Post-Game Talk: Rangers 4, Penguins 3 - Pens Lose to a Goalie Who Heretofore Been Niemi Like In Pittsburgh

[Angrrus]

Can't win 'em all.

So why even bother, right?

Loser mentality 101.

 

[Angrrus]

Coaching staff and FO need to have a come to Jesus moment regarding 58. He's not anywhere close to what he was and he's being put in positions to continue to fail.

He's been a liability for years, between his regular mental and defensive lapses, countless turnovers and staying on IR more time than on the ice. Should've been traded years ago. There is a lot of way better ways to spend 7+ mln of cap space.

 

[EightyOne]

A frustrating loss. Rangers scored the 3-2 (?) goal after a no call where Malkin was slashed and the game winner went in off Letang's stick/skate. We also hit at least 4 posts... Oh well.

Everyone plays the same refs. Not a valid excuse.

Letang was Le-dang ALL night and 75% of this year. Not a valid excuse.

All the goals are 4'x6'. Not a valid excuse.

You meant to say: this team doesn't compete for 60 mins and that's that. There is no care or motivation. Lazy forwards and drowning defensemen leaving our goalies to slaughter.

Why do they act like games matter with 3mins left in the third and not 17mins left in the second? Im over the notion they are saving themselves and can flip a switch. They've failed to do so. How many times have they come back for a win this year? Playoffs are out of the question right now, still.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

Plenty of defensive breakdowns that they need to shore up. I liked the effort level the last two periods though. They're getting their battle level back up, with Hornqvist leading the charge as usual.

I wish Sid would stop trying those stupid behind the back passes through the other team. Yeah, it's pretty when it finally works but if you have to try it 100 times before it does, maybe it's not worth it. For a guy that works so hard on his game, you'd think he'd cut that out by now. I guess coaches wouldn't want to stifle his creativity by telling him to knock it off, I don't know.

 

[Fordy]

letang is one of the dumbest players in the history of the nhl. not sure anyone got a pass from him on the pp with time OR space OR just easily handleable all night

 

[EightyOne]

letang is one of the dumbest players in the history of the nhl. not sure anyone got a pass from him on the pp with time OR space OR just easily handleable all night

Id argue brent burns is still a worse defenseman, who is paid more money, and gets more accolades.

But like MAF, I kinda felt Letang should have been moved on around 2014. Where you could see the pattern of inconsistency starting to butt heads with cap hits.

Heh. Butt heads...heh..

 

[Jacob]

So why even bother, right?

Loser mentality 101.

I'm not on the team.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I thought it was a poorly played game by both teams, and very poorly officiated. And we caught zero breaks the entire game. I think only one of the four goals Jarry let in went straight in without deflecting off a Pens' stick. Malkin hit two posts, Reaves hit the post, and Maatta hit the post. Game over.

It seemed as though the Rangers wingers flew the zone all night, and got behind our D all the time. It was frustrating to watch, and frustrating to see no adjustments made.

Instead of showcasing Cole, maybe we should be showcasing Letang. I don't know what he was doing last night, but that was one of those games where you would have liked to have seen a much more even distribution of ice time between all six of our D-men. I wonder if we win that game last night had Ruhwedel played and Letang sat? Sadly, it has come to this.

JR, call Bergevin before it's too late.

 

[EightyOne]

I'm not on the team.

Well shit. That's why we're losing. The rest of us here are out there on the ice pulling your deadweight around!

 

[LiquorLicense]

Haven't been able to watch many Pens games this year but I watched this one pretty closely. I noticed some harping on Sid in the GDT which I think was a bit unfair. I think he looked good, he was just trying to globetrot a bit too much, like he expected the other 4 players on the ice with him to be elite like him, which just isn't the case.

Also I noticed the stars being overplayed, particularly on the PP. In the first and second period, I think the Sid/G/Phil/Letang unit played damn near every minute of PP time available. Also it seems to me the stars are also playing 5v5 too many minutes and it's affecting the ability to defend, or produce quality chances. I don't know if this is because HCMS is overplaying them because he doesn't like his line 3 and 4 options or what.

Does anybody have any stats/analysis of the stars and/or first 2 lines TOI versus when we had 4 lines cycling effectively last year? I think this would be interesting to see.

 

[vodeni]

Haven't been able to watch many Pens games this year but I watched this one pretty closely. I noticed some harping on Sid in the GDT which I think was a bit unfair. I think he looked good, he was just trying to globetrot a bit too much, like he expected the other 4 players on the ice with him to be elite like him, which just isn't the case.

Also I noticed the stars being overplayed, particularly on the PP. In the first and second period, I think the Sid/G/Phil/Letang unit played damn near every minute of PP time available. Also it seems to me the stars are also playing 5v5 too many minutes and it's affecting the ability to defend, or produce quality chances. I don't know if this is because HCMS is overplaying them because he doesn't like his line 3 and 4 options or what.

Does anybody have any stats/analysis of the stars and/or first 2 lines TOI versus when we had 4 lines cycling effectively last year? I think this would be interesting to see.[/Q

That first unit played almost entirely PP was not by design, you could tell that they just kept the pressure on, kept the puck in Rangers zone so they just could not find the time to make the change. That PP was fine, Rangers just got lucky that none of the shots got through

We are taxing Geno and sid too much this year, cause he does not play 4th line when behind like last night. Last night they were around 5-7 minutes, usually they are around 8-9 minutes which should be fine for the 4th anyways

 

[AquaticBirdman]

How many posts did we hit this game?

 

[LiquorLicense]

That first unit played almost entirely PP was not by design, you could tell that they just kept the pressure on, kept the puck in Rangers zone so they just could not find the time to make the change. That PP was fine, Rangers just got lucky that none of the shots got through

We are taxing Geno and sid too much this year, cause he does not play 4th line when behind like last night. Last night they were around 5-7 minutes, usually they are around 8-9 minutes which should be fine for the 4th anyways

Oh I think the PPs looked as good as you could ask for, pucks just weren't going in. And I agree that they looked good so why change units, but it's just taxing on the PP1 guys on the whole when this happens.

I guess I don't blame MS for not playing the 4th line when we're behind, I'd probably do the same. Did he do that last year when we had a decent 4th line, or was he more trusting?

 

[Rakell67]

Haven't been able to watch many Pens games this year but I watched this one pretty closely. I noticed some harping on Sid in the GDT which I think was a bit unfair. I think he looked good, he was just trying to globetrot a bit too much, like he expected the other 4 players on the ice with him to be elite like him, which just isn't the case.

Also I noticed the stars being overplayed, particularly on the PP. In the first and second period, I think the Sid/G/Phil/Letang unit played damn near every minute of PP time available. Also it seems to me the stars are also playing 5v5 too many minutes and it's affecting the ability to defend, or produce quality chances. I don't know if this is because HCMS is overplaying them because he doesn't like his line 3 and 4 options or what.

Does anybody have any stats/analysis of the stars and/or first 2 lines TOI versus when we had 4 lines cycling effectively last year? I think this would be interesting to see.

last year’s avg. TOI / this year’s:
81 17:56/18:21
87 19:53/20:41
71 18:37/18:11
58 25:31/25:40
59 15:53/16:54
72 15:57/17:26
17 13:38/16:17
43 15:56/14:52
3 18:04/18:58
4 20:27/18:40
62 15:29/15:48
28 19:49/17:06
34 10:39/10:24
8 20:33/20:30
37 10:58/11:41
2 17:20/15:53
45 10:52/10:49

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Another sky is falling thread... some posters are just brutal.

We even have people who want to break up the second line now?

I don't understand what game some people watch, honestly. The second line was dominant all night, and this was their third dominant game in a row where they cycled the shit out of their opponents and generated multiple chances.

Pens dominated the last two periods and the Rags were holding onto their sacks until the final horn. If the Pens keep playing like that, they are going to rack up plenty of wins going fwd.

 

[Deport Ogie]

The Malkin line dominated play almost every time they were on the ice, it needs to stay together for at least the foreseeable future. 81 is all over the offensive zone and just flying out there and 71 looks totally engaged.

Also agreeing with others than Maatta has been quietly very good recently, especially last night. With Schultz out, he should see some time on PP2...he's become quite adept at getting shots through from the point that are not necessarily risks to beat the goalie, but are always on net and good opportunities for a deflect/rebound.

 

[EightyOne]

Haven't been able to watch many Pens games this year but I watched this one pretty closely. I noticed some harping on Sid in the GDT which I think was a bit unfair. I think he looked good, he was just trying to globetrot a bit too much, like he expected the other 4 players on the ice with him to be elite like him, which just isn't the case.

Also I noticed the stars being overplayed, particularly on the PP. In the first and second period, I think the Sid/G/Phil/Letang unit played damn near every minute of PP time available. Also it seems to me the stars are also playing 5v5 too many minutes and it's affecting the ability to defend, or produce quality chances. I don't know if this is because HCMS is overplaying them because he doesn't like his line 3 and 4 options or what.

Does anybody have any stats/analysis of the stars and/or first 2 lines TOI versus when we had 4 lines cycling effectively last year? I think this would be interesting to see.

So. Who do you think is more at fault: Sid for trying hail Mary plays no one but he can do, or other players for not being Sid??

Also. Yes. Our PP2 and 3rd/4th lines can not dictate play effectively. So yes, you have to rely on 4 superstars 80% of the time. Yes this is a bad strategy. No there is no better option right now.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Another sky is falling thread... some posters are just brutal.

We even have people who want to break up the second line now?

I don't understand what game some people watch, honestly. The second line was dominant all night, and this was their third dominant game in a row where they cycled the **** out of their opponents and generated multiple chances.

Pens dominated the last two periods and the Rags were holding onto their sacks until the final horn. If the Pens keep playing like that, they are going to rack up plenty of wins going fwd.

The sky isnt falling just our positioning in the standings. We are going to play much better teams who don’t have DD as their number 1 centre and Pavelec in goal.

 

[vodeni]

Another sky is falling thread... some posters are just brutal.

We even have people who want to break up the second line now?

I don't understand what game some people watch, honestly. The second line was dominant all night, and this was their third dominant game in a row where they cycled the **** out of their opponents and generated multiple chances.

Pens dominated the last two periods and the Rags were holding onto their sacks until the final horn. If the Pens keep playing like that, they are going to rack up plenty of wins going fwd.

there is no question second line played well last night, two games in a row just like you said, only before in many games they could not keep the puck in the offensive zone to save the life. I'd wait for a few more games to hold the judgment on their dominance. In the meantime the third line lacks something maybe a genuine scoring threat, so the idea of moving Hags up and Jake down is not to break the second line but to have both second and third line dangerous. If Geno plays like he played last night, all over the ice hunting the puck, then we should be a dominant three lines team back again...

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

The sky isnt falling just our positioning in the standings. We are going to play much better teams who don’t have DD as their number 1 centre and Pavelec in goal.

The Pens finished with the second best record in the conference last season and what did that get them? A meat grinder special.

They just need to get in, and being a wildcard last season in the East was a better reward than the top two teams pointwise received.

there is no question second line played well last night, two games in a row just like you said, only before in many games they could not keep the puck in the offensive zone to save the life. I'd wait for a few more games to hold the judgment on their dominance. In the meantime the third line lacks something maybe a genuine scoring threat, so the idea of moving Hags up and Jake down is not to break the second line but to have both second and third line dangerous. If Geno plays like he played last night, all over the ice hunting the puck, then we should be a dominant three lines team back again...

They have played dominant hockey the last three games, you don't break them up because of the third line. You keep them together and see where things go.

Pens generated 39 shots in the last two periods and had a season high in the second.

I don't understand the panic and thought process of some around here.

Seriously bafffling.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Just one of those nights were the Pens couldn't catch a break.

The no call against Geno that led to the goal, the 5 posts hit, the terrible bounce on the NYR winning goal.

The pens gave up way to many odd man rushes, but they still probably deserved a better result.

 

[Andy99]

Being a wildcard in the East could get you TBL depending on which wildcard. I'd rather they pick up one of the top three spots. I don't think they will unless their PDO and 5on5 play improves. We've really had some bad luck this year to go along with bad play. They are what they are at this point, and I think they'll struggle to be on the edge of playoff contention all RS unless JR makes a couple moves

 

[Tom Hanks]

The Pens finished with the second best record in the conference last season and what did that get them? A meat grinder special.

They just need to get in, and being a wildcard last season in the East was a better reward than the top two teams pointwise received.

That’s up in the air at the moment and playing Tampa won’t be a reward this season.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

That’s up in the air at the moment and playing Tampa won’t be a reward this season.

I'm not scared of TB.

Likely have to go through them anyway. Would rather see them play TB in the first round and if they win, they take out the best team off the bat.

If they lose, better draft position and more rest for the stars to go on a run next season. As opposed to going through the Metro meat grinder, then losing to TB in the conference finals.

 

[Fordy]

i like the second line but i can't think about anything except how unbelievably dumb letang is

he's just so stupid