AFTERMATH: "You have selected 'Regicide' " | Penguins vs. Rangers | Pens win! 4-1

[ColePens]

______

[fieldset=MATCHUP]

2016 METROPOLITAN DIVISION SEMIFINALS

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (3) New York Rangers


SERIES SCHEDULE

Game​

|

Date​

​

​

|

Time​

​

​

|

Venue​

​

​

|

TV/Result​

​

1​

|Wed., April 13|8 p.m.|CONSOL Energy Center| Penguins, 5-2

2​

|Sat., April 16|3 p.m.|CONSOL Energy Center| Rangers, 4-2

3​

|Tue., April 19|7 p.m.|Madison Square Garden| Penguins, 3-1

4​

|Thu., April 21|7 p.m.|Madison Square Garden| Penguins, 5-0

5​

|Sat., April 23|3 p.m.|CONSOL Energy Center| Penguins, 6-3

TALE OF THE TAPE

PIT​

|

Team Stats​

|

NYR​

48-26-8, 104 points​

|

Season Record​

|

46-27-9, 101 points​

|

3-1-0​

|

Head-to-Head​

|

1-2-1​

|

26-11-4​

|

Home Record​

|

27-10-4​

|

22-15-4​

|

Road Record​

|

19-17-5​

|

245​

|

Goals For​

|

236​

|

203​

|

Goals Against​

|

217​

|

6-1​

|

Avg. Height​

|

6-1​

|

197.2​

|

Avg. Weight​

|

202.5​

|

27.2​

|

Avg. Age​

|

28.2​

|

Crosby (36)​

|

Goals​

|

Brassard (27)​

|

Letang (51)​

|

Assists​

|

Yandle (42)​

|

Crosby (85)​

|

Points​

|

Zuccarello (61)​

|

Kunitz (29)​

|

+/-​

|

McDonagh (26)​

|

Malkin (65)​

|

PIM​

|

Glass (66)​

|

Fleury (35)​

|

Wins​

|

Lundqvist (35)​

|

Fleury (5)​

|

Shutouts​

|

Lundqvist (4)​

|

[/fieldset]



[fieldset=PENGUINS-RANGERS PLAYOFF HISTORY]

Round​

​

​

|

Result​

​

1989 Patrick Division Semifinals​

|Penguins in 4

1992 Patrick Division Finals​

|Penguins in 6

1996 Eastern Conference Semifinals​

|Penguins in 5

2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals​

|Penguins in 5

2014 Metropolitan Division Finals​

|Rangers in 7

2015 Metropolitan Division Semifinals​

|Rangers in 5

2016 Metropolitan Division Semifinals​

|Penguins in 5

​

[/fieldset]



[fieldset=PENGUINS ROSTER]

FORWARDS

No​

​

|

Player​

​

​

|

Ht.​

|

Wt.​

|

Age​

|

Birthplace​

|

Acquired​

19|Beau Bennett|

6-2​

|

195​

|

24​

|

Gardena, California​

|

Draft (1st round, 2010)​

13|Nick Bonino|

6-1​

|

196​

|

27​

|

Hartford, Connecticut​

|

Trade (Vancouver, 2015)​

87|Sidney Crosby|

5-11​

|

200​

|

28​

|

Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia​

|

Draft (1st round, 2005)​

7|Matt Cullen|

6-1​

|

200​

|

39​

|

Virginia, Minnesota​

|

UFA (Nashville, 2015)​

9|Pascal Dupuis|

6-1​

|

205​

|

36​

|

Laval, Quebec​

|

Trade (Atlanta, 2008)​

16|Eric Fehr|

6-4​

|

212​

|

30​

|

Winkler, Manitoba​

|

UFA (Washington, 2015)​

62|Carl Hagelin|

5-11​

|

186​

|

27​

|

Södertälje, Sweden​

|

Trade (Anaheim, 2016)​

72|Patric Hornqvist|

5-11​

|

189​

|

29​

|

Sollentuna, Sweden​

|

Trade (Nashville, 2014)​

81|Phil Kessel|

6-0​

|

202​

|

28​

|

Madison, Wisconsin​

|

Trade (Toronto, 2015)​

34|Tom Kuhnhackl|

6-2​

|

196​

|

24​

|

Landshut, Germany​

|

Draft (4th round, 2010)​

14|Chris Kunitz|

6-0​

|

195​

|

36​

|

Regina, Saskatchewan​

|

Trade (Anaheim, 2009)​

71|Evgeni Malkin|

6-3​

|

195​

|

29​

|

Magnitogorsk, Russia​

|

Draft (1st round, 2004)​

11|Kevin Porter|

5-11​

|

191​

|

30​

|

Detroit, Michigan​

|

UFA (Detroit, 2015)​

17|Bryan Rust|

5-11​

|

192​

|

23​

|

Pontiac, Michigan​

|

Draft (3rd round, 2010)​

43|Conor Sheary|

5-8​

|

175​

|

23​

|

Winchester, Massachusetts​

|

UFA (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 2015)​

40|Oskar Sundqvist|

6-3​

|

209​

|

21​

|

Boden, Sweden​

|

Draft (3rd round, 2012)​

23|Scott Wilson|

5-11​

|

183​

|

23​

|

Oakville, Ontario​

|

Draft (7th round, 2011)​

DEFENSEMEN

No​

​

|

Player​

​

​

|

Ht.​

|

Wt.​

|

Age​

|

Birthplace​

|

Acquired​

28|Ian Cole|

6-1​

|

219​

|

27​

|

Ann Arbor, Michigan​

|

Trade (St. Louis, 2015)​

6|Trevor Daley|

5-11​

|

195​

|

32​

|

Toronto, Ontario​

|

Trade (Chicago, 2015)​

8|Brian Dumoulin|

6-4​

|

207​

|

24​

|

Biddeford, Maine​

|

Trade (Carolina, 2012)​

58|Kris Letang|

6-0​

|

201​

|

28​

|

Montreal, Quebec​

|

Draft (3rd round, 2005)​

12|Ben Lovejoy|

6-1​

|

206​

|

32​

|

Concord, New Hampshire​

|

Trade (Anaheim, 2015)​

3|Olli Maatta|

6-2​

|

206​

|

21​

|

Jyväskylä, Finland​

|

Draft (1st round, 2012)​

51|Derrick Pouliot|

6-0​

|

208​

|

22​

|

Estevan, Saskatchewan​

|

Draft (1st round, 2012)​

4|Justin Schultz|

6-2​

|

193​

|

25​

|

Kelowna, British Columbia​

|

Trade (Edmonton, 2016)​

GOALTENDERS

No​

​

|

Player​

​

​

|

Ht.​

|

Wt.​

|

Age​

|

Birthplace​

|

Acquired​

29|Marc-Andre Fleury|

6-2​

|

180​

|

31​

|

Sorel, Quebec​

|

Draft (1st round, 2003)​

30|Matt Murray|

6-4​

|

178​

|

21​

|

Thunder Bay, Ontario​

|

Draft (3rd round, 2012)​

37|Jeff Zatkoff|

6-2​

|

179​

|

28​

|

Detroit, Michigan​

|

UFA (Los Angeles, 2012)​

INJURY REPORT

Player​

​

|

Injury​

​

​

|

Status​

Beau Bennett​

|

Upper-body injury​

|

God only knows anymore​

|

Pascal Dupuis​

|

Blood clots​

|

LTIRetirement​

|

Marc-Andre Fleury​

|

Concussion​

|

Day-to-day​

|

Kevin Porter​

|

Ankle surgery​

|

Expected to miss rest of season​

|

Scott Wilson​

|

Foot surgery​

|

Week-to-week​

|

​

[/fieldset]



[fieldset=PENGUINS LINEUP]

Sheary​

|

Crosby​

|

Hornqvist​

|

|

Kunitz​

|

Malkin​

|

Fehr​

|

|

Hagelin​

|

Bonino​

|

Kessel​

|

|

Kuhnhackl​

|

Cullen​

|

Rust​

|

|

Maatta​

|

Letang​

|

Dumoulin​

|

Daley​

|

Cole​

|

Lovejoy​

|

Wheeeeee​

​

[/fieldset]

Click to read more...

 

[billybudd]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. You now have a more physical version of a liability that's less proven. I guess the "top" pairing is likely better, but those are interesting 2nd and 3rd pairings. I think we will be okay.

Girardi is a much smarter player than McIlrath. He sucks now, but it wouldn't surprise me if DM gets lit up even worse should he find himself on the ice with 87 or 71. Or the Hags line. Or, Hell, against Cullen.

Damn, I love depth.

 

[Empoleon8771]

A big reason I want to beat the Rangers is because a lot of Rangers fans I've talked to on various sites and in person have some hilariously off base opinions of the Penguins. I've heard that Kessel is a bum, the Pens have no depth, the Pens defense sucks, the Pens have trash goalies and the Pens have awful coaching. I don't even know how the Pens turned into a "only a top-6 group and nothing else" team, they haven't even had that good of top-6 groups over the years.

 

[mpp9]

Malkin splitting time with 87/72 and centering Sheary/Rust. Pretty ideal.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Malkin splitting time with 87/72 and centering Sheary/Rust. Pretty ideal.

yep, I like it. If we can use him between those lines so Geno gets 1st line minutes and Kunitz gets bottom 6 minutes, I'll be pretty happy.

 

[KIRK]

Malkin splitting time with 87/72 and centering Sheary/Rust. Pretty ideal.

Sheary-Malkin-Rust won't be a traditional line. Even when Malkin and Rust have the game legs going, I'll bet, as a unit (if they stick), they play a bit less than HBK. BUT, here's what I'm betting:

- Sometimes Malkin slides up with Sid and Horny
- Sometimes Sheary slides up with Sid and Horny
- Sometimes Sid slides down to center two of Malkin/Sheary/Rust
- When Rust is odd man out because of a slide, sometimes he slides up with Cullen and Fehr

As for the line itself, when it plays, I think it's going to be a monster corsi line . . .

1. Being able to do this completely ***** up any read an opposing coach can try to get on what line is coming next vis-a-vis matchups. Part of that means you can't get a bead of when you might see Sheary-Malkin-Rust.

2. Defensively, I see Sheary and Rust just pestering the other team, giving them no time with the puck and forcing them to rush things. I think that helps Malkin, who's best defensively where he can read/bait to force turnovers instead.

3. Offensively, I think it encourages Malkin to dump the puck. I think Malkin hates to dump, not because he hates the concept, but because he typically plays with guys he knows aren't puck retrievers (ergo, a dump means turning over the puck). Sheary and Rust resolve that, perhaps similarly to how having Feds and Talbot resolved it (Malkin dumped the puck with those two).

4. The one concern for that line is them getting hemmed in their own zone, but it's not as if that isn't an equal or greater concern for HBK.

Girardi is a much smarter player than McIlrath. He sucks now, but it wouldn't surprise me if DM gets lit up even worse should he find himself on the ice with 87 or 71. Or the Hags line. Or, Hell, against Cullen.

Damn, I love depth.

Not just the depth itself but what you can do with it. As I noted above, the reason for Sheary-Malkin-Rust may be to ease Malkin and Rust back in, but once they are back into it, you can use them together as a line for like 8 minutes, and by sliding Malkin, Sheary, and Rust as noted above, you also can appropriately distribute minutes among all your forwards.

Even with this Pens team on the road, how do you get a bead on things to try to match up (even if you think you have the personnel to do it). IC suggested to me-- and I think he's right-- that AV is just going to say '**** it' trying to chase matchups.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I like cake.

Also, nice thread Cole.

 

[systemsgo]

A big reason I want to beat the Rangers is because a lot of Rangers fans I've talked to on various sites and in person have some hilariously off base opinions of the Penguins. I've heard that Kessel is a bum, the Pens have no depth, the Pens defense sucks, the Pens have trash goalies and the Pens have awful coaching. I don't even know how the Pens turned into a "only a top-6 group and nothing else" team, they haven't even had that good of top-6 groups over the years.

They have had pretty bad bottom 6 groups though.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Bad bottom 6s are as much of a Pittsburgh thing as chipped ham and the Duquesne Incline.

Also to be fair, a lot of Pens fans thought Kessel was a bum until he last few months.

 

[Empoleon8771]

They have had pretty bad bottom 6 groups though.

They only had really bad depth in 13-14 I feel like. In 11-12 and before, they had Staal centering the 3rd line. In 12-13, they had numerous good players that were just horribly misused by Bylsma. The year their depth was really bad was in 13-14, who did they even have in that bottom-6 before Stempniak and Goc came along? Wasn't it like Vitale, Glass, Adams, Sutter, Bennett (in the 5 or so games he was healthy) and Megna maybe?

 

[deakka]

The series is over. Girardi seems hurt. Why cant we have good things?

 

[KIRK]

HT IC . . . envisioning Sully's pregame interview . . .

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Sheary-Malkin-Rust won't be a traditional line. Even when Malkin and Rust have the game legs going, I'll bet, as a unit (if they stick), they play a bit less than HBK. BUT, here's what I'm betting:

- Sometimes Malkin slides up with Sid and Horny
- Sometimes Sheary slides up with Sid and Horny
- Sometimes Sid slides down to center two of Malkin/Sheary/Rust
- When Rust is odd man out because of a slide, sometimes he slides up with Cullen and Fehr

As for the line itself, when it plays, I think it's going to be a monster corsi line . . .

1. Being able to do this completely ***** up any read an opposing coach can try to get on what line is coming next vis-a-vis matchups. Part of that means you can't get a bead of when you might see Sheary-Malkin-Rust.

2. Defensively, I see Sheary and Rust just pestering the other team, giving them no time with the puck and forcing them to rush things. I think that helps Malkin, who's best defensively where he can read/bait to force turnovers instead.

3. Offensively, I think it encourages Malkin to dump the puck. I think Malkin hates to dump, not because he hates the concept, but because he typically plays with guys he knows aren't puck retrievers (ergo, a dump means turning over the puck). Sheary and Rust resolve that, perhaps similarly to how having Feds and Talbot resolved it (Malkin dumped the puck with those two).

4. The one concern for that line is them getting hemmed in their own zone, but it's not as if that isn't an equal or greater concern for HBK.



Not just the depth itself but what you can do with it. As I noted above, the reason for Sheary-Malkin-Rust may be to ease Malkin and Rust back in, but once they are back into it, you can use them together as a line for like 8 minutes, and by sliding Malkin, Sheary, and Rust as noted above, you also can appropriately distribute minutes among all your forwards.

Even with this Pens team on the road, how do you get a bead on things to try to match up (even if you think you have the personnel to do it). IC suggested to me-- and I think he's right-- that AV is just going to say '**** it' trying to chase matchups.

These are big points. And I agree, chasing matchups will just lead to not being able to keep your own flow going offensively. But with that Rags D group, trying to get transition going consistently will be very hard as it is without struggling to match up. They'll just try to get Yandle out for O zone draws.

Not to mention using their 4th line as much as they did in game 1 isn't helping with offensive flow, despite some reasonable O zone time. I assume AV is trying to "invest" in wearing us down on the backend, but I just don't think that's going to end well for them.

 

[Artie Party]

The American Dream Phil Kessel is gold.

 

[KIRK]

These are big points. And I agree, chasing matchups will just lead to not being able to keep your own flow going offensively. But with that Rags D group, trying to get transition going consistently will be very hard as it is without struggling to match up. They'll just try to get Yandle out for O zone draws.

Not to mention using their 4th line as much as they did in game 1 isn't helping with offensive flow, despite some reasonable O zone time. I assume AV is trying to "invest" in wearing us down on the backend, but I just don't think that's going to end well for them.

After posting that, I realized it can apply to anyone. Say we beat the Rangers and face the Caps in round 2. If you don't know how, when, and with whom Malkin will be used (and even when Crosby may slide to center two of the guys on the Malkin line), I redounds to Sully's advantage against anyone. It's just doubly so against AV because he doesn't have the horses on D now to deal with it, even if he knew who was coming when and even without Malkin in the lineup.

 

[shureshot66]

It's amusing -- imagine being able to go back to last summer to tell the board that a potential playoff line was going to be Sheary-Malkin-Rust. And then that people would be more or less on board with the idea.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Letang (I think it was Letang): "He just earned himself a 5 year deal"

 

[shureshot66]

Why can't we have nice things.

Get well soon, Dan.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Why can't we have nice things.

Get well soon, Dan.

Next thing we will know Glass will be out too!

 

[shureshot66]

 

[TheGoldenJet]

It's amusing -- imagine being able to go back to last summer to tell the board that a potential playoff line was going to be Sheary-Malkin-Rust. And then that people would be more or less on board with the idea.

I'm on board with it...for a game or two, until Malkin finds his legs.

On that note, I thought the Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel line looked lackluster in game 1.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

It's amusing -- imagine being able to go back to last summer to tell the board that a potential playoff line was going to be Sheary-Malkin-Rust. And then that people would be more or less on board with the idea.

No one would have been at all surprised.

But for all the wrong reasons.

Everyone would believe that half the lineup was injured and those were the call ups.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm on board with it...for a game or two, until Malkin finds his legs.

On that note, I thought the Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel line looked lackluster in game 1.

Yeah if that line struggles again in the next 2 games, I would put Geno back in that spot. The HBK line worked well down the stretch, but the Pens don't have the time to figure out whether it will work in the playoffs if it's not working.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Pssh. You can't beat Sully at his own game, AV.

 

[madinsomniac]

Not nearly the goalie trolling Sully did... Im pretty sure if Lundqvst's eye didnt pop out of his head today he is playing