Post-Game Talk: Pens 5, Habs 3 - The Atleast We're Better Than Montreal Edition

[Andy99]

The response was to someone suggesting we aren’t great at home, which is pretty far from the truth. Yeah one loss was in a close game to Jersey so I don’t really see your point. Do you think we are bad at home?

No we’re good at home. But a really good road can still beat us there and NJD is a really good road team....was more about Friday’s game

 

[Tom Hanks]

Heck of a memory. Need more of this Jake. Plus I like him on line 3.

He’s been building for the last 2 months.

Last 24 games:

20 points - 7 goals, 13 assists

 

[Al Smith]

This felt like early in the season when Pens were playing like ****, but consistently beating the Sabres.

 

[Tom Hanks]

No we’re good at home. But a really good road can still beat us there and NJD is a really good road team....was more about Friday’s game

Maybe they might realise that if we beat Devils and Flyers and we are pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot.

 

[Ugene Magic]

What a stupid ****ing game that was?

was that the goal after we didn't get a shot for like 25 minutes?

I should have clarified we were talking about game 1 in the finals last year.

 

[Pancakes]

Pens are marginally better than some non playoff teams at home. Not the look of a contender. Bad D is bad D. Ask the Steelers what happens when your D isn't up to snuff.

We weren't exactly convincing defensively last year either when Letang went down. The offense is still there.

My biggest concern is goaltending. It doesn't feel like we're getting another strong year of playoff goaltending unless Murray suddenly figures it out. And if god forbid he gets hurt again I don't trust Desmith or Jarry to win a series. I think they'd battle and be competitive. They're confident kids. But the NHL playoffs are just a different animal.

I feel like this Pens team could have just about any playoff result and it wouldn't surprise me. First round exit? With the sloppy d and inconsistent goaltending it's very possible. Stanley Cup win? If Sid goes into Sid mode and Murray gets his form back it would be really hard to stop us in 7.

I'm not worried about it. Just get in and let the chips fall where they may. The team has played a lot of hockey the past few years.

 

[Gurglesons]

I should have clarified we were talking about game 1 in the finals last year.

Yeah, that game was asisine.

 

[vodeni]

again, I am not worried about defense, same players same skills the key is how fast are our forwards, fast to the puck, fast to forecheck, tight backchecking and taking bodies through NZ ...if they can do that like they did in 2016 there is nothing to worry about. most of that is effort, and a little bit of line kohesion so they undertand each other when attacking, this and goaltending

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Finally admitted the rest of the league got better!

Gotcha!

But, seriously, our division has just become a blood bath. Islanders and Carolina are a good goaltender away from being the Devils or Flyers this year, Caps are still skilled in their top six, Columbus got Bread Man who is basically exactly what they needed. Rangers are in my estimate the only bad team. And that is self imposed.

Our TEAM D is downright scary. Curious to see how Sully approaches it if it continues into the playoffs. His ability to have systems inside of systems for his lines is crazy and I wonder if he just lets them go buck wild. Every team outside of Boston is loosely goosey when it comes to their D in the East and we have what seven 20 goal scorers?

Also, it will be telling how the coaching staff and management ACTUALLY feel about Letang and Dumo in the playoffs. He had no problem icing Dumo and Hainsey who were the obvious top pair as a third pairing a couple games last year in the playoffs.

Philly and Jersey winning the lottery last year being one of the reasons the division is and will be tougher going forward. Islanders have two picks in the lottery too coming up, they could end up with one of the top players(hopefully not Dahlin) and be another tough team in the division if they keep tavares..to go along with Barzal , etc.

As for our team D...hurts losing all of Cole(had him this year , still dont get that one) , Bonino, Kunitz, and Cullen who were solid in that department. Daley too.

Murray will have to be just as good as the last two playoffs, and our offense has to be at their best.

 

[turd]

Haven’t read much of the reaction. Are we firing Sullivan tonight or what?

 

[Turin]

Man that shot by Guentzel was game one deja vu.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Haven’t read much of the reaction. Are we firing Sullivan tonight or what?

He smiled tonight and it put us at ease (at why the **** was a penalty called on Jake)

 

[AjaxTelamon]

+++ HGH: As usual awesome. I think Hags is such a treat to watch all game long. He's back on every backcheck. He's first in on forechecks. Horny is the heart. Geno is the star. It's a treat.

+ Brassard: I thought he was terrific. Great dishes and great 2 way play.

+ Sid's goal: Come on. Another one to watch 10 times. Beautiful hand-eye.

+ Jake Guentzel: So last game he got benched and ever since that benching - he went full psycho. In a good way. He's been a demon out there.



A little different minus here for me tonight. Im not going to ***** about Kessel or Letang. I'll talk about concerns.

- Sid's line: Nobody rotates high and nobody has rotated high all year. It looks awful with Rust and it's concerning because they have no groove/chemistry. For Sid's line to work, all 3 guys have to battle low and rotate high. Guentzel is battling low. Sid is 50/50. Rust is completely out to lunch. That line needs to figure it out. I think if Sid completely engages, it could work. But the rotating has been an issue all year. Kills us defensively.

- Brassard's line: I feel like Brassard is doing so well defensively but the chemistry isn't there yet. Nobody is chipping short and supporting. Kessel is just hanging around right now and Sheary is too weak to battle. It's a bad fit. Rust is a good fit because he battles with Brassard while Kessel does his thing. I really want Rust back on this line.

The only line doing small things all over the ice is HGH. And Malkin is engaged with Horny/Hags doing those small things. You see short chips/supporting one another. We need that on each line. And good lord the 4th line is pointless until we get healthy.

- PK: I am not sure how it's going to work. We desperately needed a Cole-like defender. Watching Benn tonight, i still contest that would have been a good pick up. I don't think we are going to see the PK get better. Not enough battle and we need that Cole-like guy.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why they had to send out Cole in the Brassard deal. I'd rather have made up the value with picks or prospects. Cole/Oleksiak looked so good together, I was sure they would keep that going for the playoffs.

All in all, I still think I'd rather they just kept all their assets and brought in Pleks. Brassard is great and all, but Kessel was working better with Sheahan than he is with Brassard. Now we're not getting anything out of Sheahan, the third line looks dysfunctional, and we have no one like Cole on D.

I hope I'm wrong, and things get squared away, but I question whether this team is any better than what we iced before the TDL. I tend to think not by much, if at all. And now Columbus has Cole, they've won eight straight or whatever, and he's been playing great for them.

I like most of JR's moves so far, but I don't like the Brassard deal.

But I digress. Yay, we beat Montreal.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Not sure what they'll do with ZAR back but Kuhn likely stays in 100% and Jooris likely goes back down.
Probably looking at:

Jake-Sid-(Rust/ZAR/Sheary)
Hags-G-Horny
(ZAR/Rust/Sheary)-Brass-Phil
Kuhn-Sheahan-(Sheary/ZAR/Rust)
(Simon)

If they keep Rust with Sid, i'll atleast accept trying:

ZAR-Brass-Phil
Kuhn-Sheahan-Sheary

But i believe everything gets better here if you release Rust from Sid and let him flourish on lower lines, like he always does.

I'm also just a big fan of getting Kuhn out and letting Jooris play his role as he's more of a fit with his speed. Doubtful if that ever happens tho.

 

[canadianguy77]

again, I am not worried about defense, same players same skills the key is how fast are our forwards, fast to the puck, fast to forecheck, tight backchecking and taking bodies through NZ ...if they can do that like they did in 2016 there is nothing to worry about. most of that is effort, and a little bit of line kohesion so they undertand each other when attacking, this and goaltending

They can't do what they did in '16 in regards to team speed. All of the smart have GM's copied what the Pens did that year. And the contenders have legitimate thoroughbreds compared to our younger guys like Sheary.

And we have to remember that our big guns are slower than they were 2 years ago. Maybe not by a lot, but they are still slower than they were.

If they're going to do it again this year, its going to have to something different than the '16 win. Its probably going to have to look like it did last year.

Which really means that there's going to have to be a whole lot of luck, and certain teams are going to have to be intimidated to a point where they don't play their game. ( I don't think this is likely to happen, but I can easily see the Craps getting in their own heads)

To put it simply, I don't see our team beating either Boston or Tampa. They're just not good enough this year.

 

[ncm7772]

I have a feeling Sprong will never play for the Pittsburgh Penguins again.

I wish this wasn't true, but sadly, I think it is.

Guentzel-Sid-ZAR
HGH
Rust-Brassard-Kessel
Sheary-Sheahan-Jooris

I like that when healthy.

Me too.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Guentzel-Sid-ZAR
HGH
Rust-Brassard-Kessel
Sheary-Sheahan-Jooris

I like that when healthy.

if one of Jake or ZAR can play RW, that would be my plan A when ZAR comes back.

 

[BrookswasHere44]

I was hoping that the Pens would lose so that they could learn some needed lessons and make needed changes.

Very disappointing.

El Oh El

 

[BlankFrank416]

Haven’t read much of the reaction. Are we firing Sullivan tonight or what?

In an alternate timeline in which the Pens lost 4-2 tonight, I’m on this board arguing with people who want to send Crosby to Wilkes-Barre for the rest of the season.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Bottom line is it's go time now in terms of getting the playoff 5-man units buzzing in all 3 zones that makes this team succesful. You see spurts of it like the home game vs DAL but it needs to be brought to the forefront where every game/every shifts focus is high pressure and limiting time and space for opponents. When they play like that consistently, alot of the holes, especially on D, aren't as evident. Like if Letang misses an assignment or boofs an exit, etc. theres 2 or 3 guys right there to bail him out.

Thats the thing to look for these last 8 games.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

For the life of me, I can't figure out why they had to send out Cole in the Brassard deal. I'd rather have made up the value with picks or prospects. Cole/Oleksiak looked so good together, I was sure they would keep that going for the playoffs.

All in all, I still think I'd rather they just kept all their assets and brought in Pleks. Brassard is great and all, but Kessel was working better with Sheahan than he is with Brassard. Now we're not getting anything out of Sheahan, the third line looks dysfunctional, and we have no one like Cole on D.

I hope I'm wrong, and things get squared away, but I question whether this team is any better than what we iced before the TDL. I tend to think not by much, if at all. And now Columbus has Cole, they've won eight straight or whatever, and he's been playing great for them.

I like most of JR's moves so far, but I don't like the Brassard deal.

But I digress. Yay, we beat Montreal.

But Brassard and Kessel were working great when Rust was on LW. The problem isn't those two together, it's Sheary as the 3rd wheel. Sheahan was also working great with Kuhn and Sheary, but then Sully nixed that too.

We have the horses here...the issue is that the coach isn't using them properly. Losing Cole sucks, but it was a net positive deal to get Brass.

 

[Ryder71]

The issues upfront pale in comparison to how we collectively are playing on defense. We really need to play sound, smart, and structured positional hockey starting now. Easier said than done, but we need to to have any modicum of a chance.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

We weren't exactly convincing defensively last year either when Letang went down. The offense is still there.

My biggest concern is goaltending. It doesn't feel like we're getting another strong year of playoff goaltending unless Murray suddenly figures it out. And if god forbid he gets hurt again I don't trust Desmith or Jarry to win a series. I think they'd battle and be competitive. They're confident kids. But the NHL playoffs are just a different animal.

I feel like this Pens team could have just about any playoff result and it wouldn't surprise me. First round exit? With the sloppy d and inconsistent goaltending it's very possible. Stanley Cup win? If Sid goes into Sid mode and Murray gets his form back it would be really hard to stop us in 7.

I'm not worried about it. Just get in and let the chips fall where they may. The team has played a lot of hockey the past few years.

-This team, and Im going to be honest, feels like it is sleep skating right now. January we looked great. February we looked pretty great. March, not bad, but then we just threw the game away against the Rangers and didnt show up against the Islanders. And we gave up 3 goals twice against a hopeless Habs team, although tonight's goals were pretty fluky that they scored.

-The defense has to many breakdowns and something is wrong when we shift. It feels every time we are shifting we are getting caught with the other team coming down on odd man rushes. Tonight we gave up a goal where it felt like the entire team was in the locker room and it was the Habs and our goalie on the ice. Simple mental mistakes is killing us. The Penguins have another gear in the playoffs. But, it doesnt feel like the last 2 years right now. I guess one thing can be said, we have been out shooting the opposition pretty well and are 6-4 in March with 6 of those games on the road, but, I dont feel the way we are playing is good enough to win it all. We need to step up instead of sleepwalk going into the playoffs like the Caps did the last 2 years.

 

[Gurglesons]

-This team, and Im going to be honest, feels like it is sleep skating right now. January we looked great. February we looked pretty great. March, not bad, but then we just threw the game away against the Rangers and didnt show up against the Islanders. And we gave up 3 goals twice against a hopeless Habs team, although tonight's goals were pretty fluky that they scored.

-The defense has to many breakdowns and something is wrong when we shift. It feels every time we are shifting we are getting caught with the other team coming down on odd man rushes. Tonight we gave up a goal where it felt like the entire team was in the locker room and it was the Habs and our goalie on the ice. Simple mental mistakes is killing us. The Penguins have another gear in the playoffs. But, it doesnt feel like the last 2 years right now. I guess one thing can be said, we have been out shooting the opposition pretty well and are 6-4 in March with 6 of those games on the road, but, I dont feel the way we are playing is good enough to win it all. We need to step up instead of sleepwalk going into the playoffs like the Caps did the last 2 years.

If we go out in the playoffs in round 1 or 2, I’d understand this argument.

We are coming of back to back Cups though. The Penguins best course may be to sleepwalk right now.

 

[Pancakes]

-This team, and Im going to be honest, feels like it is sleep skating right now. January we looked great. February we looked pretty great. March, not bad, but then we just threw the game away against the Rangers and didnt show up against the Islanders. And we gave up 3 goals twice against a hopeless Habs team, although tonight's goals were pretty fluky that they scored.

-The defense has to many breakdowns and something is wrong when we shift. It feels every time we are shifting we are getting caught with the other team coming down on odd man rushes. Tonight we gave up a goal where it felt like the entire team was in the locker room and it was the Habs and our goalie on the ice. Simple mental mistakes is killing us. The Penguins have another gear in the playoffs. But, it doesnt feel like the last 2 years right now. I guess one thing can be said, we have been out shooting the opposition pretty well and are 6-4 in March with 6 of those games on the road, but, I dont feel the way we are playing is good enough to win it all. We need to step up instead of sleepwalk going into the playoffs like the Caps did the last 2 years.

Yeah I don't like going into the playoffs with bad habits because it's hard to just flip the switch.

At the same time is Geno gonna be as careless with the puck in the playoffs as he has been lately? Are Geno/Horny gonna take penalties like they took vs the Isles? Is Sid gonna coast? I doubt all of that. But bad habits are bad habits and even if they suddenly commit to playing the right way once the playoffs start it might be hard to make that transition quickly.