Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Kraken | loss | The video coach was our best player

[66-30-33]

Not sure if I re-sign

We can't afford you anyway.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'm not wishing injury on anyone, but I kind of hope Carter is out for a bit. Poulin played well and deserves some more ice time.

I also wonder how long of a leash Hextall - not Sullivan - will have on Archibald and McGinn. Hextall seems stubborn enough in his own evaluation of players to remove guys who don't fit what he wants, even if the coach keeps using them (see ZAR and Simon last year). Archibald has started stacking penalties and McGinn is invisible.

Yeah, I like both of these.

The big issue for Poulin is that we need a defensive responsible C. Poehling is doing all right.

 

[Trade]

I don't know what's going on with Rutta. He's been solid, even generating offense, and he's getting the shaft.

This road trip has been very strange in terms of Sullivan's management of the defensemen.

You’d think Rutta is the kind of player Sully would drool over, but apparently not. It really makes no sense.

Rust’s ice time has gone up over the last 3 games by like two minutes each game, but he hasn’t done shit other than that PP assist on our lone goal in Vancouver. Him getting spooked by OEL should dock that assist, anyways.

I’d love to hear Sully’s reasoning for some of these decisions.

 

[Rudy Russo]

Yeah, I like both of these.

The big issue for Poulin is that we need a defensive responsible C. Poehling is doing all right.

I've liked how Poehling has play for the pens so far this season. I still don't know why Archie was signed by Hextall. I'd rather see someone else on the 4th line who is currently on the baby pens instead of Archie.

 

[66-30-33]

You’d think Rutta is the kind of player Sully would drool over, but apparently not. It really makes no sense.

Rust’s ice time has gone up over the last 3 games by like two minutes each game, but he hasn’t done shit other than that PP assist on our lone goal in Vancouver. Him getting spooked by OEL should dock that assist, anyways.

I’d love to hear Sully’s reasoning for some of these decisions.

Maybe we will trade him like we did Cole and replace him with someone that sucks.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

What happened to all the goals we used to score? Did we use them up already? Why can’t we complete a pass, why cant the D transition the puck quickly and why can’t we manage the puck? Why am I asking so many questions?

That's what happens when your puck luck runs out.

Honestly not surprised by this result given how they've played the past 3 games. Any goodwill they earned over the first 5 games is basically gone now and I'm back to looking at this team like a bubble team that's out in round 1 (assuming they even make it).

I'm not even going to mention the coach other than the fact this is why it was so stupid to sign him to an extension. At some point you gotta make a change and that's not going to be the roster given the long-term deals.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

Jake didn't resurrect for this.

Trust me, Jesus is saying exactly the same thing right now....

 

[OtherThingsILike]

At least that road trip is over.
I hope we don't start sucking at home now.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

We’re in a race to the bottom of the Metro with CLB…hopefully we’re scouting Bedard…

God, can you begin to imagine the main board reaction? It would be worth it!

 

[Gurglesons]

Realistically if we do miss the playoffs a top ten pick this draft would do great work for our center depth.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think I made most of my points of what I thought in the GDT.

2nd line, Poehling, POJ and the Petersson-Petry pair were all very good. I don't mind the shake up that Sullivan did with the defense though. Crosby was bad, he's clearly not right and missed a few chances that he normally would have gotten.

Carter was so invisible that I didn't even see him get hurt. He didn't look like he was doing anything, he'd just throw the puck to no one, skate around and then he left due to injury.

Letang was heinously bad, this was the worst game I think I've ever seen him play. This is the kind of game that Letang haters use to say Letang sucks. He was horrid.

 

[dogthateats]

Is Bedard as good as Yakupov, Hischier, Lafreniere? Or is he more of a Kakko, Patrick, type?

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't know what's going on with Rutta. He's been solid, even generating offense, and he's getting the shaft.

This road trip has been very strange in terms of Sullivan's management of the defensemen.

It's because Sullivan won't take minutes from Letang and Petry eats too many minutes for Rutta to have any minutes left over.

Frankly Letang should have been benched tonight, but under normal circumstances, they really need to be cutting down on his minutes and use the 3rd pair like they used Cole-Schultz.

 

[Gurglesons]

Is Bedard as good as Yakupov, Hischier, Lafreniere? Or is he more of a Kakko, Patrick, type?

Hischer rocks.

Bedard is probably a Matthews / Tavares type. Not generational. But could be a Hart or Ross winner if everything goes right for him once or twice.

It's because Sullivan won't take minutes from Letang and Petry eats too many minutes for Rutta to have any minutes left over.

Frankly Letang should have been benched tonight, but under normal circumstances, they really need to be cutting down on his minutes and use the 3rd pair like they used Cole-Schultz.

At least Sully is giving POJ time with Letang.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

Super dark times for Pittsburgh sports right now

Buccos could be the bright spot? ;-)

 

[ChaosAgent]

I'm still complaining on this board cause addiction, I guess, but I don't really feel strongly about this team anymore. The whole thing is so indifferent, from the coach to the stars to the mindset to the depth players.

They can't win the Cup, or even come close, and they won't rebuild. It's hard to get invested in an organization harvesting the last remaining good times, or just their memory.

 

[Empoleon8771]

At least Sully is giving POJ time with Letang.

Not sure that's Sullivan being nice to POJ

It makes sense in theory, you'd think that Letang would play a less risky/more structured game if he's playing with a rookie. You'd hope that Letang would realize he can't just yolo it and hope Dumoulin bails him out if he's playing with POJ.

I'm just not very optimistic Letang will do that. People say Dumoulin looks terrible on here and I think Letang looks the worst he has since 2017-2018. Dumoulin looks bad because he has been mopping up Letang's messes and he's not good enough to do that as well as he did before.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

They really don’t have to be. We have the depth to isolate them.

It’s interesting. Sully seems to be doing some of it. But he defaulted to his old standby GCR tonight.

Should be a fun season because the pieces for a good roster are here and in WBS.

Imagine that. Not even 10 games into the season and Sullivan has to go back to GCR.

His icetime allocation is also trash right now. Rust isn't a f***ing 23 minute player. Sullivan plays him like he's friggin prime Jagr. Letang is a joke right now while Ruutta is getting around 12 or 13 minutes a night.

This is the type of shit that I dislike about Sullivan.

 

[Ugene Magic]

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I wanted to believe this core could still pull out one more cup but it's looking unlikely.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I wanted to believe this core could still pull out one more cup but it's looking unlikely.

I'm 95% sure this core doesn't have one last run in it, but I'm 100% sure it doesn't with Sullivan as the coach.

I know this is where Sullivan defenders will come in and boast if the team turns it around and makes the playoffs. But then when they lose in the first round again, those same folks will just pin everything on the players.

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

Just got back from the game...

1. Letang is legit LeTerrible, he was lazy the whole game, he got lucky with multiple Replay calls. He was just awful. That lunge on the 2nd goal was f***ing high school level.
2. One defender was always playing high and out of position.
3. Guetz, Dumo, and flying the zone... Just too many bad passes and breakouts, the first goal was all about Penguins taking off leaving a contest Rutta... Guetz had like 10 bad passes. Dumo looked cross-eyed, just bad all around. His pass near the end of the 3rd period to a wide open player was about 5 feet off.
4. The 4th line is the definition of vanilla hockey and should all be jettisoned. People questioning the Archibald signing have every reason too. That 4th line has not enough grit, very little scoring ability, and they don't play defensive. Not sure what we are doing with it.
5. -Focus- this is on Sullivan. We legit sleep walk after scoring goals and just stand around a lot. (we got saved by replay, then gave up another one right after high stick call.

Letang if you read this board. I want my money back.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Kapanen had almost as bad of a game as Heinen vs the Canucks, except the turnover didn't lead to a goal.

 

[Extra Texture]

There was a moment that drove me to drink in the third: I think it was Sid, Jake and Rust coming in on a 3 on 2 with speed over the blueline, and the puck carrier (believe it was rust) was bearing down on goal….only to try a fancy drop pass to the winger who was slightly behind him. Of course it got broken up and Seattle went the other way.

If even these guys are squeezing their sticks right now, looking for the perfect play, Sullivan needs to turn on the charm in practice and start screaming at them to shoot. The rhythm is never going to return if we can’t get a few greasy goals to break out of this funk.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I've liked how Poehling has play for the pens so far this season. I still don't know why Archie was signed by Hextall. I'd rather see someone else on the 4th line who is currently on the baby pens instead of Archie.

Lol Archibald isn't a Hextall signing. That's a Sully signing. How the f*** do you figure a GM that has zero ties to that muppet, would bring him back? All one has to do is look at how often Archibald has been played to know.

Just like Jankowski,no one held a gun to Sullivan's head to play him for 90% of the season. He begrudgingly played Gaudreau and was shocked he was clearly better than Jankowski.

There was a moment that drove me to drink in the third: I think it was Sid, Jake and Rust coming in on a 3 on 2 with speed over the blueline, and the puck carrier (believe it was rust) was bearing down on goal….only to try a fancy drop pass to the winger who was slightly behind him. Of course it got broken up and Seattle went the other way.

If even these guys are squeezing their sticks right now, looking for the perfect play, Sullivan needs to turn on the charm in practice and start screaming at them to shoot. The rhythm is never going to return if we can’t get a few greasy goals to break out of this funk.

Wait until you find out Sullivan already did the yelling and hard practice before the canucks game.