheepishly. “I don’t fight him.†Then, in a gem of a quote, whether willing or otherwise, he added, “Maybe they were mad they lost to Philly the other night.â€



It's easy to say something should have been done or we need to take care of that stuff. I would want the Pens to play the body more often instead of always the puck. And I thought the slash on Letang's wrist was much more offensive than the dime a dozen bumps Geno and Sid received. But what specifically could we have done? You don't want to escalate things against an already depleted Kings lineup. They're better at playing that style, and they had less to lose in terms of personnel.

Yeah, I don't think Malkin mistook Williams:

@emptynetters
Malkin and Williams fight. They had been had been chirping each other earlier. Malkin wins with a body slam and a three-count.

OK, my bad. He went after Williams right after the Brown hit, so I assumed it was that hit that set him off. I stand corrected.

And I agree with Burgs that the Kings are better equipped for retaliation than we are. But that's basically my point in all of this.

I don't mind Geno going off now and then. I like it, in fact. But it'd be nice to have someone on the roster who would make that whole scene a little more comfortable for our side.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Based on Staal never doing it to anybody else. He won't be hard to stop. What other **** has been done to Sid or Geno this year? None.

It's less than 10 games into the season, after it happened non-stop last playoffs. It shouldn't be allowed to happen at all without a response, and it surely shouldn't have even happened once already this year.

Fine, so they'll keep doing what they are already doing. Regardless, it doesn't fix anything. Seriously, we won the game handily. We played hard from start to finish. We won battles. We hit people. We fought for space. Nobody shrunk in the face of anything.

You seem to be okay with shrugging your shoulders at our stars taking cheap shots with impunity, having to fight agitators themselves, and left to defend themselves outnumbered out there on the ice. I'm not. That strikes me as a very Adams-esque position.

2 points is nice. But I'd rather this team defend Sid and Geno vigourously rather than leave them to their own devices.

So Carter or Doughty being injured will help us win hockey games?

Getting the message out early that messing with Crosby and Malkin will now meet a swift response would be valuable. But the opposite message was delivered last night. Same old, same old on that front, other than Downie barking at their 3rd line center. They'll take that trade-off all day long.

No. I understand where you're coming from. You're just completely misunderstanding the game situation. You're interpreting a bunch of guys trying to draw calls as Lucic running over Miller. Two completely different phenomena.

I understand the game situation perfectly, I simply don't give a **** what the Kings' players motives are if they're fighting our stars or slashing them on the wrists causing them to grimace on their way to the bench.

Whether they're doing it to draw calls, take our stars out of commission, or they think that Malkin's wrist bone is possessed and can only be exorcised by a slash doesn't matter in the slightest.

Our stars are still taking cheap shots, and that's all that matters.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Our stars are still taking cheap shots, and that's all that matters.

Agreed 100 per cent. The overall team attitude is better this season, but there are still remnants of the old regime that need to be gone.

And the bolded may arguably be the top issue now.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Agreed 100 per cent. The overall team attitude is better this season, but there are still remnants of the old regime that need to be gone.

And the bolded may arguably be the top issue now.

It doesn't seem to be much of a concern here, which puzzles me...especially with all the heat Adams took around here for his comments, and all the praise that's been heaped on Tocchet and Roberts.

 

[bradshaw06]

Pens have scored 10 unanswered goals.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

It doesn't seem to be much of a concern here, which puzzles me...especially with all the heat Adams took around here for his comments, and all the praise that's been heaped on Tocchet and Roberts.

I don't know if Chris Stewart was auditioning for us last night, but him fighting Milan Lucic certainly got my attention. Stewart is the guy everybody here wants, and he dropped the mitts with Lucic.

Whether Stewart actually starts scoring now almost seems irrelevant to me. The only problem is Buffalo will ask for a LOT in return, especially after last night.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I don't know if Chris Stewart was auditioning for us last night, but him fighting Milan Lucic certainly got my attention. Stewart is the guy everybody here wants, and he dropped the mitts with Lucic.

Whether Stewart actually starts scoring now almost seems irrelevant to me. The only problem is Buffalo will ask for a LOT in return, especially after last night.

My prediction is Stewart wants to be here, so tomorrow night he will beat up everybody! Then the Pens will trade for him on Tuesday! Welcome Chris.....

Lastly, Steigy will interview Kunitz, who will still be sporting a black eye thanks to Stewart, and ask him how excited he is about Stewart being on the team.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Just say no to the laziest player in the NHL.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I don't know if Chris Stewart was auditioning for us last night, but him fighting Milan Lucic certainly got my attention. Stewart is the guy everybody here wants, and he dropped the mitts with Lucic.

Whether Stewart actually starts scoring now almost seems irrelevant to me. The only problem is Buffalo will ask for a LOT in return, especially after last night.

I'd take a flier on Stewart for his upside/scrapping, but he's not playing at a level where I'd get into a bidding war over him.

 

[deakka]

Somehow i find it wildly amusing that Letang, despite running (or trying to) the best PP in the league (by a wide margin), somehow is only tied for the team lead in points from defensemen.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It doesn't seem to be much of a concern here, which puzzles me...especially with all the heat Adams took around here for his comments, and all the praise that's been heaped on Tocchet and Roberts.

I think a part of the problem is Downie's the only one that's got the unpredictableness/mean streak to do it. While the team has certainly played with more gumption this year, it still lacks some in the toughness department, IMO.

I'm actually a bit disappointed Sill wasn't sent out to target Doughty and take liberties with him. Sill actually looked kind of passive last night, when it comes to the rough stuff (he was hitting, but wasn't generally playing "mean"). Downie shouldn't be the only one who goes into mad dog mode whenever some **** needs stirring.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I'd take a flier on Stewart for his upside/scrapping, but he's not playing at a level where I'd get into a bidding war over him.

Yeah, agreed.

RE: Shero

Jiggy, I've often wondered how much ownership has had a hand in Shero's vision suddenly doing a 180. I don't think we'll ever know, but it seems like everyone that comes into the Pens at some point becomes a member of the country club and hands out stupid contracts or makes weird personnel decisions, no matter how hard-assed and savvy they were before hand.

I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if ownership had more of a hand in how this team is run than we thought.

 

[Zen Arcade]

I think a part of the problem is Downie's the only one that's got the unpredictableness/mean streak to do it. While the team has certainly played with more gumption this year, it still lacks some in the toughness department, IMO.

I'm actually a bit disappointed Sill wasn't sent out to target Doughty and take liberties with him. Sill actually looked kind of passive last night, when it comes to the rough stuff (he was hitting, but wasn't generally playing "mean"). Downie shouldn't be the only one who goes into mad dog mode whenever some **** needs stirring.

I think they handled it OK, if Malkin and Crosby were out there getting mauled Marc Staal style, then it would've been a different story.

It would be interesting to turn someone like Farnham lose at some point just to see what happens though. When one of the Toronto Marlies hit Bennett from behind, he went off and all hell broke lose. He somehow ended up on top of a scrum, crowd surfed his way half way into the Marlies bench, throwing wild punches at anyone in blue and somehow drew a penalty in the process.

But he's more of a pest, there's no one in the organization, other than Leblond and maybe Ruopp that can really have a "come to Jesus" type effect on people.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I think a part of the problem is Downie's the only one that's got the unpredictableness/mean streak to do it. While the team has certainly played with more gumption this year, it still lacks some in the toughness department, IMO.

I'm actually a bit disappointed Sill wasn't sent out to target Doughty and take liberties with him. Sill actually looked kind of passive last night, when it comes to the rough stuff (he was hitting, but wasn't generally playing "mean"). Downie shouldn't be the only one who goes into mad dog mode whenever some **** needs stirring.

He shouldn't, and that pin-points the biggest flaw with the last few Pens teams-- there's just not enough team toughness from everyone in the lineup, nor is there a good sense of when to stand up for themselves and when to back down. Too many egos, not enough take-one-for-the-team kinda guys, I guess.

Maybe it's coming from the on-ice leaders, or maybe this team just needs for a few of its character guys and rookies to grow into their roles?

 

[td_ice]

He shouldn't, and that pin-points the biggest flaw with the last few Pens teams-- there's just not enough team toughness from everyone in the lineup, nor is there a good sense of when to stand up for themselves and when to back down. Too many egos, not enough take-one-for-the-team kinda guys, I guess.

Maybe it's coming from the on-ice leaders, or maybe this team just needs for a few of its character guys and rookies to grow into their roles?

I agree.


I wanted to see Carcillo stick with the team. It takes a bit of the pressure of Downie being the lone guy in that role. But who knows, maybe they saw something about him they didn't care for. But yeah, if we can add another guy in that mold that would be great.

I think getting Borts back, will help. Even though he is dmen, the team toughness factor will increase.

 

[SaintLouHaintBlue]

Downie and Comeau should be enough.
Add Carcillo to the mix and we become a freak show.

Bort has some skill, he's like a better version of Engelland.

Everyone else can play with some grit, a little bit of an edge - to round it out, but I would leave it up to those two to really punish guys and deter the Staals/Dubinsky's of the world.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I agree.


I wanted to see Carcillo stick with the team. It takes a bit of the pressure of Downie being the lone guy in that role. But who knows, maybe they saw something about him they didn't care for. But yeah, if we can add another guy in that mold that would be great.

I think getting Borts back, will help. Even though he is dmen, the team toughness factor will increase.

From what I gather, there was concern about the foot injury, TD. But I only get my info second hand at best now. The Czech hockey press can't tell you the difference between Dan Carcillo and Dino Ciccarelli.

 

[Ogrezilla]

It's less than 10 games into the season, after it happened non-stop last playoffs. It shouldn't be allowed to happen at all without a response, and it surely shouldn't have even happened once already this year.

You cannot stop the Kings from playing like that. You can't do it. There is absolutely nothing we could have done to stop it. Taking shots back does not help us in any possible way. They still take just as many shots at us.

You seem to be okay with shrugging your shoulders at our stars taking cheap shots with impunity, having to fight agitators themselves, and left to defend themselves outnumbered out there on the ice. I'm not. That strikes me as a very Adams-esque position.

2 points is nice. But I'd rather this team defend Sid and Geno vigourously rather than leave them to their own devices.

I really don't know what you want them to do. Actually I guess I do. You want them to jump people and injure them like Trevor Gillies. I think that's pathetic. They were doing nothing close to that to us.

Getting the message out early that messing with Crosby and Malkin will now meet a swift response would be valuable. But the opposite message was delivered last night. Same old, same old on that front, other than Downie barking at their 3rd line center. They'll take that trade-off all day long.

Again, there's nothing we could have done to do to the Kings to do that short of a Trevor Gillies style assault. Nobody should ever condone that.

If you want us to do anything to stop a team like the Kings, we need to revamp our roster.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I think a part of the problem is Downie's the only one that's got the unpredictableness/mean streak to do it. While the team has certainly played with more gumption this year, it still lacks some in the toughness department, IMO.

I'm actually a bit disappointed Sill wasn't sent out to target Doughty and take liberties with him. Sill actually looked kind of passive last night, when it comes to the rough stuff (he was hitting, but wasn't generally playing "mean"). Downie shouldn't be the only one who goes into mad dog mode whenever some **** needs stirring.

Absolutely. It can't just be one guy, and it can't just be retaliating against the shlub that's targeting our stars. When someone challenges one of LA's own, that player has to deal with every King on the ice, but when one of the Pens gets involved, they're pretty much in it alone. Downie and Malkin both found that out last night.

He shouldn't, and that pin-points the biggest flaw with the last few Pens teams-- there's just not enough team toughness from everyone in the lineup, nor is there a good sense of when to stand up for themselves and when to back down. Too many egos, not enough take-one-for-the-team kinda guys, I guess.

Maybe it's coming from the on-ice leaders, or maybe this team just needs for a few of its character guys and rookies to grow into their roles?

Our veteran leaders - your Kunitz, Dupuis, Adams, Scuderi, Martin - don't seem to ever get involved in that sort of thing. Our meal tickets - Sid, Geno, Letang - have no problem getting involved. Our recent FA signings seem to be a step in the right direction, and the younger kids have some fire in them too.

Getting more engaged might be a simple matter of weeding out the aforementioned vets and replacing them with pack mentality types who won't stand for liberties being taken with our stars, rather than guys who prefer to stand around and find somebody to hug during skirmishes.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

You cannot stop the Kings from playing like that. You can't do it. There is absolutely nothing we could have done to stop it. Taking shots back does not help us in any possible way. They still take just as many shots at us.

It does. If we're going to play with our stars hindered by whacks on the wrist, they can too.

Teams know they can take shots at the Pens' stars and come out no worse for wear. That needs to change.

I really don't know what you want them to do. Actually I guess I do. You want them to jump people and injure them like Trevor Gillies. I think that's pathetic. They were doing nothing close to that to us.

Gillies has nothing to do with it. The Isles were pissed because our goalie knocked out theirs in a mutually agreed-upon fight. We weren't slashing the **** out of Tavares. And I don't want our players to give Doughty a flying elbow to the head then yell obscenities at him either, I want them to give him some stickwork he won't soon forget.

If you want us to do anything to stop a team like the Kings, we need to revamp our roster.

That's probably in order. Far too many content bystanders when things get rough for our meal tickets.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Going after Doughty is the best thing you can probably do to the Kings, and we did that. At least Comeau did.

 

[td_ice]

Absolutely. It can't just be one guy, and it can't just be retaliating against the shlub that's targeting our stars. When someone challenges one of LA's own, that player has to deal with every King on the ice, but when one of the Pens gets involved, they're pretty much in it alone. Downie and Malkin both found that out last night.



Our veteran leaders - your Kunitz, Dupuis, Adams, Scuderi, Martin - don't seem to ever get involved in that sort of thing. Our meal tickets - Sid, Geno, Letang - have no problem getting involved. Our recent FA signings seem to be a step in the right direction, and the younger kids have some fire in them too.

Getting more engaged might be a simple matter of weeding out the aforementioned vets and replacing them with pack mentality types who won't stand for liberties being taken with our stars, rather than guys who prefer to stand around and find somebody to hug during skirmishes.

Agreed, (with entire post) and it is ridiculous. And your right, this has been an ongoing problem. Steps have been made in the right direction, but not far enough. If there is little willingness to protect the stars on your team, you got problems.