Post-Game Talk: Pens beat the Jerks

[CascadiaPenguin]

I feel like Sid is 26 when watching him, not 36. His conditioning and dedication to the game is truly remarkable. Some shit games now and then, but man is he playing awesome.

Naw, let's trade Sid, NOW, right? Doesn't that make so much sense?!?

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

4-1-0 in the last 5 and still losing ground.

Isn't it special when ChatGPT loses context and goes random? Thank the gods s/he doesn't get CAPTCHA, right?!?

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

On vacation at Kho Samui and the kids were begging to go ocean fishing for days. So, four hours in choppy waters where kids and wifey managed 1 tiny fish and 14 hurls between them, before the crew was convinced to make this just a half-day trip.
I on the other hand enjoyed myself with four good sized groupers, a 6 pound barracuda, and a fist-full of cold beers.

And we took down the Canes in what appears to be a bit of a snoozer. Yay.

That is a very cool story, but we both know fishing for grouper ain't fishing. Thank the gods for sonar. ;-).

 

[Josey Wales]

AS Good As Geno was at the Start of the season, That is how bad he is now

 

[PaulD]

Who is Malkin at this point btw? Is he still a legit 1st line center? Or a TOP6 center? Or at least a legit 2nd line center? Don´t wanna be negative after what I consider a very good win, but man... This is the worst hockey Malkin has ever played. It´s been like 2 months already, he had like great first 6 games and after that he is just getting worse and worse. Obviously it doesn´t help that his linemates are bad. But I am not sure about him even with better linemates. You can see it on the powerplay too, he used to be our best powerplay player. Nowadays, he just kills them more often than not. Overall body language is just not good with him.

Father time is catching up AND he his wingers been brutal.
Gino needs to clean up his game by keeping it simple.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Out of curiosity, Where do you think people watch these games from?

Space

 

[mpp9]

Team got lucky they played hardball with 71 on contract negotiations. Love the guy, but this level of play would be rough for 9 mil/year.


Hopefully they can get him more help eventually.

 

[Icarium]

Truly a Christmas miracle. Crosby and Ned leading the way, Rakell showing some signs of life, playing more conservatively. Seems like they have even been practising shootouts! Would be nice if PP1 had any clue how to do zone entries against more a more aggressive PK but hey, baby steps.

Every divisional game in the Metro seems to be a three point game lately, I guess it was our turn to get lucky despite playing with fire in certain portions of the game. I know that the Canes goal was unlucky but why not take a time out when your players are absolutely exhausted and it's the type of game where every goal is huge?

Malkin was pretty terrible, then the OT comes where a guy his age should struggle but he suddenly looked a lot better. The Canes managed to gift us the puck like three times per minute in that OT, it was freaking weird.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Crosby is obviously on a different level. But other than that, this is exactly the type of hockey that they need to play. Conservative slow structured hockey, that will maybe bring a lot of overtimes. Just collect those extra points. They had this purpose coming into the 3rd immediately. They didn´t play like this earlier in the year and all of the last year too. It´s not flashy, but this is exactly how the Caps or the Isles are picking up a lot of points too, even though they are not very good.

Very well put and came to type the exact same thing.

If you want the Pens to win, this is the game you should expect to see. It's not exciting but it gets you 2 points most nights.

Not much to complain about (except the PP). It was a low event defensive game and the Pens have 1 of the best players in the world and a goalie who was airtight tonight. Minor quibble about the 2nd period where they gave up 14 shots.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

To be fair to Sully, they said on the radio that Raks has a great shootout %.

Still, something is not right with him. I think the injury was holding him back before he left the lineup. I'll be a lot more concerned if he still isn't scoring goals once his game conditioning is back.

Honestly, Rak hasn't been the same player since taking that elbow vs the Rags in G1 a couple seasons back.
Prior to that hit to the head, he was a really good functional utility player. Now he looks lost no matter where he's playing

The 4-on-3 was also really strong, so that provides some hope that the power play won't go back to being lifeless.

A 5 -4 PP vs a 4 -3 one couldn't be any different. The tactics to the shooting/passing lanes are markedly different

 

[K Fleur]

This team just feels like it plays better when Jarry isn’t playing.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Sid is so much better at shootouts when he's not lazy, and does his best Patty Kane stickhandling impression. Goalies can't track him, and it opens up holes.
If he always did this he'd be like 10% higher for his career.

Unfortunately he only did it on like a quarter of his attempts.

 

[Tender Rip]

That is a very cool story, but we both know fishing for grouper ain't fishing. Thank the gods for sonar. ;-).

I have gone to some lengths to never go fishing before in my life, so I really dont know .
The greatest thing about today - besides cold beers in morning sunshine in the tropical ocean breeze (which WAS nice) - was how much the kids hated the experience . Whether me getting all the fish or their sea sickness was worse is not clear. What is clear is that they wont ask for another fishing trip, and that for me is a win.

Later we went jet skiing which made the world right for everyone. /OT

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Edge of my seat game! Ned and Sid all the way!

I wish more guys were clicking though. Malkin/Rakell...3rd line...4th line...everybody all thumbs.

I miss the days we dominate teams, but this is one of those last gasp years. Gonna enjoy it as best as I can.

 

[trader997]

Ned is awesome, he plays with so much confidence. The two losses he got this year was a meltdown in front of him, i remember the Buffalo game when they were up 2-0 after 2 periods.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Ned is awesome, he plays with so much confidence. The two losses he got this year was a meltdown in front of him, i remember the Buffalo game when they were up 2-0 after 2 periods.

He has the pedigree and the ability.

He was sort of a reclamation project of some sort, and so far he has delivered. Goaltending is a funky position. It relies heavily on what people do in front of them defensively.

The reverse is also true, the goalies play, effects heavily what D do in front of him. Both working in tandem together is glorious to watch!!

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Father time is catching up AND he his wingers been brutal.
Gino needs to clean up his game by keeping it simple.

Well we took away what was working very well with him last year and as others have said his wingers have been pretty bad.

His skillset is still there but you can tell he's frustrated out there. Hes not going to take over a line every game like he could in his 20s but I am not blaming this on Geno. He needs guys to step up or needs some help

 

[PaulD]

Well we took away what was working very well with him last year and as others have said his wingers have been pretty bad.

His skillset is still there but you can tell he's frustrated out there. Hes not going to take over a line every game like he could in his 20s but I am not blaming this on Geno. He needs guys to step up or needs some help

oh for sure! Gino is not being blamed.
Frustrated with his results is not a bad thing. Ginonis hard on himself and it works for him.
He will come out of it with a big two goal game as he always does.

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

If only the key wingers could produce.

 

[Fordy]

Edge of my seat game! Ned and Sid all the way!

I wish more guys were clicking though. Malkin/Rakell...3rd line...4th line...everybody all thumbs.

I miss the days we dominate teams, but this is one of those last gasp years. Gonna enjoy it as best as I can.

no you need to bitch and moan about everything even when we beat a team we've barely kept up with in 3 years

 

[molon labe]

This was almost decidedly how the 2023+++ Penguins should play every.single.night. This run and gun shit needed to stop 4 seasons ago. I think if we adapted it you'd start to see more production from the top 6 in all honesty - EK too.

Carolina hockey is quite literally two things: Interference and questionable slashing. I found it hilarious reading their GDT where they have 2-3 posters going off the rails about penalty calls. In a vacuum that call on Sid doesn't get called...however they could have been penalized on their entire existence last night. Holy smokes. That team/fanbase is in for some rude awakenings if they start getting called regularly. Overall was nice to see the Pens actually adapt and start flipping pucks out of that garbage ass trap.

Sid looked utterly incredible. After Sid, Ned obviously looked sharp. After Ned - WHY WAS OUR THIRD BEST PLAYER HARKINS HOLY F THE ROSTER SUCKS.

 

[Pens1566]

This was almost decidedly how the 2023+++ Penguins should play every.single.night. This run and gun shit needed to stop 4 seasons ago. I think if we adapted it you'd start to see more production from the top 6 in all honesty - EK too.

Carolina hockey is quite literally two things: Interference and questionable slashing. I found it hilarious reading their GDT where they have 2-3 posters going off the rails about penalty calls. In a vacuum that call on Sid doesn't get called...however they could have been penalized on their entire existence last night. Holy smokes. That team/fanbase is in for some rude awakenings if they start getting called regularly. Overall was nice to see the Pens actually adapt and start flipping pucks out of that garbage ass trap.

Sid looked utterly incredible. After Sid, Ned obviously looked sharp. After Ned - WHY WAS OUR THIRD BEST PLAYER HARKINS HOLY F THE ROSTER SUCKS.

The Canes fanbase has always been insufferable IMHO. It went so far as having a global Mod here that was being a complete and utter douche-canoe regarding anything negative that was pointed out about the team.

 

[golfortennis1]

EK is being coached into being risk averse, that's a two edged sword, he's one of the most prolific offensive Defensemen of all time and he's largely being neutered. Starting to look like a bad trade if he's not able to freelance.

This is the biggest issue. Thinking that no matter who you bring in they have to play "my system" is a losing cause.

Chamberlain didn't dribble the ball, Jim Brown didn't throw the ball. Use the player's strengths and put them in the best position to succeed.

 

[Super Duper]

This is the biggest issue. Thinking that no matter who you bring in they have to play "my system" is a losing cause.

Chamberlain didn't dribble the ball, Jim Brown didn't throw the ball. Use the player's strengths and put them in the best position to succeed.

Forcing a player into "playing into my system" is fine generally and successful. However, you should probably get a player who can fit into that system in the first place, rather than trying to complete re-format a player to fit into it.

Also helps if your system doesn't f***ing suck.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

After Ned - WHY WAS OUR THIRD BEST PLAYER HARKINS HOLY F THE ROSTER SUCKS.

Nah. The Hurricanes are just a team where the entire roster has been coached to be grinders. As such, players who can also play that style will fare well. Unless you also want the Penguins to play that way, the roster does not suck, it's just that a certain type of player will do well in this particular type of game.