Post-Game Talk: Game XIV - Sid the Magnificent

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Who was more beautiful tonight:

  • Sid

    Votes: 36 57.1%
  • Geno

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • Karlsson

    Votes: 15 23.8%
  • Letangs Hair

    Votes: 10 15.9%

  • Total voters
    63
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Greetings from Bismarck, ND, here is what I just sent my Pens bestie:

Well, my goodness. Come from behind win *and* an unwasted Sid hattie? Not bad for a Tuesday! Glad to see Rakell on the board, too. I started my drive east today and had terrible reception, so I couldn't even listen.
 
Sid and EK saved our ass after a not so great game by most of the rest of the team…Geno took the night off pretty much after earlier discussion with Sid who said “my turn homie since you’ve been carrying this team…goodbye NZ trap”
EK's performance doesn't surprise me, defensively he's better than I anticipated. But his offensive acumen is off the charts. Incredible vision.
 
This is why you don't "rebuild" or whatever you want to call it when you have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. No matter what happens this year or next year, whatever, it's just a treat to watch these guys do this shit while we still can.
Agreed—You get them a Kessel or a Staal to drive a third line that puts them over the top. Oh, you got them the Norris Trophy winner? Yeah, that’ll work.
 
If they continue to play how they have played, I think you could load up L3 with Zohorna-Eller-Hinostroza and have a terrific L3. It's absolutely not a guarantee that any of them can do it, but both Eller and Hinostroza have pretty notable sample sizes of being good 3rd line players in the NHL. I don't think either of their performances have been "random AHLer that suddenly becomes good", they've been good in the past.

At the same time, I also like the idea of Hinostroza driving the play on L4. I'm not crazy about O'Connor on L3 due to his lack of production, but I think you can easily argue that O'Connor being the 3rd wheel on L3 and Hinostroza driving L4 is the best way to set up the bottom-6.

Either way, the bottom-6 today is looking miles better than it did to enter the year, which is terrific to see. Not only do they have good players, but they have flexibility to change it up as well. Now only if their bottom pair didn't look as bad as it has.
 
The Caps are better than the Pens…who would’ve thought that when the season started…3-0 win against the Knights and second place in the division
 
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Sid and Malkin’s start has been awesome.

I’ve decided I’d rather listen to Leah Hextall call games for the Pens than this current edition of announcers.
 
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A lot to love about tonight, and this streak, but L3 has been fantastic.

They’re not scoring much, but they’re tilting the ice on every damn shift, and wearing down the opposition a little more every time out. Critically they’re also giving 12-15 minutes of mostly mistake free hockey, meaning less burden when the scoring lines are out.

Eller has been so good, just plays smart and the puck seems to stick to him. It’s rubbing off on Z and DOC
 
One last comment, I really think people here need to be giving Sullivan props for the systematic changes he made early in the year that have made such a major difference during this winning streak. Their winning streak started when Sullivan made some tweaks to their neutral zone forecheck, which has seemingly unlocked this team to be able to accomplish what it should be able to do.

It's not a major change, but they went from running an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck to more of a trap 1-2-2 forecheck. They didn't have the legs to run that aggressive system, so that would allow the other team to generate a ton of speed through the neutral zone. But with the trap, the other team is slowed down dramatically and the Penguins can capitalize on the neutral zone turnovers.

People fairly criticize Sullivan for not making changes as aggressively as he should, I think this is a terrific change and really shows what he can do if he decides to make tactical changes.
 
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