Post-Game Talk: Penguins 6, Avalanche 3 - Torch in Limbo

[Shady Machine]

thats the point. you don't defend him giving him 10 foot gap, at that point he has all kind of speed and open space, you jam him in NZ or on the blue line while he is at his first or second stride...you don'

Easier said than done. Letang can do that, but Big Rig and Johnson would have to time things perfectly to do it or he's walking them. It's why speed and skill are hard to defend. Play conservatively and Mac just picks you apart. Try to gap up and he can walk you if you don't get timing right.

 

[mpp9]

The defense is so completely horrifying it seems pointless to complain about anything else until that is remedied.

Yeah its pretty bad. The rumor that JR was trying to snag Montour using Maatta is encouraging.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

I dunno maybe I'm just manic tonight but that game fired me up. I love Sid not wanting us to go quietly into the night. Might not be enough, but dammit he cares. I believe that if other guys start to follow we will win enough to get in, flawed roster or no. But Sid can't do it alone.

I'm looking at you Brassard/Rust/Dumo. Guys who can play better but aren't. Man the f up.

I agree with you. The “never say die” attitude was exciting and brought back memories.

I think if Jarry didn’t get into a fight with Grubauer on who would suck more we could have won that one.

I don’t think anybody would be as concerned if it wasn’t for the fact that we need to make some ground to make the playoffs. 500 hockey won’t cut it.

 

[vodeni]

I just think you're not quite as intense after a certain age. Not quite as quick. Crosby might be a better player now than he was as a rookie, but he's not spending as much energy per shift.

Rust and Kennedy are just guys who have nothing to fall back on, because their energy is all they were. You don't notice it as much with someone like Letang because he's got a lot more going for him than just compete level (which is still good, don't get me wrong).

With Rust, he wanted it more and he was half a step faster. That was his career. Dial both back a bit and there's nothing to distinguish him from any number of bubble players.

I don't know man, his Shots/60 are at the same levels, his SH% is I think 2.9....there is sometimes that too...He also is not used properly to drive the line's pace by carrying the puck behind the defense and putting pressure on the d-man as the first guy to get there

 

[vodeni]

I'm not surprised to see that the Johnson-Oleksiak pair was dreadful, but I am somewhat surprised to see how badly the 3rd line played. I was going to say it seems like Kessel has struggled recently, but last night's game broke his 9 game point streak, so he has been producing a lot.

I just wish Brassard would start showing something. Only 1 point in 6 games since coming back from his injury and he has 6 points in 15 games on the year, 3 of which were meaningless in a 9-1 blowout. I'm starting to wonder when JR looks to move Brassard to be honest, he's getting dangerously close to 2015 Perron territory.

At least the top line continues to do well and the Maatta-Riikola pair is looking like a keeper. You may need to completely overhaul your bottom pair, but I think your top-4 may be set with Dumoulin-Letang and Maatta-Riikola.

here is how I see this: I see Brassard with a lot of hop and lot of energy, he is just put in position to suck. He needs an agressive left wing, someone like Hagelin that can slow the defense down with his forecheck, he needs Kessel that gives at least 20% s... so he can play with Phil, ZAR cannot play there, he provides nothing in terms of sustaining plays...I think we are wasting Brassard's energy right now, however we are short on skaters that can skate and can skate fast...

 

[vodeni]

I want to see them try this before they decide on doing anything crazy on defense. I've liked the Maatta-Riikola pair a lot since Riikola got back into the lineup, so I definitely want to stick with that. I think using Maatta-Riikola against tough competition and Johnson-Schultz against easy competition may make those pairs work. Both of those pairs have good skating talent and puck moving ability on it, so I don't think you have to worry about that.

A neat stat I just saw, Maatta-Riikola has still yet to be on the ice for a goal against as a pair. They've played over 100 minutes together so far on the year and they still haven't been scored on yet, that's very impressive. The pair doesn't have great CF% numbers, but it's an excellent pair at limiting high danger chances (6.95 HDCA/60, which is insanely good).

they certainly had huge Corsi numbers last night...

 

[Al Smith]

Is it just me or is Mears slowly turning into Steigerwald?

The differences in the speed in the back and exit/transitions was pretty glaring especially early on. One line plus a semi-effective L4 doesn’t equal win. Geno in a real funk but getting no help.

Basically a middle of the pack team

 

[vodeni]

I've never understood playing dumb and chase with all these elite forwards we have. Then other teams just coast into the offensive zone with possession with ease. Because we are way too aggressive on the forecheck and with our defense. That's why I think tightening up defensively would maybe let us skate into the offensive zone with possession frequently and not give up so many goals.

and by way agressive on forecheck you mean flying by without any serious attempt to actually forecheck...

 

[vodeni]

Easier said than done. Letang can do that, but Big Rig and Johnson would have to time things perfectly to do it or he's walking them. It's why speed and skill are hard to defend. Play conservatively and Mac just picks you apart. Try to gap up and he can walk you if you don't get timing right.

this is exactly what I am saying, evidence you can't play conservativ against player like Mac is that play last night, ovie, or or any other fast and skilled player and hope that your guy will block the shot. Be agressive take the body on first second stride, the odds are better, plus you have a chance to hit the guy and to get him fstrated..

 

[vodeni]

Is it just me or is Mears slowly turning into Steigerwald?

The differences in the speed in the back and exit/transitions was pretty glaring especially early on. One line plus a semi-effective L4 doesn’t equal win. Geno in a real funk but getting no help.

Basically a middle of the pack team

Is it just me or is Mears slowly turning into Steigerwald?

The differences in the speed in the back and exit/transitions was pretty glaring especially early on. One line plus a semi-effective L4 doesn’t equal win. Geno in a real funk but getting no help.

Basically a middle of the pack team

Mears basically perfected that homer, suck it up game, he wants this gig forever, would you blame him for that...

 

[Pancakes]

Mears is ok. A little homer, but nowhere near the degree that Steiggy was.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Mears is ok. A little homer, but nowhere near the degree that Steiggy was.

Every time I see Mears all I can do is place him into American Pie. He looks exactly like the main character.

 

[Gurglesons]

Yeah its pretty bad. The rumor that JR was trying to snag Montour using Maatta is encouraging.

Who said that was Maatta?

 

[Gurglesons]

here is how I see this: I see Brassard with a lot of hop and lot of energy, he is just put in position to suck. He needs an agressive left wing, someone like Hagelin that can slow the defense down with his forecheck, he needs Kessel that gives at least 20% s... so he can play with Phil, ZAR cannot play there, he provides nothing in terms of sustaining plays...I think we are wasting Brassard's energy right now, however we are short on skaters that can skate and can skate fast...

100%. Simon - Brassard - Kessel or Simon - Brassard - Hornqvist would be killing it.

 

[Al Smith]

Mears is ok. A little homer, but nowhere near the degree that Steiggy was.

It’s a slow evolution but he’s definitely a little more homer than he was at first. He hasn’t made Hobey Baker jokes yet but it could be only a matter of time but he’ll need several lifetimes to approach Bruins tandem. The other night I learned that if someone fell on 87 like Olli fell on someone; they would have been suspended

 

[Shady Machine]

this is exactly what I am saying, evidence you can't play conservativ against player like Mac is that play last night, ovie, or or any other fast and skilled player and hope that your guy will block the shot. Be agressive take the body on first second stride, the odds are better, plus you have a chance to hit the guy and to get him fstrated..

You have more faith than I do in Big Rig and Johnson being able to time that. I'm guessing at least 2 breakaways after Mac walks them.

 

[Shady Machine]

Mears is ok. A little homer, but nowhere near the degree that Steiggy was.

I still like Getzoff better.

 

[LOGiK]

Mears is ok. A little homer, but nowhere near the degree that Steiggy was.

I can't stand Mears. Staggy was a buffoon, but I can't handle Mears and his smug-ness. I wonder if he thinks he is actually good at his profession.

 

[EliteGoaltending]

Just watched the game.

I think effort from players was there. It just like they're smashing into a briсk wall every time they try to do anything out there.
I think it's a combination of bad fits and inefficient systems.

Seems like Pens don't have/don't use any speed on the wing whatsoever, compared to other teams.

Johnson-Oleksiak pairing is abomination. Just can't do anything right, especially in D zone.
Dumo-Letang looked average last night, mostly due to that Avs' top line being awesome and super stucked.

 

[mpp9]

Who said that was Maatta?

Friedman article I believe.

There's been alot of smoke around Anaheim and us.

 

[Turin]

Friedman article I believe.

There's been alot of smoke around Anaheim and us.

TIOPS is the only place that said Maatta afaik

 

[Honour Over Glory]

That D is weird. Maatta-Johnson? That's what you're going with in your "what the hell?" lineup?

The continued hope is that one of them is also moved.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Haha so much for firing Recchi and keeping Sully.

Yup, done.

 

[billybudd]

I don't know man, his Shots/60 are at the same levels, his SH% is I think 2.9....there is sometimes that too...He also is not used properly to drive the line's pace by carrying the puck behind the defense and putting pressure on the d-man as the first guy to get there

Tyler Kennedy - Summary - Natural Stat Trick

Kennedy's analytics from roughly the same age paint much the same picture that Rust's do. Corsi/fenwick remained solid, SH% dropped, GF% dropped dramatically. More importantly, he looked visibly worse in the same way that Rust looks.

I know some analytics types like to chalk shooting percentage up to "luck," but that's a gross oversimplification on their part, in my opinion.

 

[vodeni]

an interesting tidbit, I gleaned from the AVS post game forum...some of their fans saying that having Girard basically turnaround the season there yes they have a monster line, but their problem was getting hemmed in their own zone, Girard is so good fast skater getting the pack so quickly out of their zone that allow them actually to develop plays.....sounds like something that would help us too, maybe Riikola can develop to give us to legit lines (without Shultz...)