Post-Game Talk: Predators 3, Penguins 1 - Tip of the Hat to Regular Season Rinne

[Ogrezilla]

As was McCann.

They have both more than done their part though, so not going to lay into them. Kessel and Hornqvist remain the elephants in the room.

Kessel is trying, he’s just playing a strange individual game right now. I’d say swap Rust and Kessel, because line 1 and 2 need changes, but Crosby wants Rust there, so I dunno what you do, because line three shouldn’t be broken up.

Bjugstad has been scoring, Simon isn’t a goal scorer and he and Bjugstad are why that line controls play so often.

Hornqvist is still playing poorly and he has to start burying pucks. If he can finish off just a few chances those two create, that line would be their best one by far. That’s kind of his job...

Zero points in his last 7. He has to figure this out because the Pens need him.

He had 5 points in 8 games to start March. I was really hoping he was starting to bounce back. Nothing since. Horny has as many ES goals as Garrett Wilson in 2019. He's been getting chances with this 3rd line, but he eventually needs to bury some of them.

 

[Andy99]

So we want to improve the first and second line's scoring by putting two guys who haven't scored an ES goal since January on them? I do agree that it would help the 3rd line though.

Phil hasn’t scored an ES goal in forever either....At this point it might be swapping deck chairs on the Titanic but I’d try to find a finisher for Simon-Bjug, and I’d try to find another worker for G when he returns and Sid needs someone to make some space...Imo the top 9 would benefit from a RW tweak...the LWs are fine...Rust doesn’t add a lot to L1, it’s mostly if Sid and Jake are going...Horny would be fine there if Sid could be strong armed to accept him and it might get him going, and he hasn’t been potting anything on L3...Rust would help G more than Phil and Phil might get pucks in a better position to score with Bjug on that line...worth a shot...

Yes, we can have a “shutdown” line but I think we’d be better off with three lines that can score...

 

[Icarium]

Well, Rinne was due some good karma against us for the 2017 SC Finals, so the fact that we managed two points out of these two games is pretty encouraging. I honestly think we played worse against Dallas but managed to come with a win. I don't really agree that we didn't create enough or shot just from the perimeter, the Preds did that same thing against Toronto recently and the Toronto scores a lot in all kinds of ways. Sometimes a goalie is just that good. The defence has lost a lot of its cohesion in the last three games, this honestly worries more than the offence. But my god it would be nice to see at least one of Phil and Horny score a 5 on 5 goal, it's been forever. And the PP and Murray seem to be so much worse at home for some reason, it's really weird. Then again, last season we were one of the best team at home then lost four out of six home games in the playoffs, so who knows if starting on the road would be good in the playoffs.

But I hope at least one of CAR, MTL and CBJ loses tonight because I keep imagining scenarios where we manage to somehow miss the playoffs altogether.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Phil hasn’t scored an ES goal in forever either....At this point it might be swapping deck chairs on the Titanic but I’d try to find a finisher for Simon-Bjug, and I’d try to find another worker for G when he returns and Sid needs someone to make some space...Imo the top 9 would benefit from a RW tweak...the LWs are fine...Rust doesn’t add a lot to L1, it’s mostly if Sid and Jake are going...Horny would be fine there if Sid could be strong armed to accept him and it might get him going, and he hasn’t been potting anything on L3...Rust would help G more than Phil and Phil might get pucks in a better position to score with Bjug on that line...worth a shot...

Yes, we can have a “shutdown” line but I think we’d be better off with three lines that can score...

Phil and Horny are who I was talking about. Rust has I think 6 of our last 7 ES goals scored by a player listed as a RW despite missing 2 weeks in that time. The other was Wilson

Unless something changes with Phil and Horny, Rust will help any line he's on more than either of them. He's just playing much better 5v5 hockey than either of them right now. Putting Horny with Sid to get Horny going is something I can understand. Putting Horny with Sid to get Sid going is silly to me right now.

 

[EightyOne]

A LOT of pens shots went breadbasket or bounced wide. Rinne was tall in the crease and on angle challenging well.

But there's a few bobblers that were real close.

Look at the goal the Pens eventually got...a dirty simple fake out play.

They needed more of that and less pretty attempted snipes from the faceoff circle off the creme puff dmen's sticks.

17 shots were credited to the defense. This defense doesn't score like that.

 

[BladeRunner66]

So much meh here I don't know where to start.

Hey dog, why such a mehstery?

Damn! We're now at 99.7% PObability (-0.2%).

Pens are trying my patience, grr...

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Phil and Horny are who I was talking about. Rust has I think 6 of our last 7 ES goals scored by a player listed as a RW despite missing 2 weeks in that time. The other was Wilson

Unless something changes with Phil and Horny, Rust will help any line he's on more than either of them. He's just playing much better 5v5 hockey than either of them right now. Putting Horny with Sid to get Horny going is something I can understand. Putting Horny with Sid to get Sid going is silly to me right now.

That Wilson fact is disturbing...

If Bjust, McCann and TB didn’t step up in the last several weeks, tons of heat would be falling on Kessel and Hornqvist.

I’m really stoked about the three young guys, but they are role players and we can’t expect them to carry this team in the playoffs. If their best wingers don’t step up, it’s going to be tough sledding in the playoffs. It’s obvious stuff, but we can’t dance around it.

 

[BladeRunner66]

Maybe we will be a WC after all

18.1%

 

[Andy99]

18.1%

WC1 might actually be better.. we will not be favored against the Caps and will have great desire and work effort to beat them

 

[BladeRunner66]

WC1 might actually be better.. we will not be favored against the Caps and will have great desire and work effort to beat them

I get that would be entertaining as hell but i prefer the easier Isles way.

 

[Ogrezilla]

That Wilson fact is disturbing...

If Bjust, McCann and TB didn’t step up in the last several weeks, tons of heat would be falling on Kessel and Hornqvist.

I’m really stoked about the three young guys, but they are role players and we can’t expect them to carry this team in the playoffs. If their best wingers don’t step up, it’s going to be tough sledding in the playoffs. It’s obvious stuff, but we can’t dance around it.

Yeah pretty much. At minimum, we need them to be potting a few goals between them in a playoff series. Our role players are playing well enough to take some slack off of them so I think we can live with them scoring less than they typically have, but it can't be none.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Yeah pretty much. At minimum, we need them to be potting a few goals between them in a playoff series. Our role players are playing well enough to take some slack off of them so I think we can live with them scoring less than they typically have, but it can't be none.

I’d love to be wrong, but if McCann and TB outplay Kessel and Hornqvist this team will be lucky to sneak into the second round. These guys look to be good role players, but they can’t carry a second line by themselves.

Caps will be firing on all cylinders by round two and you aren’t getting past them with your two best RW being ghosts.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I’d love to be wrong, but if McCann and TB outplay Kessel and Hornqvist this team will be lucky to sneak into the second round. These guys look to be good role players, but they can’t carry a second line by themselves.

Caps will be firing on all cylinders by round two and you aren’t getting past them with your two best RW being ghosts.

And if TB is on the 2nd line against the Caps, we're in trouble regardless of how Phil and Horny are playing because it means we're still without Geno

But yeah, these guys need to step up. I'm really hoping Geno coming back opens up space for Phil again and that McCann really is the piece we needed on their LW. No idea about Horny. He doesn't look like he's doing anything different than normal, it's just not resulting in goals.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Phil Kessel will not be here next year.

Thanks for your service sir, but I think the shine is completely gone.

 

[Gurglesons]

I’d love to be wrong, but if McCann and TB outplay Kessel and Hornqvist this team will be lucky to sneak into the second round. These guys look to be good role players, but they can’t carry a second line by themselves.

Caps will be firing on all cylinders by round two and you aren’t getting past them with your two best RW being ghosts.

I don’t think he will have an issue against the Isles with Hornqvist and Kessel at their current level.

I also think Hornqvist is playing the right way. That pass to spring Jake, multiple net front chances, he just needs a break.

Kessel on the other hand is scaring me. Maybe it’s because he’s having difficulty meshing with McCann and Teddy’s game, but that is basically the most similar players to Hagelin and Bonino on the team.

And what I meant by Teddy being a nope was he had a breakout game against the Rags, I was hoping some of that would translate against a playoff team. He wasn’t bad persay, but looked as though he was playing out of his paygrade.

 

[Angrrus]

+ @ColePens calling Dumo-Trotman > Maatta - Dumo. He took a lot of crap for it but was 100% right.
+ Bjugs and Horny.
+ Game is over.

- Phil and coaching on the PP
- Phil is going to KILL L2 in the playoffs unless he stops acting like it's preseason (a healthy Geno and McCann, who I think will work as a combo, can't play short handed hockey at 5 on 5 and make the type of difference we'll need with THIS Phil).

Two other notes . . .

1. Schultz is struggling, and it goes beyond Jack Johnson. I isolated. A lot of his problems are of his own making.

2. Rust is a little off, but truth be told McCann ran into the same issue . . . namely, Sid is kind of in cruise control 200 feet. I think he's saving himself for the playoffs. As long as he is, we'll be fine.

What the F were these F-ing idiots doing? Why did they even dress? Why did they even hit the ice? Do they even care about the home ice advantage at least in the first round? What the F was Crosby doing on the ice? What the F was Kessel doing? What a bunch of F-ing unmotivated idiots! They just kept shooting with their eyes shut, straight into the G. What a bunch of idiots. What a bunch of idiots.

 

[Angrrus]

That was quite the bag o' $hite. Zero urgency.

Right. Zero urgency. In late March. While supposedly battling for a better playoff spot. Playing against one of the better teams in this league.

This exceedingly proves what these players are: LAZY IDIOTS

 

[Angrrus]

That breakaway save on Guentzel was huge tonight. At least the pens didn’t get shutout tonight. Huge game on Sunday against the canes.

He obviously shot with closed eyes.

 

[Angrrus]

They played a good game. I didn’t expect to win out, I’m just looking for the good habits to continue. I miss Malkin though.

One fantastic habit continued here: they yawned every time they had to finish a chance.

 

[Turin]

There’s no way a real person is that unhinged lol

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I don’t think he will have an issue against the Isles with Hornqvist and Kessel at their current level.

I also think Hornqvist is playing the right way. That pass to spring Jake, multiple net front chances, he just needs a break.

Kessel on the other hand is scaring me. Maybe it’s because he’s having difficulty meshing with McCann and Teddy’s game, but that is basically the most similar players to Hagelin and Bonino on the team.

And what I meant by Teddy being a nope was he had a breakout game against the Rags, I was hoping some of that would translate against a playoff team. He wasn’t bad persay, but looked as though he was playing out of his paygrade.

This is kind of why I tried to tone down people getting psyched about McCann and TB. They are role players, and they are going to hit bad spots and have droughts. They aren’t IMHO going to be major point producers.

And I know this board loves a guy one minute and turns on him the next. So I would hate to see that happen to two good looking role guys.

And ya Kessel is scaring me to... he should be working well with a guy like TB and TB is skating around like wtf is he doing.

Both McCann and TB look confused what to do when Kessel has the puck and I’m pretty sure it’s not them...

It’s just weird.

 

[ChaosAgent]

There’s no way a real person is that unhinged lol

There are these things that can put people into altered states. I forget what the word for them is, but they've been around for millennia...

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This is kind of why I tried to tone down people getting psyched about McCann and TB. They are role players, and they are going to hit bad spots and have droughts. They aren’t IMHO going to be major point producers.

And I know this board loves a guy one minute and turns on him the next. So I would hate to see that happen to two good looking role guys.

And ya Kessel is scaring me to... he should be working well with a guy like TB and TB is skating around like wtf is he doing.

Both McCann and TB look confused what to do when Kessel has the puck and I’m pretty sure it’s not them...

It’s just weird.

Has age caught up with Kessel, do you think? Lost a half a step or something?

It's weird that the only time he's somewhat effective (ie. productive) is on the PP, where he has more time and space. But at 5on5, he doesn't look like an elite player anymore.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Has age caught up with Kessel, do you think? Lost a half a step or something?

It's weird that the only time he's somewhat effective (ie. productive) is on the PP, where he has more time and space. But at 5on5, he doesn't look like an elite player anymore.

Kessel, like Liam Neesen has a very particular set of skills.

Even in terms of skilled players, he actually misses a lot of checked boxes:

• Stickhandling/1x1 ability he's average
• No slapper
• Below average backhand
• Poor reception of passes

Where he has traditionally exceeded in being dangerous is when he gets the puck cleanly on his forehand with space, he is a great playmaker and has a great wrister there. But if that part of his game goes from even great to good, he has no real other skills to fall back on.

 

[Andy99]

HockeyBuzz.com - Ryan Wilson - Preyguins

Forget that it’s Ryan Wilson, and just look at the heat maps...it shows exactly what I thought about the game...Rinne was not channeling his inner Hasek...the Preds had the better ES chances and the Pens never got in close to Rinne when shooting....