Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Caps| Loss | Its fine, fine, no really, its fine (Mod warning 1st post)

[Coastal Kev]

It's scary the parallels between Tomlin and Sully. This happens for the Steelers too.

I had the same thought as well.

Very rarely in my life has every Pittsburgh team offered no hope at the same time.

 

[Ryder71]

Blow it up

Should have done it before the trade deadline. I said it a month before and I know it wasn't popular, but we could have traded Letang and Rust for a huge down payment on our future, now we're screwed. And it's gonna take even more time for the rebuild.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Our puck management and shot generation are terrible.

Our offensive zone approach is antiquated and pretentious.

Our star players are not showing up.

Jarry crapped the bed today as well too.

I just cannot harp hard enough on how hard the star players need to have their faces pushed into dog shit for them to realize that their tippy tappy pretty play bullshit no longer works. They deserve this result. But at least they can pat each others butts in the shower over the almost cool passes they made.

This team has a lot of soul searching to be doing.

Curious about the word "pretentious" in this context, but other than that I'm down with this.

 

[Coastal Kev]

That's precisely the problem, though.

It's not the fact the Pens are losing, it's how they look while losing. I don't give a shit about placement in the standings. What I do give a shit about is them looking absolutely brutal heading into the playoffs.

You can't just flip a switch. We've hoped they could do that for like 4 playoffs now, and the results have been predictable that they're not just "saving it for the playoffs". They carried questionable regular season play down the stretch into questionable performance in the playoffs.

It's goes back to much earlier in the season when they were on a roll and mostly everybody had bought in to Sully and his stranglehold on the franchise. At that time, there were still a handful of posters calling it what it was, a mirage.

I still don't think this franchise is a hopeless as it seem now. A new coach, a new vision a new attitude would do wonders up and down the lineup.

Whoever tied this teams fate to Sully should be fired along with the HC. I also think you have to look at Forrest in WBS, he was tutored by Sully and his system. Could be why that team has mirrored our lifeless style as well.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Popping in to say, as a Zucker hater, I loved his game today. Great game Zuck.

Also even when Geno plays great, he makes plays for the other team. Earning Rondu's "Evgeni Minus" alt.

Dumo is terrible, terrible, terrible and needs to go away.

 

[ChaosAgent]

But this team isn't losing because Ruhwedel is playing over Friedman or Rakell isn't playing enough minutes. The primary aggressors for today's game were guys like Jarry, Dumoulin, Letang and Malkin. Swapping one depth piece for another one or playing a guy a few more shifts in a game isn't going to make or break the team when you have guys at the top who are playing fundamentally terrible.

Crosby blew chunks too.

But your point still stands.

 

[Icarium]

I predicted that we would either score an early goal or lose embarrassingly. Silly me, we did both even though we almost tied in the end.

The first goal we allowed and the three dumber than dumb penalties that we took in order to allow the tying goal are a perfect example of the team's tendency to shoot itself in the foot. I also remember at least two odd men rushes when we tried risky passes and couldn't manage a shot. The silly too men on the ice near the end, Malkin's risky passes coming back to haunt us, Guentzel snake-bitten again. Deja vu. I knew this wasn't a top 4 defense in the league as it was by goals against not so long ago, but I did not expect such a skid. Joke is on me, I guess.
Washington is nothing special, both of these teams are very likely to be out in the first round. But shooting ourselves in the foot so often is not pleasant to watch. The Panthers fired an extremely successful coach, replaced him with somebody with zero head coaching experience and haven't missed a beat. The Wild hired a coach with zero NHL head coaching experience and are doing well. Are these newbie coaches going to fail in the playoffs this year? Quite possibly but then again so would most veteran coaches. At some point doing the exact same thing and hoping that this time it will work starts looking like insanity.
I have tried so hard to remain optimistic but it has become clear that this team can only show up consistently when missing some of its stars. Which is great if you want to make the playoffs but not so great if you want to win a Cup. We have overplayed Jarry once again, even though CdS has been solid since New Year and we have little need of chasing home ice (which we ain't getting with this Jarry in net anyway). Same issues year after year. Can't change the whole roster, so the coach has to go. But it's too late now, we gotta hope for a miracle. Would be pretty funny if we upset the Panthers and our old buddy Bob, though.

The PK was good.

ESPN's love for fancy camera angles is driving me crazy.

 

[Phil68]

Letang, Malkin, and dumoulin produced nearly 0 quality plays this game.

What game were you watching. The first goal scored by Rust was all Malkin. Hence the assist. Smh some people.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Old.

But not useless.

I mean, Giroux is very similar to Malkin and he was traded to be an elite skilled vet to complement franchise/core players, not be one. They're at that age.

I don't know who was worse - Sid's invisibility act, Letang's increasing regression or Geno's "dominant but oh yeah the other team still scored a helluva lot more when I was on the ice."
Oh wait. It was Dumo whose wheels have almost entirely come off.

 

[End of Line]

-Carter is really really bad
-Guentzel was a ghost
+Malkin in person was difference maker
+Thank you to booze during the game


This team is better off running Blueger on the 3rd and scratching Carter

 

[Phil68]

For those of you who say let both Letang and Malkin walk, you all are agreeing to a rebuild at that point. And if their is going to be a rebuild, do you honestly think Crosby will want to stick around for a rebuild and not make playoffs and when he could with another team. Get smart yall.

 

[ChaosAgent]

For those of you who say let both Letang and Malkin walk, you all are agreeing to a rebuild at that point. And if their is going to be a rebuild, do you honestly think Crosby will want to stick around for a rebuild and not make playoffs and when he could with another team. Get smart yall.

I think people who want to jettison 58 and 71 (I'm not one of them, yet) understand that it will lead to 87 asking out. But they probably wouldn't mind that, especially recouping some assets and accelerating the rebuild.

 

[Jacob]

One thing I’ve thought about is if we’re gonna go into the playoffs ice cold we might as well be rested.. start giving guys (Letang, Sid, Carter, Boyle, Dumo) maintenance days off. Give Jarry a game where he’s not even the backup, let him just stay home like that one road trip. We’re not gonna beat those elite teams doing the same things they’re doing so try something different.

Has the advantage of kind of nullifying losses too. Lose with your 3rd stringer and without a couple regular skaters? Doesn’t count. Win? Huge moral boost.

 

[SEALBound]

Curious about the word "pretentious" in this context, but other than that I'm down with this.

We play a style that in order to work, the other team needs to not play hard nor play defense. We make countless blind passes and little dipsy doodle moves that do not respect the talent of the other team. When your 23 and capable, great. When you're 35 and slower, it doesn't work. We play a soft perimeter game and make low percentage passes to guys who, in order to score or get a shot, require a lapse in the other teams defense as opposed to creating one. We are the rich, white girl who doesn't want to do the work. We are the spoiled kid who scoffs at hard work. We are the Karen who insists you give her the meal for free after it's eaten because it tasted meh.

Simply put, they do the same soft shit over and over again and all it yields is low danger shots from the point where the goalie has a clear line of sight to the shooter and they believe, over the long term, this will yield goals. It doesn't. It's pretentious to believe that we possess the skill out laughably outskill the other team and not have to do the work needed to create.

 

[vikingGoalie]

we can not blame Jarry for our woes. but.. I would feel a lot better with a better option then DeSmith waiting in the wings.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Maybe, but you also have Rust, McGinn and Rodrigues playing significant roles now.

They're on pace for their fewest shorthanded goals by far under Sullivan, and that includes two shortened seasons.

I forget we have McGinn, riding the LTIR pine to keep the Pens man games lost numbers high.

 

[ChaosAgent]

We play a style that in order to work, the other team needs to not play hard nor play defense. We make countless blind passes and little dipsy doodle moves that do not respect the talent of the other team. When your 23 and capable, great. When you're 35 and slower, it doesn't work. We play a soft perimeter game and make low percentage passes to guys who, in order to score or get a shot, require a lapse in the other teams defense as opposed to creating one. We are the rich, white girl who doesn't want to do the work. We are the spoiled kid who scoffs at hard work. We are the Karen who insists you give her the meal for free after it's eaten because it tasted meh.

Simply put, they do the same soft shit over and over again and all it yields is low danger shots from the point where the goalie has a clear line of sight to the shooter and they believe, over the long term, this will yield goals. It doesn't. It's pretentious to believe that we possess the skill out laughably outskill the other team and not have to do the work needed to create.

I agree with all of this (you and I surprisingly have been agreeing on a lot lately, even Zucker's play today which was fantastic!). And in addition to losing, it definitely compromises the likability of the team. GCR and whatever Geno is doing aren't willing to score goals by going to dirty areas. Especially dirty areas with the puck and not just trying for the greatest tip of all time on some 33 mph point shot

 

[ncm7772]

That 3rd period...
View attachment 528948

I couldn’t watch the first 2 periods, so this was the whole game for me!

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

This team is terrific. I believe in the core. Just need to get to their game, play Penguins hockey. Gotta keep the core together. Anything can happen in the playoffs. Every teams goes through bad streaks. The core is important. Keep them together.
"Everything is going to be OK" - My grammy when I was sad

 

[ncm7772]

Not a great game, got a bunch of players recovering from illness and this was the first full game the second line has played all year. Still aren't healthy.

We need to rest Jarry more and get healthy.

I'd like to see more shots on net and less passing. This team can really pass but we're overdoing it 5v5.

That said, some people really lost their minds in the GDT. Every single puck that goes the other way you're dumping on the team like changes of possession don't happen 5 times a shift. Every single puck that goes the other way that Malkin was involved in, especially if it results in a goal, and people are shitting on Geno and wanting him benched or not re-signed or Hair Guy posting his BS about Evgeni Minus. There was nothing wrong with his decision to play it back to the point there, it was bad luck that a Cap got a stick on it at the last second and Ruh was flatfooted. But go off.

Then we're saying he's mentally weak for reacting to a two-handed slash from Tom Wilson? The criticism this guy gets is so far beyond normal and appropriate I almost wish he walks so I don't have to read any more bullshit about it.

The team will be fine, we're going to win the first round, after that it'll depend on Jarry, the stars, and Sullivan removing his head from his fourth point of contact. I like the lines for the first time all year.

I’m assuming you don’t visit often. You just described EVERY game day thread here at HF. Even when the Pens are winning Cups.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

we can not blame Jarry for our woes. but.. I would feel a lot better with a better option then DeSmith waiting in the wings.

I think Jarry is the last thin this team needs to worry about. The usage has become an issue for sure. IF Casey was trending up like the Pens media loves to boast about and his numbers and games did show he was trending in the right way, then why exhaust Jarry?

In the last 20 games, Jarry has played 15. That is pretty ridiculous. You would think heading into this year's playoffs, you'd start to rotate the games a bit more to make sure your goalie is fresh and mentally ready. Goalie fatigue is a thing, especially for a goalie that is in his 2nd full season as a starter, jumping from 39 to 57+ might not seem like a lot to some, but that's a heavy workload for a goalie that is trying to make sure he doesn't repeat last year's playoffs.

At this stage, Sullivan risks injuring Jarry and when that happens, he's created another excuse to hang on to his coaching job.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

This team is terrific. I believe in the core. Just need to get to their game, play Penguins hockey. Gotta keep the core together. Anything can happen in the playoffs. Every teams goes through bad streaks. The core is important. Keep them together.
"Everything is going to be OK" - My grammy when I was sad

You're showing a lot of swagger and stick-to-itiveness, it's the keys to victory.

 

[metalan2]

Curious about the word "pretentious" in this context, but other than that I'm down with this.

I think it's the perfect description, pretentious. They refuse to goto the dirty areas, pas and pass and miss, shoot from the perimeter. Think they're more skilled than everyone else.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

PK is 2nd since March no?

From what I understand of a few articles...

Vellucci runs our PK - Currently 2nd in the league.
Reirden runs the Powerplay - Currently sitting at 15th in the league.
Sullivan has this thumb up his ass and over plays Jarry, Carter, and Boyle - Currently a 4 game losing streak and pretty bad habits propping up.

Also the notion that Malkin was the problem on the powerplay is so bizarre, when Geno returned, the Pens powerplay was one of the best in the league, since like March, its been absolute shit.

 

[jmelm]

++ to Zack Aston-Reese, who had more goals tonight than ERod, Heinen and Rakell combined.