Post-Game Talk: Penguins 4, Golden Knights 2 - Cough Drops and Hot Dogs for Everyone?s

[Pancakes]

If you want to know how much Sullivan already trusts Riikola, he started 93% (!!!!) of his starts in the d-zone last night. He came away with a 43% CF which sounds mediocre except that actually it was an 11% CF Rel to the team. And is mighty impressive given he got buried with bad zone starts.

Just one game, but this kid is poised to be great for us I think.

 

[EightyOne]

Sportsnet up in Canada wants Geno traded, not Penguins fans.

And I'm sure that they want him to go to NYR or LAK and not any of the Canadian teams..right?

 

[Peat]

If you want to know how much Sullivan already trusts Riikola, he started 93% (!!!!) of his starts in the d-zone last night. He came away with a 43% CF which sounds mediocre except that actually it was an 11% CF Rel to the team. And is mighty impressive given he got buried with bad zone starts.

Just one game, but this kid is poised to be great for us I think.

Trying very, very hard not to get overexcited here.

 

[USMC607]

Riikola was very impressive this year. Why was he scratched the first 2 games of the season? Was he that bad in practice?

Buried in the depth chart even though be showed good stuff all preseason and practice.

Also he is new to North American rink size and the speed of the NHL. So I think they were being cautious. But the kid looks every bit ready.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

And I'm sure that they want him to go to NYR or LAK and not any of the Canadian teams..right?

Dunno, they mainly say "ohhhhhhhhhhhhh salary cap" "ohhhhhhhhhhhh not happy playing second fiddle" "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Russian bla bla bla"

Stupid sensationalistic stuff. Now that the Leafs are good, they do not talk about it. Canadian media is more in "what did Matthews eat for breakfast?" mode.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I'm saying that it's dumb not to have given Sprong a chance in the top 9 by this point. They have 79 more games to try Rust on LW too, and it's dumb that they haven't tried that yet either.

Of course they have 79 more games this year, but these are obvious things that they could and should have been working out in preseason. Points count the same in October as they do in April.

we agree on our preference of Sprong and Rust. But I just can't get behind it being dumb to try your players in their natural positions with your 4th best RW on the 4th line. It is a perfectly reasonable first choice. Not the one I'd make, but nothing dumb about it. It will be dumb if we never try anything else.

Also, we're 2-1 in those three games, and nobody showed up in the loss. So it's not like these lines are costing us games.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Does Sully have another niece Sprong could try to shmooze? If not, I fear he’s 3rd loner here at best.

yep he's been known to hold back talented scoring wingers, just look at Guentzel.

 

[Ogrezilla]

With all due respect, I can't disagree more. He was around the scorer (as per usual) when Vegas scored their 1st and the outcome of the game was far from decided. And the overall volume of SA doesn't scream solid defense from the 1st pair included.

IMO Letang on ice in DZ or NZ = time bomb for his own team. He's only good in OZ (sometimes)

Note for the moderator: This is not a troll post, but my genuine opinion.

I believe that this is a legitimate opinion, I just think you are very much incorrect. Letang when he's playing well is a great defensive zone player and one of the best neutral zone players in the league. Can't really speak specifically to last night though, I missed the first 2 periods and saw the 3rd in a crowded bar.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

we agree on our preference of Sprong and Rust. But I just can't get behind it being dumb to try your players in their natural positions with your 4th best RW on the 4th line. It is a perfectly reasonable first choice. Not the one I'd make, but nothing dumb about it. It will be dumb if we never try anything else.

Also, we're 2-1 in those three games, and nobody showed up in the loss. So it's not like these lines are costing us games.

Sprong may not be our 4th best RW- I hope the Pens actually try to find out sooner rather than later. I just mentioned this in the other thread, but despite Sullivan's talk about getting him more opportunity after the 1st game, Sprong's linemates, TOI, and d-zone deployment through 3 games are even worse than I thought they'd be. How anyone could reasonably expect a top 6 prospect to distinguish himself under these circumstances is beyond me.

We're 2-1, sure. But I don't think anyone would disagree that the lines look like a patchwork mess that we've won in spite of, not because of. It's crazy early in the season and a win's a win, but if you're winning that ugly it pays to take a hard look in the mirror before the results start reflecting the level of play.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

yep he's been known to hold back talented scoring wingers, just look at Guentzel.

All Guentzel had to do was be the best player in the AHL and score 2 goals in his 1st NHL game to get a shot when injury hit...after a brief demotion.

 

[Beauner]

So is Riikola just a very late bloomer? Curious why he was never drafted or even signed before this year

 

[Ogrezilla]

All Guentzel had to do was be the best player in the AHL and score 2 goals in his 1st NHL game to get a shot when injury hit...after a brief demotion.

there was nothing wrong with that either. That's how it often goes trying to make the NHL on a good team.

 

[Ryder71]

If you want to know how much Sullivan already trusts Riikola, he started 93% (!!!!) of his starts in the d-zone last night. He came away with a 43% CF which sounds mediocre except that actually it was an 11% CF Rel to the team. And is mighty impressive given he got buried with bad zone starts.

Just one game, but this kid is poised to be great for us I think.

He exhibits a lot of poise, always has his head up, excellent mobility, great first pass, in addition to being physical when he needs to be. That all being said we have to expect some growing pains. And I can see where by he might try to get too cute on occasion. But overall he has the makings of being a very capable mid pairing defender.

 

[Empoleon8771]

If you want to know how much Sullivan already trusts Riikola, he started 93% (!!!!) of his starts in the d-zone last night. He came away with a 43% CF which sounds mediocre except that actually it was an 11% CF Rel to the team. And is mighty impressive given he got buried with bad zone starts.

Just one game, but this kid is poised to be great for us I think.

I think it's more telling that Sullivan played Riikola 18 minutes last night when he wasn't playing either Schultz or Oleksiak 18 minutes a night before. Sullivan used Riikola last night the same way that he used his other established defensemen, if that doesn't speak well on Riikola, I don't know what will. If Sullivan didn't trust him, he wouldn't be playing him that much per game.

He exhibits a lot of poise, always has his head up, excellent mobility, great first pass, in addition to being physical when he needs to be. That all being said we have to expect some growing pains. And I can see where by he might try to get too cute on occasion. But overall he has the making of a very capable mid pairing defender.

He's turning 25 soon and has been playing professional hockey for 6 years. You shouldn't be expecting "growing pains", because he's not a 20 year old defenseman with a questionable defense. He's older than Maatta is and has been playing professional hockey as long as Maatta has, there's no reason to expect that Riikola won't continue to play this well right now.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Sprong may not be our 4th best RW- I hope the Pens actually try to find out sooner rather than later. I just mentioned this in the other thread, but despite Sullivan's talk about getting him more opportunity after the 1st game, Sprong's linemates, TOI, and d-zone deployment through 3 games are even worse than I thought they'd be. How anyone could reasonably expect a top 6 prospect to distinguish himself under these circumstances is beyond me.

We're 2-1, sure. But I don't think anyone would disagree that the lines look like a patchwork mess that we've won in spite of, not because of. It's crazy early in the season and a win's a win, but if you're winning that ugly it pays to take a hard look in the mirror before the results start reflecting the level of play.

If Sprong was in a top spot and it looked bad, would you want Sully to pull the plug after 2 or 3 games where we've won 2 of them? Going in to last night we basically had 2 lines we've won Cups with and a 3rd line that had dominated one of the two games it was together for. Do those lines need blown up because of that? I mean, are we really looking at the 2nd line and wondering why Sully keeps it together still? It just won us a game despite kind of looking like poo

 

[BrokenStick]

Sprong may not be our 4th best RW

Yes, he is.

 

[Empoleon8771]

An undermentioned thing I've noticed about this season so far, I haven't been impressed with Rust this year. He was great in the preseason and has an extensive track record so I'm not worried, but I haven't been all that happy with his play overall on the year.



I'd be mad if those are the D pairs for the next game.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

there was nothing wrong with that either. That's the NHL on a good team.

Some might call that an unreasonable standard just to get an honest look. The team was never so good that it wouldn't have been better with Guentzel that year, no matter how he produced in that first game. I guess the Pens are lucky Guentzel connected twice in his debut.

 

[Gurglesons]

Some might call that an unreasonable standard just to get an honest look. The team was never so good that it wouldn't have been better with Guentzel that year, no matter how he produced in that first game. I guess the Pens are lucky Guentzel connected twice in his debut.

Huh?

We were really good that year and had Sheary, Hagelin and Kunitz all returning on the LW as well as Wilson?

 

[Peat]

An undermentioned thing I've noticed about this season so far, I haven't been impressed with Rust this year. He was great in the preseason and has an extensive track record so I'm not worried, but I haven't been all that happy with his play overall on the year.



I'd be mad if those are the D pairs for the next game.

Why the d pairing hate?

I think Rust has been great with Brassard. The 3rd line collapsed after he was moved... and so did the 1st line's possession numbers.

Some might call that an unreasonable standard just to get an honest look. The team was never so good that it wouldn't have been better with Guentzel that year, no matter how he produced in that first game. I guess the Pens are lucky Guentzel connected twice in his debut.

But was Guentzel so good that he had nothing left to learn fine polishing details in the AHL?

 

[Ogrezilla]

Some might call that an unreasonable standard just to get an honest look. The team was never so good that it wouldn't have been better with Guentzel that year, no matter how he produced in that first game. I guess the Pens are lucky Guentzel connected twice in his debut.

it's the NHL. No need to force a young guy over someone else when things are going well. He was always going to get a chance. Same will be true for Sprong to get his chance. You don't need to just demote someone else who is doing their job well to force the young guy into a better chance. As you said, points in October count for just as much as points in April. It's not a development league. Sully is playing the proven team. Sprong will get his chance when it comes up or when he forces their hand. As of now, those things haven't happened. If Simon keeps struggling, maybe we see Rust moved to LW. We'll see. But it's been 3 games, and Simon's looked really good in one of them. You wouldn't want Sprong demoted yet if he was in Simon's position.

 

[Gurglesons]

An undermentioned thing I've noticed about this season so far, I haven't been impressed with Rust this year. He was great in the preseason and has an extensive track record so I'm not worried, but I haven't been all that happy with his play overall on the year.



I'd be mad if those are the D pairs for the next game.

What’s wrong with those pairs outside of Johnson being in the top 4?

 

[Empoleon8771]

What’s wrong with those pairs outside of Johnson being in the top 4?

They took Oleksiak out after he had a really good game and the Johnson-Schultz pair was a nightmare last night. I also don't know why you're focusing on Johnson being in the top-4, Schultz is also in the top-4 and has been way worse than Johnson has this year.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Yes, he is.

Speaking with authority about something you clearly don't know doesn't make it any more authoritative.

If Sprong was in a top spot and it looked bad, would you want Sully to pull the plug after 2 or 3 games where we've won 2 of them? Going in to last night we basically had 2 lines we've won Cups with and a 3rd line that had dominated one of the two games it was together for. Do those lines need blown up because of that? I mean, are we really looking at the 2nd line and wondering why Sully keeps it together still? It just won us a game despite kind of looking like poo

Apparently it was long enough to blow up one of them so we could go back to everybody's least favourite Crosby complement at the cost of losing the Brass-Rust combo:

 

[Ogrezilla]

Apparently it was long enough to blow up one of them so we could go back to everybody's least favourite Crosby complement at the cost of losing the Brass-Rust combo:

he broke up a line that everyone knew would be broken up. Sid and Horny just don't stick together. I don't get it, but it is what it is.

And again, do you think Simon deserves to be demoted? Because that's what pretty much has to happen for them to implement the lines you want barring injury. Rust, Horny, or Kessel will not be on L4 anytime soon.