Post-Game Talk: Pens vs Rapid Panthers: Our PP taketh and taketh away

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Agreed.

They're both extremely mediocre players.

Add in Smith and whew.

As Pens fans, we've just been conditioned to see any halfway decent players as way better than they are because of how dogshit some of the wingers Sid/Geno have played with have been, I guess.

 

[Dessloch]

Your bias against Malkin is showing...

Considering he got put on the ice more than Sid when Sid is clearly better to have on the ice, no bias is needed to come to that conclusion! I have no idea why Geno is even out in OT at all as he has trouble moving around and keeping up with the pace more than anyone else on the team.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Puljujarvi is only two years older than Puustinen, has more of a proven track record at the NHL, and has more flexibility to move up and down the lineup.

Puustinen needs to get his confidence back.

You think a failed player on two teams that just had hip surgery is the answer on the third line? Because if you f***ing thing Puljujaarvi deserves second line duty then why the f*** doesn't Puustinen? A player that has shown chemistry with Malkin, no less.

Considering he got put on the ice more than Sid when Sid is clearly better to have on the ice, no bias is needed to come to that conclusion! I have no idea why Geno is even out in OT at all as he has trouble moving around and keeping up with the pace more than anyone else on the team.

I had a reply but I'm not trying to get banned.

 

[HandshakeLine]

lol the only team with a worse powerplay in the league is Chicago.

Am I wrong, or is this the worst power play we've had since 1984?

 

[HandshakeLine]

No I take that back. It is the worst power play we've ever had so far.

But, 97-98 (?), 99-00, (?!) and 01-02 (lol GenX) were also bad. But when that 2001-2002 team is better on the man adavantage than you are with 4 first ballot HHOFers, something is seriously f***ing wrong.

 

[spcastlemagic]

I think it’s time to call it… you took a swing, added Karlsson to the mix, didn’t fix anything or even slow the bleeding. Several games below the gentleman’s .500, sell everything that’s not bolted down and start thinking about new ways to build the team. If the legends balk, get them to their preferred teams gracefully and respectfully.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, go and think about that power play stat for a bit— we have a worse power play than we had on that famously awful team with the record losing streak, worse than the 83-84 openly tanking team, worse than the dead puck era.

It’s impressively awful. I almost can’t believe it.

 

[orby]

First game I've been to in a long time. My thoughts:

-Aside from the first and last power plays, the rest were absolutely terrible and legitimately sucked the life out of the crowd. Floaty, weak on the puck, non threatening. It's absolutely a coaching issue - the whole scheme just looks wrong - but Malkin and Karlsson looked particularly bad. This is the number one issue with this team right now; they are truly mind bogglingly bad on the power play.

-Overall the offense looked tepid and tentative. Lots of shots, but not a lot of action in front of the net. Florida didn't look much better, tbh, although to be fair they had to contend with 16 minutes of penalty killing...

-Colin White stunk.

-Nedeljkovic had a great game. Made a few stellar saves (and got very lucky a couple times, too).

-That Crosby to Malkin goal was awesome, and Jake's goal in the shootout was fun to watch. At least they got the point?

-The audio mix on The Clarks sucked. Turn the guitars up!

 

[metalan2]

Anyone who had the Pittsburgh coverage on the TV (with the sound up) knows very well what the absolute worst part of this game was, and it didn't involve anything that happened on the ice.

I never would have believed Phil Bourque could get any worse than he's always been, but here we are. He & Putzoff were beyond atrocious tonight. It boggles the mind to think that there are actually people associated with this team who are worse at their jobs than Mike Sullivan is at his.

(Well, maybe Kyle Dubas.)

After Rust missed his 10th chance by shooting it directly into Bobs chest, Bourque decrees.. "it's actually good for you to miss this much !"

 

[chethejet]

Dubas by the TDL will set the tone for the rest of his time. If he makes the right moves and understands this isn't working due to coaching and player usage then we will see. Pens need some more physical play as a balance point. Sully moves to get Cole and Reaves gone was when this run came to and end. No team keeps a coach let alone extend him 3 year losing playoffs like him.

 

[molon labe]

After Rust missed his 10th chance by shooting it directly into Bobs chest, Bourque decrees.. "it's actually good for you to miss this much !"

Caught that too.

Why are the chances all generated to Rust (last night), Rakell, Pettersson, Ruhwedel....lately-always? Guys are just that bent on getting them going or the other team just giving them time and space to more closely guard other guys? Play just dies on their sticks every single game.

Idk, I expected the goal drought this Summer when they built this team and really wondered how they expected to win games with a lackluster offense. I was told to wait and see how EK/Letang on the ice for 50 minutes would elevate it. Guess my assumptions (and basic logic) proved correct. Team is constructed to get offense from a single line, and the power play. But the power play is historically bad. So, yeah.

 

[eXile3]

Puljujarvi is only two years older than Puustinen, has more of a proven track record at the NHL, and has more flexibility to move up and down the lineup.

Puustinen needs to get his confidence back.

Is Puustinens confidence going to get him a coach that won’t bury him in a role that doesn’t fit him?

 

[Icarium]

This team is special.

Special kind of stupid, that is.

I honestly don't know how you guys watch this power play without fast forwarding. I skip like two third of it and it's still unwatchable unless you want to literally point and laugh. The sheer ineptitude and unwillingness to change things is mind boggling.

And OTs are somehow even worse lately, even guys like Karlsson who should excel at it look completely lost. It's almost like the coach has no idea what he is doing. Nah, can't be that, it's probably an extended Mercury Retrograde or something.

They almost lost the point too because they took a nap after finally scoring the tying goal. Deja vu doesn't even begin to describe it, this lackadaisical attitude after a goal has been a thing for years now.

I know high danger chances are a very flawed stat but the Pens had only two (yes, 2) at 5 on 5 for the whole game. I know they had a gazillion power plays and the Panthers are a very good team but come on. The Panthers probably had more shorthanded high danger chances than the Pens had even strength chances. Just your Penguins things.

 

[Josey Wales]

Sullivan lover!

UMMMM No I am Not "The Core" Lover, see How I can do that too ?

You need to go and watch a Gunsmoke episode on MeTV to calm down.

& you need your Shrink to help you deal with the fact that life isn't the way you want it to be

 

[metalan2]

Caught that too.

Why are the chances all generated to Rust (last night), Rakell, Pettersson, Ruhwedel....lately-always? Guys are just that bent on getting them going or the other team just giving them time and space to more closely guard other guys? Play just dies on their sticks every single game.

Idk, I expected the goal drought this Summer when they built this team and really wondered how they expected to win games with a lackluster offense. I was told to wait and see how EK/Letang on the ice for 50 minutes would elevate it. Guess my assumptions (and basic logic) proved correct. Team is constructed to get offense from a single line, and the power play. But the power play is historically bad. So, yeah.

It's actually amazing they score as much as they do with this historically bad powerplay.

 

[Pens1566]

Sounds like it's a good thing I missed this one.

What exactly did Tanger do that warranted the thread poll choice?

 

[Andy99]

Mike Sullivan on the power play: “I thought there were moments when they looked pretty good. There were others where we were a little bit disconnected. Obviously, it's disappointing we didn't score more. I thought we had some looks that we didn’t necessarily finish on. I just think we got to stick with it. We made some tweaks down the stretch there at the end with some different personnel groups. I don’t know where we'll go going forward, we'll discuss that as a coaching staff, but I know that the guys that are on it care deeply about the powerplay and understand how important it is to helping us win and so these guys put a lot of pressure on themselves to produce for us in most situations and when it doesn’t go the right way just like I was talking about Geno, all those guys they're proud guys and nobody cares more than they do so. We’re just going to stay with it here.”

Moar sticktoittiveness….lol

 

[orby]

Dubas by the TDL will set the tone for the rest of his time. If he makes the right moves and understands this isn't working due to coaching and player usage then we will see. Pens need some more physical play as a balance point. Sully moves to get Cole and Reaves gone was when this run came to and end. No team keeps a coach let alone extend him 3 year losing playoffs like him.

In all honesty, I think the initial Reaves trade itself was the beginning of the end. Rutherford lost the plot and Sullivan reacted by trying to run the team himself. Both Rutherford and Sullivan became issues from that point forward.

 

[Andy99]

 

[PaulD]

View attachment 811218

..... laughed my head off when I scrolled to this

 

[PaulD]

What would you have done Beavis when almost everyone has a NMC or NTC Or the city would implode if the core was traded

Smith, Karlsson, Accarai , Eler. All poor to luke warm at best.
Graves is ass.

Who acquired those 5 in one summer?

 

[vodeni]

Mike Sullivan on the power play: “I thought there were moments when they looked pretty good. There were others where we were a little bit disconnected. Obviously, it's disappointing we didn't score more. I thought we had some looks that we didn’t necessarily finish on. I just think we got to stick with it. We made some tweaks down the stretch there at the end with some different personnel groups. I don’t know where we'll go going forward, we'll discuss that as a coaching staff, but I know that the guys that are on it care deeply about the powerplay and understand how important it is to helping us win and so these guys put a lot of pressure on themselves to produce for us in most situations and when it doesn’t go the right way just like I was talking about Geno, all those guys they're proud guys and nobody cares more than they do so. We’re just going to stay with it here.”

if I did not watch the game and just listened to the post game shows and this morning Pens media reporting, I'd think that they were great on PP and had all these chances and 18 shots, 18 shots...now counting shots is a new proof that all is good ...

 

[Andy99]

This is from a poster on another site…good summary

“Penguins 45 games played, 21-17-7, 49 points, 37 games remaining

Penguins now 7 points behind Toronto for WC1 spot, with 1 game in hand.
Penguins now 6 points behind Detroit for WC2 spot, with 3 games in hand.

While last year Florida capture WC2 spot with 92 points, prior 82 game seasons typically needed 96-100 points to capture WC2 spot.
If the Penguins need 96 points, they have 37 games to gain 47 points. That's probably about 22 wins, plus 3 OT/SO losses to get those 47 points.
That's roughly a 22-12-3 record the rest of the way (including Montreal game).
That's a .594 winning percentage. Their winning percentage right now is .544

Counting tomorrow's game, they'll have 15 games before the trade deadline. They need to win roughly 9 of their next 15 games to stay on track towards 96 points.

Of their next 15 games, 7 of those games are against current playoff teams.
They have only 2 games in that 15 against teams above them in the WC race (Philly and Islanders).”


also, equally sad: MTL is 4-4-2 over their last 10 games and we are 3-4-3 lol…they should be desperate for 2 points tonight

 

[Lomez]

This is from a poster on another site…good summary

“Penguins 45 games played, 21-17-7, 49 points, 37 games remaining

Penguins now 7 points behind Toronto for WC1 spot, with 1 game in hand.
Penguins now 6 points behind Detroit for WC2 spot, with 3 games in hand.

While last year Florida capture WC2 spot with 92 points, prior 82 game seasons typically needed 96-100 points to capture WC2 spot.
If the Penguins need 96 points, they have 37 games to gain 47 points. That's probably about 22 wins, plus 3 OT/SO losses to get those 47 points.
That's roughly a 22-12-3 record the rest of the way (including Montreal game).
That's a .594 winning percentage. Their winning percentage right now is .544

Counting tomorrow's game, they'll have 15 games before the trade deadline. They need to win roughly 9 of their next 15 games to stay on track towards 96 points.

Of their next 15 games, 7 of those games are against current playoff teams.
They have only 2 games in that 15 against teams above them in the WC race (Philly and Islanders).”


also, equally sad: MTL is 4-4-2 over their last 10 games and we are 3-4-3 lol…they should be desperate for 2 points tonight

So, you're saying there's a chance?

 

[vodeni]

This team is special.

Special kind of stupid, that is.

I honestly don't know how you guys watch this power play without fast forwarding. I skip like two third of it and it's still unwatchable unless you want to literally point and laugh. The sheer ineptitude and unwillingness to change things is mind boggling.

And OTs are somehow even worse lately, even guys like Karlsson who should excel at it look completely lost. It's almost like the coach has no idea what he is doing. Nah, can't be that, it's probably an extended Mercury Retrograde or something.

They almost lost the point too because they took a nap after finally scoring the tying goal. Deja vu doesn't even begin to describe it, this lackadaisical attitude after a goal has been a thing for years now.

I know high danger chances are a very flawed stat but the Pens had only two (yes, 2) at 5 on 5 for the whole game. I know they had a gazillion power plays and the Panthers are a very good team but come on. The Panthers probably had more shorthanded high danger chances than the Pens had even strength chances. Just your Penguins things.

not really...It was clear that Panthers in those limited 5 on 5 time and even shorthanded were way more dangerous team, hit all those posts and crossbars, and I don't remember one friggin chance Pens made, other the end of the game chaos...That stat is exactly how I saw it...Thats why I was shocked to hear post game analysis that pens playe really well, that was a great bonce back, etc...I thought they sucked so bad, they could not make a play all night long, other than Rust twice they did not have actually a good look,