Post-Game Talk: Pens 6, Ducks 2: Pens Win, Kunitz Continues to Elevate Sid

[JackFr]

Is Quenneville Bernie Sanders' brother?

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

There's definitely something to be said about a coach who seems engaged and animated. There's a fine line, which is why I think Torts is a complete ****ing joke, but you can't have a guy sitting behind the bench looking dumbfounded and silent all game either like Bylsma and Johnston.

 

[PensandCaps]

Is Quenneville Bernie Sanders' brother?

Thats larry david.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

From a live perspective, letang was solid but made some awful mistakes again. Daley made a few, too. Sully was veryyyyy pissed at their two turnovers. Mattaa is getting no love in this thread and the guy was terrific tonight. Absolutely incredible. I think he should be getting some credit tonight.

Your analysis in Rust is good. I thought the other WBS guys played fast but they are not really effective. Kuhn, Sheary, and Wilson could all go back tomorrow because they don't belong in the NHL, but tonight they buzzed around and it gained the pens a lot of momentum. That speed gave Anaheim fits as they tried to get to their bully game.

By the way, Hornqvist pisses everyone off with his relentless hustle. I love it.

Hey, I tried at the beginning of the thread. He was awesome last night, I can't remember him playing better. If Maatta plays like that down the stretch it will be the biggest improvement we can hope for on the backend this year.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Don't understand why no one ever mentions Mattaa who is having the best season of his career and is close of being a stud.

As Määttä's biggest fan...he's shown massive improvements as the season has gone on (much of which has to do with going from playing with Dipstick Scuderi to Letang), but...it's his 2nd real season and he's playing at a lower level than he was as a rookie, which is understandable considering he basically missed an entire year and has had to effectively learn two systems this year.

I do think by next season he'll be a legitimate stud, though. He'd be there by now if not for the year from hell the kid had to go through.

If he has more games like he had last night, though...he could be there come playoff time.

 

[pistolpete11]

It was apparent that the team had Johnston's respect, and was "buying in" to his system as well.

You need the coach to command respect and the players to buy into what he's selling, but you also need a guy who is competent.

If you're incompetent, you aren't going to have your players' respect. I'm not sure Johnston had anyone's respect except for maybe Malkin.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

If you're incompetent, you aren't going to have your players' respect. I'm not sure Johnston had anyone's respect except for maybe Malkin.

Well, he had everyone playing like they were trying to be Craig Adams. That doesn't just happen by accident, especially with the system and approach Johnston used.

It's one thing to call into question Johnston's system, and what it did for our players. It's another to think they weren't playing the way he wanted them to, indicating at least a good amount of respect--professional or personal--on their part to change their game to fit his style.

 

[Hossa die Waldfee]

As Määttä's biggest fan...he's shown massive improvements as the season has gone on (much of which has to do with going from playing with Dipstick Scuderi to Letang), but...it's his 2nd real season and he's playing at a lower level than he was as a rookie, which is understandable considering he basically missed an entire year and has had to effectively learn two systems this year.

I do think by next season he'll be a legitimate stud, though. He'd be there by now if not for the year from hell the kid had to go through.

If he has more games like he had last night, though...he could be there come playoff time.

Maatta is beast. I actually doubt he is 21 years old. He is playing on the first pairing with a guy who is, as much as I like him, not easy to play with. After having two shoulder surgeries and friggen cancer.
I wouldn't hesitate one second to give him a nice long term contract. We will definitely profit from it long term.
I believe the problem of his reception here is that if he makes a mistake and gets walked it is so easy to see. It's not as hard to spot, especially on TV, as bad positioning or a missed assignment, mistakes he already very rarely makes.

 

[pistolpete11]

Well, he had everyone playing like they were trying to be Craig Adams. That doesn't just happen by accident, especially with the system and approach Johnston used.

It's one thing to call into question Johnston's system, and what it did for our players. It's another to think they weren't playing the way he wanted them to, indicating at least a good amount of respect--professional or personal--on their part to change their game to fit his style.

You don’t see a difference in their effort and attitude under Sullivan? I do. I’m not saying they were out there tanking on purpose, but if you are second guessing the coach at every turn, whether consciously or not, it’s going to affect the way you are playing.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

You don’t see a difference in their effort and attitude under Sullivan? I do. I’m not saying they were out there tanking on purpose, but if you are second guessing the coach at every turn, whether consciously or not, it’s going to affect the way you are playing.

Not that I liked Johnston, but what you're trying to say is they quit on him but spinning it in the players' favor.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Effort? Nah, not really. Attitude, for sure.

I don't think the failings of Johnston-era Penguins hockey were due to lack of effort. I think they were just coached to be ******, and they played into it. What we're seeing right now is a team coached to be aggressive as Hell, predatory, and fast-paced. The polar opposite of Johnston's "I'm in over my head, play prevent defense all game to save my job" style--which they bought into a played no more or less than they're doing with Sullivan's system.

 

[chethejet]

OLi is playing better. But to me is not showing that "it" factor he showed his rookie year. At some point, he has to be better as an offensive player and to date has not been as good. But Pens have skaters on the back end playing faster and with speed has to be the structure to win. Strong fore checking and pinching from the points creating turnovers is higher risk, but fits the roster.

 

[ETA]

The downside to those kinds of antagonistic coaches is they tend to have a short shelf-life. It's a fine line between firebreathing and being an ******* who loses the team.

I'm hoping that Sullivan could be more in the mold of a Babcock or Quenneville who can control the dressing room, call out players on occasion, and command respect at the same time...?

 

[mpp9]

Hoping Sullivan isn't souring on Kessel. Got bumped down to the third line in Florid and apparently he played 4 fewer ES minutes than Rust last night. Some of that can be attributed to them rolling lines 3 and 4 at the end of the game, but that's a pretty big gap.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

Hoping Sullivan isn't souring on Kessel. Got bumped down to the third line in Florid and apparently he played 4 fewer ES minutes than Rust last night. Some of that can be attributed to them rolling lines 3 and 4 at the end of the game, but that's a pretty big gap.

Yeah I agree. I hope it's a combination of a big lead, no PP time, and not really having the true 2nd line together with Geno out, but Phil still needs to keep playing top minutes. We need to get him going and have him as himself to make a run come playoff time.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Hoping Sullivan isn't souring on Kessel. Got bumped down to the third line in Florid and apparently he played 4 fewer ES minutes than Rust last night. Some of that can be attributed to them rolling lines 3 and 4 at the end of the game, but that's a pretty big gap.

1. Every Forward played less EV minutes than Rust last night.
2. He still had more time than his linemates HAgelin and Cullen.
3. Why in gods name would you want to put Kessel of all people on the ice with a 2 or 3 goal lead.

 

[MrBurghundy]

It was apparent that the team had Johnston's respect, and was "buying in" to his system as well.

You need the coach to command respect and the players to buy into what he's selling, but you also need a guy who is competent.

The problem was that Johnston had them buying into a system that didn't fit their talents. They basically had no identity. The one thing that Sullivan has done is come in here and identify what this team's talents are, and create an identity that plays toward it.

 

[Hossa die Waldfee]

1. Every Forward played less EV minutes than Rust last night.
2. He still had more time than his linemates HAgelin and Cullen.
3. Why in gods name would you want to put Kessel of all people on the ice with a 2 or 3 goal lead.

Because he never gets hurt?

 

[DesertPenguin]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned yet, but stick tap to Fowler for what he did after Sid's second goal. Cam hooked him because he had to, but once Sid scored and fell, Fowler slowed him down and turned him so Sid didn't go into the wall at a dangerous angle. Classy move.

 

[billybudd]

Hoping Sullivan isn't souring on Kessel. Got bumped down to the third line in Florid and apparently he played 4 fewer ES minutes than Rust last night. Some of that can be attributed to them rolling lines 3 and 4 at the end of the game, but that's a pretty big gap.

Souring's probably too strong of a word. Kessel was disciplined in Florida because he caused about 7 unnecessary offsides in 2 games by making some weird, pointless cut move just before gaining the blueline. I'm sure he was told not to do that, kept doing it anyway and was sent to the corner because of it.

Last night Sullivan yelled at him (he forgot to rotate back to cover for an activated D twice yesterday), but the behavior didn't (that I saw) repeat after he did that, so he wasn't disciplined outside of verbally. He also didn't put anyone offside that I recall.

Stuff Sullivan's been mad about with Kessel is annoying, necessary and easy for Kessel to fix. With the offside thing, I didn't understand why he was doing that in the first place. There's no advantage to taking an extra second to gain the line on a scripted breakout.

 

[Asuna]

“Along the same lines, hockey analysts have determined that shot attempts are more predictive of future scoring margins than past scoring margins. Players whose time ice correlates with positive shot differential (as measured on metrics such as Corsi and Fenwick, named after their creators) thus have more value than traditional point totals might suggest. That is, at least until teams start playing to the metric, focusing on taking as many shots as possible rather than trying to score goals.

This describes Johnston's Penguins quite accurately, I would say.

http://www.tsn.ca/for-the-teams-paying-attention-analytics-continue-to-add-real-value-1.435505

 

[Empoleon8771]

I wonder what the Pens will do with their lineup once other players start getting healthy. I can't see any sort of justification for scratching Rust or Pouliot at this point, they're both legit NHLers at this point. I could see Bennett being moved for a LWer when he gets healthy (if he gets healthy) and the Pens running with:

Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Bennett trade-Bonino-Fehr
Probably Porter-Cullen-Rust

 

[DesertPenguin]

I don't think Bonino is long for this roster, but I'm not convinced they move him before the summer.

Flipping Bonino for a youngish LW would sure be nice.

Kunitz - Crosby - Hornqvist
Hagelin - Malkin - Kessel
Trade LW - Fehr - Bennett
Rust - Cullen - Sheary/Sundqvist/Wilson

Edit: Sprong for the 4th line after his junior season is over?

 

[Shady Machine]

I wonder what the Pens will do with their lineup once other players start getting healthy. I can't see any sort of justification for scratching Rust or Pouliot at this point, they're both legit NHLers at this point. I could see Bennett being moved for a LWer when he gets healthy (if he gets healthy) and the Pens running with:

Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Bennett trade-Bonino-Fehr
Probably Porter-Cullen-Rust

It all depends on who is healthy and when. If Fehr and Bones are back before trade deadline, I'd look to deal Bones to a playoff team looking for center depth and has a left winger to spare. Throw in Bennett if somebody wants him.

 

[mpp9]

I think them dealing Bonino this season also has to do with how they view Sundqvist. They're going to want a spare center if they deal Bonino. Moving Cullen to LW and having Fehr and Sundqvist up the middle sounds good to me.

But if they want to send Sundqvist back down, then maybe waiting until the offseason is the route to take.