Post-Game Talk: Pens beat those french guys

[Luigi Lemieux]

I just feel like there is something with this group that if it eventually clicks could eek out a couple series wins.

Not betting on it. But the flashes are there similar to 20-21 and 21-22. Ultimately probably ends in tragedy though.

I wonder if Dubas swings hard for someone like Lindholm and signs him to prolong the window with Sid.

That's why this team is so frustrating. I wouldn't care so much if this team had zero potential.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

You can always count on Bob to report the straight facts no one gives a f*** about.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

@AuroraBorealis, I wanted to say you were right about Garland.

Thanks, but being right isn't what I care about. Just wanted better 5v5 output relative to cap spent. Plus Garland is a hungry player you can rely on to fight for wins out there. He'd drag more out of Malkin with his attitude, like Zucker did last year.
Smith made a lot of sense on paper, but he's just sad to be out of Vegas. That's hurt his play. Maybe he'll have a mental reset coming back from injury like Rakell did.

Fortunately the team's 5v5 scoring as a whole has been like league average, even if the sources are totally unbalanced.

 

[Andy99]

 

[Honour Over Glory]

That's why this team is so frustrating. I wouldn't care so much if this team had zero potential.

To me it's the lack of youth mixed in. That extra pep means a ton to a roster like this. I bet if they demoted White and Harkins when Smith is back and promoted Poulin, you'd see a few players with a little more energy in their game.

I mean let's say Sullivan wakes up and realizes hey this roster is better off with Malkin as a winger than a center to free up his offense and his age without someone like Jake is not fair. So you move him to LW.

Guentzel, Crosby, Rust
Malkin, Eller, Puustinen
Smith, O'Connor, Rakell
Poulin, Acciari, Hinostroza
Carter

Thanks, but being right isn't what I care about. Just wanted better 5v5 output relative to cap spent. Plus Garland is a hungry player you can rely on to fight for wins out there. He'd drag more out of Malkin with his attitude, like Zucker did last year.
Smith made a lot of sense on paper, but he's just sad to be out of Vegas. That's hurt his play. Maybe he'll have a mental reset coming back from injury like Rakell did.

Fortunately the team's 5v5 scoring as a whole has been like league average, even if the sources are totally unbalanced.

What's this bs you keep spinning about being sad to be out of Vegas?

Is this the same supposed sadness that afflicted Lafferty, Sprong, Blueger, etc?

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yohe any chance he gets to inflate some dumb stat to make Sullivan look good...

 

[ChaosAgent]

Yohe any chance he gets to inflate some dumb stat to make Sullivan look good...

I think this is a case where Yohe is just stating something Bob Grove style.
On a Tuesday, when Sidney Crosby farted and the moon was a waxing gibbous, and Mario shot 81 on the golf course, and Chris Kunitz had a secondary assist the Penguins are 2-0-1. Bottle that up!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

What's this bs you keep spinning about being sad to be out of Vegas?

Is this the same supposed sadness that afflicted Lafferty, Sprong, Blueger, etc?

It was reported at the time of the trade that he was unhappy leaving. That makes sense, considering they just won the Cup and he was one of the original Knights.
Then it was mentioned later in media that he's unhappy here, several months later.

I didn't make this up. And I'd say his body language here over the last few months supports this. He looks miserable out there. He looks like someone who's just clocking in and clocking out. And his effort level has gone down the tubes.

But you're entitled to your opinion. I have mine.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I think this is a case where Yohe is just stating something Bob Grove style.
On a Tuesday, when Sidney Crosby farted and the moon was a waxing gibbous, and Mario shot 81 on the golf course, and Chris Kunitz had a secondary assist the Penguins are 2-0-1. Bottle that up!

Mario can go f*** himself. Or rather pretend he's asleep so he can act like something didn't happen.

It was reported at the time of the trade that he was unhappy leaving. That makes sense, considering they just won the Cup and he was one of the original Knights.
Then it was mentioned later in media that he's unhappy here, several months later.

I didn't make this up. And I'd say his body language here over the last few months supports this. He looks miserable out there. He looks like someone who's just clocking in and clocking out. And his effort level has gone down the tubes.

But you're entitled to your opinion. I have mine.

Outside of the morons that get pandered to aka the first line, who the f*** is happy on that roster?

This isn't "Hey I'm not getting much for a role and minutes but I'm on a contender so I'll play my part!"

This is a ship with more holes than @Ogrezilla 's crocs.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Outside of the morons that get pandered to aka the first line, who the f*** is happy on that roster?

This isn't "Hey I'm not getting much for a role and minutes but I'm on a contender so I'll play my part!"

This is a ship with more holes than @Ogrezilla 's crocs.

Smith can't complain about playing time or role. He's averaging 16:14, with Malkin and PK1 the entire time.
He hasn't really seized the PP1 opportunity when he got it, or done much on PP2.

His average was higher earlier in the year, and I'd say it getting docked a bit was justified with his attitude and play.

Not breaking up GCR is justified too. It's one of the better lines in the league. I'm not gonna complain about it just out of principle. The results are the results.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

What an offensive explosion against a bad team! 3 goals seems like any other team having a 6 or 7 goal night.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Smith can't complain about playing time or role. He's averaging 16:14, with Malkin and PK1 the entire time.
He hasn't really seized the PP1 opportunity when he got it, or done much on PP2.

His average was higher earlier in the year, and I'd say it getting docked a bit was justified with his attitude and play.

Not breaking up GCR is justified too. It's one of the better lines in the league. I'm not gonna complain about it just out of principle. The results are the results.

You see a pair of Jordan 1's and it's size 9, but you wear Size 12, do you shove your foot in and figure yeah my foot fits so this should work?

Smith actually wasn't struggling any more or less than Bryan Rust. But you know who kept getting ice time with Malkin and Crosby and the top powerplay unit anyway? Yeah f*** your nonsense mate, you want to be a sympathizer about Sully without just saying it, fine but don't act like Smith was done justice all the while there's a shit load of example that shows the ignorance of this roster being used and how much Sullivan panders to the main core even when they struggle as much as Smith, but suddenly get a ton more excuses.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Smith was also getting shitty ice time when he was on his hot streak, while Bryan Rust when he was struggling was getting almost 4-5m+ more than Smith when he was producing well vs when Rust was cold as shit.

From November 30th to January 11th - Rust had zero goals, let's use that as a basis because that's what most cried about here. During that stretch his total ice time per game was 19:28. He had 5 assists in those 9 games.

Here's Reilly Smith's ice time when he was on his hot streak. From October 10th to November 4th. He had averaged 15:33 per game. He had 6 goals in 10 games (11pts in 10 games).

Also, imagine having the 4th best points per 60 and not being an option for Geno over...Colin White, in Puusy.

 

[Smasher]

I just feel like there is something with this group that if it eventually clicks could eek out a couple series wins.

Not betting on it. But the flashes are there similar to 20-21 and 21-22. Ultimately probably ends in tragedy though.

Yup, everybody expected the Rags to steamroll the Pens in 21-22. Obviously the PP and finishing let them down in the end, but that team had potential. Of all the things that went wrong, only one needed to go right and they would have advanced.

Fix the PP and find some finishing ability and maybe they could win a round or two... But probably not. It is the Sullivan Penguins after all.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

You see a pair of Jordan 1's and it's size 9, but you wear Size 12, do you shove your foot in and figure yeah my foot fits so this should work?

Smith actually wasn't struggling any more or less than Bryan Rust. But you know who kept getting ice time with Malkin and Crosby and the top powerplay unit anyway? Yeah f*** your nonsense mate, you want to be a sympathizer about Sully without just saying it, fine but don't act like Smith was done justice all the while there's a shit load of example that shows the ignorance of this roster being used and how much Sullivan panders to the main core even when they struggle as much as Smith, but suddenly get a ton more excuses.

Smith was also getting shitty ice time when he was on his hot streak, while Bryan Rust when he was struggling was getting almost 4-5m+ more than Smith when he was producing well vs when Rust was cold as shit.

From November 30th to January 11th - Rust had zero goals, let's use that as a basis because that's what most cried about here. During that stretch his total ice time per game was 19:28. He had 5 assists in those 9 games.

Here's Reilly Smith's ice time when he was on his hot streak. From October 10th to November 4th. He had averaged 15:33 per game. He had 6 goals in 10 games (11pts in 10 games).

Also, imagine having the 4th best points per 60 and not being an option for Geno over...Colin White, in Puusy.

My philosophy has always been keep what works and mix and match everything else as best you can to make that work too.
There were times where GCR sucked, but that is not this year.

This is working. And blowing this up when the team is already goal-impaired is not wise.

So what I'd do here is keep this, load up L2-L4 as best I could using Wilkes, and then find the best possible combinations throughout those 9 Forwards.
And if that doesn't work, then you have a depth problem and need trades.

Smith hasn't played up to his career average level outside of his hot start. That's on him. It's not just the points. His effort level declined.
Malkin's also playing below his capabilities. That's on him too. Can't blame the coach for guys who don't wanna move their legs more.

How about they just play better, instead of needing Crosby to solve every problem? Are they not skilled, top-six caliber career Forwards?
Smith's a 800 game veteran who's played with vast amounts of different Centers.
If it worked early in the year, there's no reason it can't work again. How about just being professional and hauling ass, instead of sulking about leaving Vegas? If he wants to request a trade he can do that. But until he's gone he should just play up to his capabilities.

 

[Chelis Chili]

Sidney Crosby collected a highlight-reel assist and Lars Eller became the second player in franchise history with a goal in the 1,000th game of his NHL career, joining Evgeni Malkin (Nov. 20, 2022). Eller and Malkin are two of the nine players in League history to score at least one goal in their first and 1,000th career game (also Marian Gaborik, Milan Hejduk, Alex Kovalev, Joe Nieuwendyk, Gilbert Perreault, Jean Ratelle & Luc Robitaille).

sauce: https://media.nhl.com/public/news/17642

 

[Ogrezilla]

Mario can go f*** himself. Or rather pretend he's asleep so he can act like something didn't happen.


Outside of the morons that get pandered to aka the first line, who the f*** is happy on that roster?

This isn't "Hey I'm not getting much for a role and minutes but I'm on a contender so I'll play my part!"

This is a ship with more holes than @Ogrezilla 's crocs.

Keep my footwear out yo f’n mouth!

 

[Icarium]

Shortening the bench in order to play Carter's line more in 2024.... I feel kind of dirty that we won that despite this shit.

Sid missed two open nets, Geno also had some glorious chances, that second MON goal was pure dumb luck, it seemed to be one of those games but a moment of magic from Sid and a rare touch of brilliance in OT led to us getting the two points. Thank god Allen hadn't gotten the memo that Rakell is no threat these days and tried to cheat towards him.

Funny how the Metro looked so strong less than two weeks ago and now it's all about who sucks the least. Too bad we are happy with that abomination of a power play and coach years past his expiration date, otherwise we could have, you know, been in a much better position.

 

[Zbynek]

Amazing what happens when you don't play Noel Acciari for half of overtime.

Friggin snipe by Petts.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Sid's pass was unbelievable. I think Petts' shiftiness and then snipe was more impressive given who each player is though.

 

[WickedWrister]

Weird stat

 

[WickedWrister]

Also our last OT winner

 

[Andy99]

From Molinari’s article this am…as I said, that ain’t happening outside of some magical EDM type run lol…best case is that they beat the Metro contenders for third place…they need a lower points % for that

“If the Penguins are to finish one point ahead of the Wings’ projected total — obviously, that figure is subject to change — they will have to earn 45 points over their remaining 36 games.

That would require them to go 22-13-1 (or its equivalent), which translates to a .625 winning percentage.”

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Weird stat

This doesn't even begin to make a lick of sense, but hockey is notoriously weird and quirky

 

[Gurglesons]

From Molinari’s article this am…as I said, that ain’t happening outside of some magical EDM type run lol…best case is that they beat the Metro contenders for third place…they need a lower points % for that

“If the Penguins are to finish one point ahead of the Wings’ projected total — obviously, that figure is subject to change — they will have to earn 45 points over their remaining 36 games.

That would require them to go 22-13-1 (or its equivalent), which translates to a .625 winning percentage.

they can finish 3rd in the metro