Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Jerks | | We scored with the goalie pulled!!

[AuroraBorealis]

It's been up there for the past 2-3 seasons and with great starts we always managed to squeeze in, but this year I ain't feeling it.

Damn Not even Stalin was that blatant with revisionist history.

The last 3 seasons we decimated the team below the cut-off line by 18, 17 and 19 points, in that order.

We're probably gonna make it again IMO. Although this year could be the toughest because of what's going on in the East.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Not much else they can do personnel-wise. I'd probably swap Rakell in for Rust were I them. Other than that, I think it's on that group to figure it out.

So they've tried nothing and are all out of ideas. Sounds like great coaching!

 

[Phil68]

Sullivan's solution: Drop Geno down to L3 so he stops dragging Golden Boy Rust down. Play Carter and Rust 20+ minutes, limit Geno and Kapanen to 12 minutes.

Problem solved.

You stooooopid

 

[Gurglesons]

Honestly, this team is way unpredictable, I'm really starting to accept that this will finally be the season we're missing the playoffs. It's been up there for the past 2-3 seasons and with great starts we always managed to squeeze in, but this year I ain't feeling it.

We are still relatively comfortably in the playoffs with a big home schedule coming up

 

[Pancakes]

So they've tried nothing and are all out of ideas. Sounds like great coaching!

No, they tried Petry there and it didn't really solve much. Like I said I think they should try Rakell there. I also don't think that would change much. The PP's issues are because of the way Crosby/Malkin/Letang/Jake choose to play on the PP. We can call that a coaching issue if we want, but it's been the same shit their entire careers and across four different head coaches and countless assistant coaches.

We are still relatively comfortably in the playoffs with a big home schedule coming up

That's the reason for optimism. The pessimistic take would be that we haven't played a lot of the good Metro teams yet, and we might struggle in those games. Last night was our first match against Carolina and they looked better than us. We still haven't played the Rangers, Isles, or Devils. Atlantic-wise we haven't played Florida iirc. Those will all be very tough games whether on home ice or not.

 

[Gurglesons]

No, they tried Petry there and it didn't really solve much. Like I said I think they should try Rakell there. I also don't think that would change much. The PP's issues are because of the way Crosby/Malkin/Letang/Jake choose to play on the PP. We can call that a coaching issue if we want, but it's been the same shit their entire careers and across four different head coaches and countless assistant coaches.


That's the reason for optimism. The pessimistic take would be that we haven't played a lot of the good Metro teams yet, and we might struggle in those games. Last night was our first match against Carolina and they looked better than us. We still haven't played the Rangers, Isles, or Devils. Atlantic-wise we haven't played Florida iirc. Those will all be very tough games whether on home ice or not.

I did not think Carolina looked better than us. We just look like a badly coached team catering to Bryan Rust and Jeff Carter.

 

[LOGiK]

Why did Rust enter the zone, leave the zone, skate into the line change and then just stop at his bench, hahahaha....
Expect a rookie to make that mistake...

 

[Andy99]

We are still relatively comfortably in the playoffs with a big home schedule coming up

We have not been particularly good at home outside the first couple games of the season against Arizona, Tampa

 

[Gurglesons]

Why did Rust enter the zone, leave the zone, skate into the line change and then just stop at his bench, hahahaha....
Expect a rookie to make that mistake...

Because he just glides these days.

 

[LOGiK]

We have not been particularly good at home outside the first couple games of the season against Arizona, Tampa

I saw an pretty impressive amount of empty seats for the game last night....
This team just isn't all that exciting to watch.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

Last night was our first match against Carolina and they looked better than us.

Finding out your 1D won't be playing at the last minute and not being able to practice alternatives for him being out will tend to do that.

 

[Pancakes]

I saw an pretty impressive amount of empty seats for the game last night....
This team just isn't all that exciting to watch.

I've noticed that as well. Makes me wonder what sort of fan support we'll get when Crosby and Malkin retire.

 

[Andy99]

Here’s RW’s take on the OT…not sure I agree…Rust could have dumped the puck to open ice with no one covering Carter and have Carter skate to it…

“It was a perfect storm of errors, no pun intended. Rust wasn’t wrong to curl back and maintain possession. Resetting your attack and changing on the fly is a tried and true strategy of the 3v3 overtime. It was bad luck he skated right into the change where Petry had to wait to be involved with the play or take a too many men on the ice penalty. The biggest mistake was Jeff Carter not reading the situation at all. As soon as he sees both his players flat footed in a board battle he needs to work back to the defensive side of the puck in the middle of the ice. What bounce is he waiting for? Even if the puck magically squirts out to him he is flat footed in a 1v1 situation at best. It was a bad job by Carter.”

 

[LOGiK]

I've noticed that as well. Makes me wonder what sort of fan support we'll get when Crosby and Malkin retire.

Early speculation is dangerously low.
Probably bring back 25$ student tickets -or whatever it was- since the place is surrounded by colleges.
When did they do away with that anyway.... don't really care, but curious...

 

[LOGiK]

Here’s RW’s take on the OT…not sure I agree…Rust could have dumped the puck to open ice with no one covering Carter and have Carter skate to it…

“It was a perfect storm of errors, no pun intended. Rust wasn’t wrong to curl back and maintain possession. Resetting your attack and changing on the fly is a tried and true strategy of the 3v3 overtime. It was bad luck he skated right into the change where Petry had to wait to be involved with the play or take a too many men on the ice penalty. The biggest mistake was Jeff Carter not reading the situation at all. As soon as he sees both his players flat footed in a board battle he needs to work back to the defensive side of the puck in the middle of the ice. What bounce is he waiting for? Even if the puck magically squirts out to him he is flat footed in a 1v1 situation at best. It was a bad job by Carter.”

Was it though?

 

[Andy99]

This is only what we’ve been saying for the last several weeks lol…

Molinari: Want to Wake Up Power Play? Start by Shaking it Up

CRANBERRY — The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have the least productive power play in the NHL. They are, however, moving in that direction. Rapidly. Their 0-for-2 performance during a 3-2 overtime loss to Carolina Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena dropped their success rate for the season to 16.2 percent...

pittsburghhockeynow.com

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Who cares how many fans are showing up when Sid/Geno retire? The only time the crowd is ever noticeable is in the playoffs and when Sid/Geno are done, that's not gonna be a thing the team's gonna have to worry about for a long time.

Games are so absurdly expensive as is, between all the shit that goes into 'em. Parking, travel, food, tickets themselves, beer, etc. It adds up to be bonkers.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Sully being outraged over the hit to Rust but quiet all playoffs vs the Rangers is comical to me.

This is only what we’ve been saying for the last several weeks lol…

Molinari: Want to Wake Up Power Play? Start by Shaking it Up

CRANBERRY — The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have the least productive power play in the NHL. They are, however, moving in that direction. Rapidly. Their 0-for-2 performance during a 3-2 overtime loss to Carolina Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena dropped their success rate for the season to 16.2 percent...

pittsburghhockeynow.com

Moldynara sauce mentions Sullys loyalty and somehow that's not a problem to that epic wankbucket.

 

[chethejet]

Tuesday night game and lots of empty seats. But I do think the lack of playoff success and no new real changes just grow stale. Sid is still a draw and will be. But man this is not a team that plays fast or brings a level of energy needed to get excited about. Hextall just went with the flow and now has issues as to depth, no cap space and limited options. Sully being extended was a mistake. Pens needed a change in coaching and new energy on the ice from systems to making players compete more for a spot. Franchise is stale and it will get harder to keep these players engaged with Sullivan.

 

[Gurglesons]

Tuesday night game and lots of empty seats. But I do think the lack of playoff success and no new real changes just grow stale. Sid is still a draw and will be. But man this is not a team that plays fast or brings a level of energy needed to get excited about. Hextall just went with the flow and now has issues as to depth, no cap space and limited options. Sully being extended was a mistake. Pens needed a change in coaching and new energy on the ice from systems to making players compete more for a spot. Franchise is stale and it will get harder to keep these players engaged with Sullivan.

Yep. Sullivan hockey is boring and past it's prime. Funny enough he'll be here for a few more seasons before they finally pull the trigger on him and we will never know what could have been with Sid and Malkin still going off in their late 30s.

 

[Pens x]

I saw an pretty impressive amount of empty seats for the game last night....
This team just isn't all that exciting to watch.

Yeah, it was kinda crazy how many empty seats there are nowadays. This is why we can’t talk crap on other teams for having poor attendance numbers. PPG Paints arena will be a ghost town in a year or two. Last night was eerily quiet there. I could even hear hairguy yelling obscenities at Geno from across the arena in his rafter seats.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Also sad to see Geno get a goose egg once again. 4 games without a point, 2 games under a point per game in a season where everyone's a point per game.

Zero EN opportunities all year (when even Carter and Rust are getting them) will do that to most players.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yep. Sullivan hockey is boring and past it's prime. Funny enough he'll be here for a few more seasons before they finally pull the trigger on him and we will never know what could have been with Sid and Malkin still going off in their late 30s.

The Pens identity for the cups was basically MJ being fired and Sully being hired and the team being mad. Then the real Sully settled in and it meant he neutered everything about that mad team. Went from "cardiac kids" sort of team to "what the hell are they doing?!" Real quick and that's been the identity ever since.

I want Max Jones on this team because he plays a style we need. But I also know Sully would probably tax him for playing that way so it's whatever.

Molinari mentioned it and somehow no one else sees it as a problem - but Sullivan is loyal to the core and that's the problem when your coach is like that. Because loyalty means he ignores logic and opportunity to appease the people he's loyal to and FSG wants to be loyal to him and that's an even bigger problem.

It'll be years before they realize they f***ed up. Another two first round exits and then the season after that they'll figure it out, by then they'll have wasted any opportunity they might have had.

 

[pistolpete11]

No, they tried Petry there and it didn't really solve much. Like I said I think they should try Rakell there. I also don't think that would change much. The PP's issues are because of the way Crosby/Malkin/Letang/Jake choose to play on the PP. We can call that a coaching issue if we want, but it's been the same shit their entire careers and across four different head coaches and countless assistant coaches.

They've had top 10, top 5, and even led the league in PP% a few times throughout the Crosby-Malkin era. They are more than capable of being better than bottom 5 in the league.

Coaching and player personnel are a much bigger issue. Going to a 2-D PP for a game or 2 and then reverting back to what wasn't working isn't coaching. It's being a stubborn ass just like he was with Dumo and GCRu.

Rust should absolutely be off the top PP for Rakell and Zucker in for Guentzel shouldn't be far behind that.

 

[Icarium]

If the brain trust running the Pens isn't capable of convincing Sid and Geno to stop being cute on the PP, they might as well put Rakell and/or Zucker on PP to screen the goalie, have Petry and/or Malkin blast from the point any chance they get and hope for the best. It can't be any worse than whatever we are doing now. Yes, the entries are really bad but unlike other seasons where the entries were bad but the first unit was relatively dangerous once it set up into the zone, said unit is utterly impotent even if it wins the face-off or makes a good entry.
The second unit at least try to use the bumper position and move the puck and their feet a lot more. It still can't score these days, mind you but it has a lot less time to work with and doesn't look quite as bad as the first one. Then again, if we promote five randos from WBS, even they probably will look better than PP1...

Go look at the better power plays units- everyone knows what Tampa or Colorado will try but they still try exactly that rather than try to outsmart themselves with stuff like playing 2 D, using Malkin at the left point or Guentzel screening the goalie. Or not using Rakell even though he had two PP goals in three games when Jake was injured. Put the players in a position to succeed, if they fail again that's on them but playing with one hand tied behind your back and yelling loudly "I am doing the best I can" is perfectly asinine.