Post-Game Talk: Plus/Minus: Pens vs. CBJ - Backs against the wall edition

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Loved Hornqvist's work on the first goal, of course. Can't help but notice he was mostly a drag on that line, after.

McCann hopefully has a long term home, here. JR better not flip him for Kessel next year after he trades the latter in the offseason.

 

[Fatty McLardy]

Jack Johnson has his best game while playing 26 minutes.

You know what you need to do, Sully.

 

[Gurglesons]

Once JJ was allowed to play top line minutes free from the criticism from you heathens he single handedly won the game.

Yeah, JR knows more than us I guess.

 

[Nakawick]

McCann (and Bjugstad, who I still think will find his game here) for a wholly ineffective Brassard and Sheahan is a move so good it might actually negate the Gudbranson trade.

as good as the Pettersson trade.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Dare i say McCan punked Cbj, can i say that

 

[Empoleon8771]

I have this weird notion that JJ and Gudbranson are going to fill each other’s gaps.

When you multiply 2 negatives together, you get a positive. Maybe Johnson and Gudbranson would result in an amazing pair, where their negative wavelengths just end up canceling each other out and you get an amazingly effective, physical shutdown pair.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Bjugstad’s slow shot release seems like it is his biggest short coming. He’s trending towards mediocre and overpaid

if he can play a strong 2 way game and put up 35ish points, I'm cool with paying him 4.1M to be 3C. That's what he's doing with us so far.

 

[mpp9]

I have this weird notion that JJ and Gudbranson are going to fill each other’s gaps.

Don't think they'll be playing together until DuMoulin's back. But yeah, it's probably one of those things that make reality really really stupid.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

I know we love to pile on Johnson hard. And I admit that I am one of those people when it’s going bad to jump on him also.

But does anyone have his advanced stats since Schultz has come back and moved him to his proper side?

I’d like to see them against when Schultz wasn’t here.

 

[66-30-33]

I was expecting a loss and and an injury. Would have liked to have been totally wrong.

Well you get a win and 2 injuries instead.

 

[KIRK]

Didn’t know Bobrovsky was on The Office

Bob gonna be in a loony bin by next Sunday at this rate.

 

[EightyOne]

CBJ perspective:

We don't care about losing to non-playoff teams

 

[Ogrezilla]

As long as you don't have Gudbranson and Johnson on the same pair, I'm not worried about the defense. I've actually been thinking that a Pettersson-Gudbranson pair complements each other well, so I wouldn't hate that pair if it became a thing.

I'm gonna be so sad when Pets sits for Maatta if we get healthy.

 

[Gurglesons]

Tbh. To be a little seriously positive. We should have won the Calgary and Flyers games. So maybe this team is turning a leaf.

 

[Andy99]

I was expecting a loss and and an injury. Would have liked to have been totally wrong.

You were—two injuries...

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

Good win for the boys. CBJ made some good moves before the deadline so good statement win.

Keep it going? We shall see.

 

[scrappylilnobody]

++ Trotman/Pettersson/Johnson were all extremely solid.
++ Team looked cohesive despite the injuries.
+ McCann
+ Sid for Selke
+ Guentzel/ZAR just continue to be solid
+ Murray made the saves necessary to win.

- Transitioning out of the zone is going to be rough. As long as the forwards play deep and don’t rush out of zone, we will be okay. This could be exactly what we need to get cohesive team defense.
- Still lots of turnovers in transition
- More injuries

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

if he can play a strong 2 way game and put up 35ish points, I'm cool with paying him 4.1M to be 3C. That's what he's doing with us so far.

I love Bjugstads shot also. It just seems that he goes into the middle with a bunch of traffic and his lanky frame doesn’t give him room to rip a quick shot.

 

[vodeni]

Loved the effort. Loved it. Columbus is under extreme pressure now, after what they did at TDL. McCann is clutch, also liked Trotman, he was very solid, imo. I am not sure why we need Kessel going forward. This team is at its best when they are focused on team game, and that includes forwards playing defense. It was a very solid team game, just like in Philly last time. They got rewarded, for once. But we don´t need Kessel, he is doing nothing anyway.

I know you are hating on Phil for a while, but it rings true, he needs some kind of shock therapy, nothing is going his way, nothing, even against Phily he had a bunch of chances its just not working...

 

[Ogrezilla]

how haven't I ever seen that before?

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Anyone else laughing just a little bit about how CBJ sold the farm going all in and the Penguins still own Bob so hard that they won with half AHL defense?

Not laughing, just pretty much expected this outcome TBTH. This felt like a huge trap game for the Jackets.

Their beat guy was on the radio and basically said this would be a difficult game for the Pens to win... they were walking into a buzzsaw with how cranked up the Jackets and their fans would be with the deadline stuff, etc.

I was kind of rolling my eyes because first he said Bob was starting, but mostly because this felt like the kind of game the Pens would always lose when they were in the Jackets position.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Vs BUF, probably looks like:

Jake-Sid-Horny
ZAR-G-Phil
McCann-Bjugs-Simon
Blueger-Cullen-Wilson

JJ-Schultz
MP-Gudbranson
Riiko-Trotman

I read a quote from JR saying he hopes he gets some D back this weekend. I dunno if that tipped his hand that Tanger may be back or...

If Tanger's this weekend:

JJ-Letang
MP-Schultz
Then it's either:
Guds-Trotman
or
Riiko-Guds

 

[ncm7772]

Thought Trotman had a solid game.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I love Bjugstads shot also. It just seems that he goes into the middle with a bunch of traffic and his lanky frame doesn’t give him room to rip a quick shot.

agreed. If that's one of his bigger weaknesses, I'm cool with that.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm gonna be so sad when Pets sits for Maatta if we get healthy.

I like to think that won't happen, because Pettersson has been really good to me. I imagine the Penguins feel the same way. Whether they agree remains TBD, but I honestly can't imagine that they'll scratch Pettersson after how he has performed for them. He has been their 3rd best defenseman on the year overall. He's only the 3rd best because he hasn't played that much with Crosby on the year.

 

[66-30-33]

When you multiply 2 negatives together, you get a positive. Maybe Johnson and Gudbranson would result in an amazing pair, where their negative wavelengths just end up canceling each other out and you get an amazingly effective, physical shutdown pair.

 

[Ryder71]

Geno (and ZAR) were more than solid tonight. They had to be given whatever the hell it was Phil was doing out there.

Flip Phil and Rust in the line up.