Post-Game Talk: Penguins 4, Jets 3 - ZAR Drives Off A Cliff . . . In ColePens New Maserati

Status
Not open for further replies.

Honour Over Glory

Fire Sully
Jan 30, 2012
77,316
42,447
The thing about Casey is that he comes up with the big save to keep the team in. Is he average? Yeah, definitely. But he's able to steal a few games and play average enough for the team to win.

It's all this team needs right now to gain confidence and hopefully enough of it covers the warts this team has right now so JR can see some values rise to make moves on some guys. But man, Murray needs to sort out his mental stuff and his health. I am ok with CDS over Murray and his constant cycle of injuries and recently, his putrid play in net. Either get your shit in check or enjoy that contract, you might not get that kind of money again at this rate.
 

Honour Over Glory

Fire Sully
Jan 30, 2012
77,316
42,447
I think he can be a serviceable depth player. I also like him on the PK, but I agree the mins are a bit high.
My issue with him is that he's just so one track minded when he's on the ice. There was a play where Rust threw the puck behind the net out front and ZAR was so far to the left that the dumb piece of shit couldn't even figure out in that scenario to drive to the net. That is the kind of shit that irks me with him. Defensively? Ok maybe a solid guy.

Offensively? The dumbest f***er on this team.
 

Tom Hanks

Spelling mistakes brought to you by my iPhone.
Nov 10, 2017
30,408
32,434
Very good points, especially about DeSmith.

I'm not quite as optimistic about the D, though.

De Smith is still having a good season and his stats, adv stats are really good.

SV% tonight wasn’t great at .889 but that’s better than 7 of 11 of Murray’s games. So that tells you how bad he was going.
 

Sidney the Kidney

One last time
Jun 29, 2009
55,519
46,242
I guess tonight was the night the whipping boys shined for both teams!

ZAR/Sheahan/Grant/Wilson > Tanev was the difference. ;)
 

JimmyTwoTimes

Registered User
Apr 13, 2010
19,958
5,281
Hopefully Wilson is the one up because hes the one with more experience right now. Because Angello is who should be...they just may want him to put in half of a season in WBS first. But he does the things that could fit for our 4th line while also being able to play in the top 6. Hes another big player who can be an annoyance in front of the net..and actually has skill.

The others are still young too(besides Blueger who should be ready but we signed 100 centers this offseason so hes screwed).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shady Machine

Honour Over Glory

Fire Sully
Jan 30, 2012
77,316
42,447
"I'll still respect you. I'll respect you even more."- Russell Ziskey
dICX9Zp.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: SHOOTANDSCORE

Peat

Registered User
Jun 14, 2016
29,292
25,206
I fell asleep in the first intermission but...

+ Confidence and Resilience - That team looked like anything could derail them, the last 15 games or so. To come back from a goal down 3 times to win in Winnipeg, that's great. That's a huge step forwards and hopefully that'll restore a lot of self-belief, particularly for some guys that broke dry streaks

+ My psychic abilities - I did dream that I'd woken up and checked the box scores and that Sheahan scored. Admittedly I also thought we'd lost 5-4 in OT so take that with a pinch of salt

+ Standings - 16th overall on points is nice. 10th in the east, but another few games on the streak and we probably pass some of Carolina and NY NY. Not quite back in business but pretty close.


Incidentally, old news, but the difference in how our speed game goes against Eastern and Western opponents remains ridiculous.
 

JimmyTwoTimes

Registered User
Apr 13, 2010
19,958
5,281
I fell asleep in the first intermission but...

+ Confidence and Resilience - That team looked like anything could derail them, the last 15 games or so. To come back from a goal down 3 times to win in Winnipeg, that's great. That's a huge step forwards and hopefully that'll restore a lot of self-belief, particularly for some guys that broke dry streaks

+ My psychic abilities - I did dream that I'd woken up and checked the box scores and that Sheahan scored. Admittedly I also thought we'd lost 5-4 in OT so take that with a pinch of salt

+ Standings - 16th overall on points is nice. 10th in the east, but another few games on the streak and we probably pass some of Carolina and NY NY. Not quite back in business but pretty close.


Incidentally, old news, but the difference in how our speed game goes against Eastern and Western opponents remains ridiculous.

Your last paragraph is why there should be a team who we could trade Maatta too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zero8771

WayneSid9987

Registered User
Nov 24, 2009
30,053
5,676
His TOI creeped up past Oleksiak, and almost to JJ. I'm glad they're letting Riikola play, he's got the most room for improvement, and some of our D make him look pretty darn good right now.

I believe theres more there in Juuso as well in terms of assertiveness/aggressiveness without and with the puck. He plays a very calm/non-chalant but safe game while with Olli, it's like he knows he can't go full bore cuz Olli needs the help/outlet alot.
 

Peat

Registered User
Jun 14, 2016
29,292
25,206
Hornqvist isn’t going to be a LW’er. I think he’s played randomly there before with Phil on the RW. It didn’t stick.

This. He's still getting the odd shift with Geno-Phil this season.

It doesn't work. It really doesn't work. Away from the goal mouth, you're neutering his best asset (board play). If he can't win possession for those two and can't keep up/make great passes with them, he's dead weight.

Horny is not a LW and nothing on earth will make him one.

I remember back a couple games Martin mentioned to Errey a switch they made to add another layer for the opponents to get around(forget what it was. think something in the NZ i believe. if anyone can remember plz type it out) and that change seems to have helped them with the odd man rushes, etc.

They actually have forwards there now :sarcasm:

The only time ANYONE made Geno-Horny work was Hags for about a 10 week window. Perhaps in the end it was like HBK . . . a magical moment in time when something worked and nothing more permanent than that.

I don't know. Pearson-Geno or Geno-Horny. Whichever way you do it, we need to find a winger to complement that. It COULD be Rust with Pearson-Geno. Short of that, I think JR may need to go shopping. Otherwise, L2 will be hit or miss at best . . . and we need more than that.

The line stats say that Guentzel-Malkin-Horny had a few games together some time and wreaked havoc. Problem is Guentzel isn't moving from Sid's line while they're in this sort of form together.

I wish putting together our lines didn't feel so needlessly difficult.

Need a hard working gritty lw for brass and Phil?
#YourPrayersZARanswered

Its funny because its going to happen.

p.s.

- Phil wasn't great 1st period in general. Lot of pucks bobbled at vital moments.

- I thought Maatta was though. After reading this thread I watched the goals, expecting to see some nightmare play from him... nope. I didn't see the last two periods, so maybe that's just luck, but I will continue to marvel at the vast gulf between the help he gives to the team by numbers and his rep by eye test.

- A shout out for the PK and a disciplined showing; only the 5th time this season Winnipeg have gone scoreless on the PP.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SHOOTANDSCORE

Empoleon8771

Registered User
Aug 25, 2015
80,407
78,003
Redmond, WA
People can complain about ZAR all they want because he does look so vanilla when watching him, but at the end of the day, all that matters are the results and he tends to give really good results. I know he may look ugly to some people, but I'll take looking ugly and giving good results 100% of the time.

Since getting promoted to the top-9, he's 2nd in iCF/60, 5th in iSCF/60 and 3rd in iHDCF/60, all while still getting heavy defensive zone deployment. Those are really good results and suggest that he should be able to be a productive member on a scoring line, if they put a talented player opposite of him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: td_ice

Icarium

Registered User
Feb 16, 2010
3,876
5,486
Comeback in the third period thanks to depth scoring? Well, colour me stunned. And very happy, of course.
So nice to see the PK being rock solid after the Tampa debacle.
Geno and Phil with some really lazy defending on the Jets third and second goal respectively, thankfully we didn't pay the price for that. Why do Geno and Sid so rarely dominate at the same time?
Letang is unbelievable right now, our entire season hinges on him staying healthy.

I have no idea why we play like a freaking Stanley Cup favourite against all Western Conference teams but I sure hope we do it again today.
 

Al Smith

Registered User
Apr 28, 2012
7,116
3,714
Ok no worries, didn't really see that. Centre Ice had the game in standard def, which IMO looks awful when downgraded from HD, was tough to see certain things for me.

:nod: My son doesn’t believe I pay for center ice cause all the games arent in hd. I tell him takes me back to the good old days of watching the game on channel 53 without aluminum foil on my uhf antenna
 
  • Like
Reactions: Still Apps

The Old Master

come and take it.
Sep 27, 2004
17,414
4,769
burgh
:nod: My son doesn’t believe I pay for center ice cause all the games arent in hd. I tell him takes me back to the good old days of watching the game on channel 53 without aluminum foil on my uhf antenna
oh ya. I was watching shadows through the snow and loving every minuet.
 

wizmet12

wizmet1_2
Feb 19, 2014
568
65
anyways tomorrow the line up taht closed the game tonight:

the only change I would made is play Ruh instread of Maatta

I know Olli's a new whipping guy here but why would you play Ruh instead of Olli?
teh Maatta stats this season - 22 0 7 7 +5
Ruhwedel - 11 0 0 0 -8
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peat

Peat

Registered User
Jun 14, 2016
29,292
25,206
People can complain about ZAR all they want because he does look so vanilla when watching him, but at the end of the day, all that matters are the results and he tends to give really good results. I know he may look ugly to some people, but I'll take looking ugly and giving good results 100% of the time.

Since getting promoted to the top-9, he's 2nd in iCF/60, 5th in iSCF/60 and 3rd in iHDCF/60, all while still getting heavy defensive zone deployment. Those are really good results and suggest that he should be able to be a productive member on a scoring line, if they put a talented player opposite of him.

Word to the bolded.

Tbf, he was pretty productive on a scoring line last year after looking pretty bad on the 4th. If he repeats that I guess i can live with that, even if I'll still be a bit puzzled about it all.
 

Le Magnifique 66

Let's Go Pens
Jun 9, 2006
23,618
3,246
Montreal
Great effort overall, solid 3rd period
Still think we are missing a weapon up front
I know it's still in a while, but on D getting Schultz back will be huge
Now just put some wins together, would be awesome to get a big W in Colorado tonight. They played last night as well
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andy99

Empoleon8771

Registered User
Aug 25, 2015
80,407
78,003
Redmond, WA
Maatta is an enigma among Penguins fans. People who only watch him think he sucks, because he tends to only be noticeable when he's screwing up. I'd say that probably 90% of his game is solid and unnoticeable, but a majority of the rest is just him messing up and he doesn't have any moments that will truly wow you. He is 1000% a whipping boy among Penguins fans, but it makes sense why if you only watch him play.

He's a #4 2-way defenseman who can't skate, on a team that requires defensemen to be able to skate. He's not a good fit here, but you can remedy that by pairing him with an appropriate partner. I think Riikola could be that guy, he has certainly shown to be a strong skater and puck mover. The defense has really calmed down ever since Riikola got back into the lineup, I think the defense looks a lot better if he can be the 2nd or 3rd pair puck moving RD. Have either Johnson-Schultz or Oleksiak-Schultz as the other bottom-4 pair and I think your defense is fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peat
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->