Post-Game Talk: Pens 4 Wings 1 | All That Matters is the Art Ross Race

[billybudd]

We do well against skill based teams. Against tight checking, speedy teams...we stink. If only it could be a 4 round series between the Pens and Wings.

Wings are plenty speedy.

It's not "skill" teams we do well against. It's teams that are have our amount of muscle or less, particularly at forward, regardless of whether they're "skilled" or not. Only players that struggled to establish body position against the Wings were Adams, Bennett and, to a lesser extent, Sutter.

Against the Caps, Panthers or Rangers, that list would grow and there would be no qualifier next to Sutter's name. We need Dumoulin to develop badly.

Still, Comeau helps with that more than I would have thought possible a year ago.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

If they acquire another forward and Downie gets scratched instead of Adams Johnston deserves to be fired on the spot. Downie has been by far our best and most consistent bottom 6'er this year. It would be a total joke.

 

[Shady Machine]

Wings are plenty speedy.

It's not "skill" teams we do well against. It's teams that are have our amount of muscle or less, particularly at forward, regardless of whether they're "skilled" or not. Only players that struggled to establish body position against the Wings were Adams, Bennett and, to a lesser extent, Sutter.

Against the Caps, Panthers or Rangers, that list would grow and there would be no qualifier next to Sutter's name. We need Dumoulin to develop badly.

Still, Comeau helps with that more than I would have thought possible a year ago.

Yup I am starting to agree with you more and more on the size component.

 

[billybudd]

Yup I am starting to agree with you more and more on the size component.

If the Department of officiating went back to what it was doing seven or eight years ago, size and strength would matter far, far less than it does now. I don't think we should hold our breath waiting for that to happen. As the game is called right now, muscle is extremely, extremely important.

 

[Waffle Fries]

Wings are plenty speedy.

It's not "skill" teams we do well against. It's teams that are have our amount of muscle or less, particularly at forward, regardless of whether they're "skilled" or not. Only players that struggled to establish body position against the Wings were Adams, Bennett and, to a lesser extent, Sutter.

Against the Caps, Panthers or Rangers, that list would grow and there would be no qualifier next to Sutter's name. We need Dumoulin to develop badly.

Still, Comeau helps with that more than I would have thought possible a year ago.

Even when Bennett crashes the net, you still find a way to discredit him.

 

[billybudd]

Even when Bennett crashes the net, you still find a way to discredit him.

He lost about three seconds losing a battle at the blueline on that play. It's nice that he went to the front of the net after that (better than the perimeter stuff he's been doing since at least the Minnesota game, in that at least he required Marchenko to pick him up), but his stick was completely tied up and he was nowhere near the goaltender's sightlines.

Watch that play again without the rose-colored glasses. If you can't see that Bennett was one of our two worst forwards in this game, I'm speechless.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Even when Bennett crashes the net, you still find a way to discredit him.

BB did better last night, but he was by no means good. And as has become his tendency, he didn't produce anything on the stat sheets except a giveaway. I am fine with overlooking it as rust, and because he was less bad last night than he had been before his benching. But he needs to make a lot more progress to be a contributor, and he needs to avoid turnovers and blown defensive coverages. It's not like he had limited TOI, he had almost 2 minutes more than Comeau.

And who did you notice out there more, BB or Comeau? I understand Comeau is playing with better players, but BB is on the team for his production, and was playing exceptional hockey with Sutter in the preseason, and it's on him to get back to that level and style of play.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

He lost about three seconds losing a battle at the blueline on that play. It's nice that he went to the front of the net after that (better than the perimeter stuff he's been doing since at least the Minnesota game, in that at least he required Marchenko to pick him up), but his stick was completely tied up and he was nowhere near the goaltender's sightlines.

Watch that play again without the rose-colored glasses. If you can't see that Bennett was one of our two worst forwards in this game, I'm speechless.

Bennett was making simple, smart plays all night and he was going to the dirty areas more often which is exactly what Johnston wanted. He made a nice zone entry to Sutter which led to Spaling's goal as well. He didn't have an amazing game or anything but he was solid.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Great game overall. Started like bats out of hell, and even though we had some extended sloppy stretches after that, overall very good.

- Kunitz still looked like he hadn't held a stick before on a few plays, but at least he had some jump

- Perron was beastly, Sid too in a Jekyll/Hyde sorta way

- Malkin and Comeau looked great, Comeau and Hornqvist looked great, but I still don't see anything between Malkin and Hornqvist

- Bennett played a simple, unremarkable game

- DP had made some slick plays in transition and played focused in his own end...nice to see

- I think Letang was the best player on either side - really showed off his speed and strength, and made some great plays against tough to contain players like Helm and Dats

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

BB did better last night, but he was by no means good. And as has become his tendency, he didn't produce anything on the stat sheets except a giveaway. I am fine with overlooking it as rust, and because he was less bad last night than he had been before his benching. But he needs to make a lot more progress to be a contributor, and he needs to avoid turnovers and blown defensive coverages. It's not like he had limited TOI, he had almost 2 minutes more than Comeau.

And who did you notice out there more, BB or Comeau? I understand Comeau is playing with better players, but BB is on the team for his production, and was playing exceptional hockey with Sutter in the preseason, and it's on him to get back to that level and style of play.

He did avoid turnovers and blown d coverages last night. I don't know why Bennett should be expected to create a bunch of offense when the rest of his line really didn't.

 

[Shockmaster]

He did avoid turnovers and blown d coverages last night. I don't know why Bennett should be expected to create a bunch of offense when the rest of his line really didn't.

It may be top 6 or bust for Bennett if they expect him to be a consistent point producer, because he isn't going to be that playing with Sutter. Hell, Sutter wasn't even a consistent point producer when he was playing with Malkin earlier in the season.

 

[Waffle Fries]

He lost about three seconds losing a battle at the blueline on that play. It's nice that he went to the front of the net after that (better than the perimeter stuff he's been doing since at least the Minnesota game, in that at least he required Marchenko to pick him up), but his stick was completely tied up and he was nowhere near the goaltender's sightlines.

Watch that play again without the rose-colored glasses. If you can't see that Bennett was one of our two worst forwards in this game, I'm speechless.

Bennett wasn't one of our two worst forwards. Your bias against him is incredible. He played a simple game. It wasn't anything remarkable, but there wasn't much to complain about.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

It may be top 6 or bust for Bennett if they expect him to be a consistent point producer, because he isn't going to be that playing with Sutter. Hell, Sutter wasn't even a consistent point producer when he was playing with Malkin earlier in the season.

Because BB is a playmaker, and needs to possess the puck to be effective. Sutter is not, Sutter is a shooter, and a safe defensive player. Sutter will never be a big point producer, but he can do better if he's being set up. I didn't see BB creating much last night or possessing the puck effectively. But he did make simple plays, and did not have tons of giveaways.

He's not playing well enough to be in the top 6 now. Hopefully he can get to that point. But his defensive lapses worry me most playing in a top 6 that's not particularly defensively responsible as it is.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Because BB is a playmaker, and needs to possess the puck to be effective. Sutter is not, Sutter is a shooter, and a safe defensive player. Sutter will never be a big point producer, but he can do better if he's being set up. I didn't see BB creating much last night or possessing the puck effectively. But he did make simple plays, and did not have tons of giveaways.

He's not playing well enough to be in the top 6 now. Hopefully he can get to that point. But his defensive lapses worry me most playing in a top 6 that's not particularly defensively responsible as it is.

BB was one of their better defensive fwds when he was first called up. He kept things simple and didn't do anything risky.

I warned everyone that when he starts to get comfortable and tries to push offense, he will turn the puck over. That is part of the process and the only way around it is for him to learn through his mistakes.

Injuries have killed all the momentum he had, and benching him has just served the purpose of making him over think things and worry about making mistakes.

Basically, he's not any fun to watch right now and who knows if that will change. Until he is playing shift after shift, game after game, nothing will really change. Its always been this way, but unless you follow other teams, most Pens fans wouldn't know how a top six fwd actually develops.

 

[Shockmaster]

Because BB is a playmaker, and needs to possess the puck to be effective. Sutter is not, Sutter is a shooter, and a safe defensive player. Sutter will never be a big point producer, but he can do better if he's being set up. I didn't see BB creating much last night or possessing the puck effectively. But he did make simple plays, and did not have tons of giveaways.

He's not playing well enough to be in the top 6 now. Hopefully he can get to that point. But his defensive lapses worry me most playing in a top 6 that's not particularly defensively responsible as it is.

Right, because Sutter proved that playing with Malkin.

 

[cassius]

I hate to say it guys, but Fleury is setting up for a hell of a doozy in the playoffs.

He's just been so solid this season.. I am mentally preparing myself for the post-season because we all know (unless we are ignorant to history / past rends) that this can't continue.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

I hate to say it guys, but Fleury is setting up for a hell of a doozy in the playoffs.

He's just been so solid this season.. I am mentally preparing myself for the post-season because we all know (unless we are ignorant to history / past rends) that this can't continue.

I predicted a Cup for this year. But if we loose, I'm sure it won't be Fleury's fault.

We'll see ....

 

[Will Hunting]

I predicted a Cup for this year. But if we loose, I'm sure it won't be Fleury's fault.

We'll see ....

Well, I am more of a pessimist for a lot of reasons this season but I feel very comfortable with Fleury now. Even in the playoffs. I just have that calm feeling when I watch him this year. He just looks like a different goalie somehow.

I don´t even appreciate his good games too often because I just take it as granted.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

Hate to say it, but Sid gets my vote for biggest "-" of the game for us. Not necessarily because he was our "worst" player (he never is), but because he just played WAY below his abilities and hockey sense. Just horrible decision after horrible decision with the puck, and his reluctance to shoot is killing him.

Biggest pluses go to Comeau/Geno/Horny line, and once again Flower, who was lights out for us.

 

[billybudd]

Bennett wasn't one of our two worst forwards. Your bias against him is incredible. He played a simple game. It wasn't anything remarkable, but there wasn't much to complain about.

That blind, tape to tape pass to Pavel Datsyuk that sent a 3 on 2 our direction was certainly a simple play, but it doesn't go unremarked upon or uncomplained about by you if Kunitz does it.

Nor are you alleging "bias" if someone points out Kunitz getting dominated in one on one battles (something that didn't happen last night, but has in the past). Who's biased, here?