Post-Game Talk: | Pens vs Sens | Loss | Pens 4 Refs 5

[lucasjb]

It's really weird to me that in a game where $1.8M/y backup goalie Casey DeSmith performed far better than his opponent Cam Talbot, a starter who makes $3M/y, half the posts on here are about how bad CDS is and how the Penguins should replace him? Mind boggling.

What an exciting group of young players the Sens have and their power play especially looked great. They thoroughly outplayed the Penguins for huge stretches and only the goal tending on both sides kept it close.

+ CDS
+ Zucker, Malkin, Rakell as a line and individually

- Crosby line good in small bursts, but need much more
-- the whole bottom six is just a mess I don't understand the thought process and it looks like the players don't either they gave nothing

Desperately want to see Letang, Petry and Ruutta all back. Will be relieved to see Poehling and Archibald back too if and when that happens, the fourth line has lacked any kind of identity since those two have been out of the lineup.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Wow, what a bad game.

Malkin looks pretty good, gotta say. He’s really the one re-signing this off-season who looks he’s worth the cash night and night out.

 

[Icarium]

Complaining about the refs when Talbot basically gifted us all 4 goals and we still found a way to lose is pretty baffling. Ditto for expecting more of our backup who was under siege.

Crosby's "defense" against Stutzle before the second goal exemplifies the level of giving a f*** for the entire Penguins team except for line 2. We got a point we didn't really deserve.

If I thought Sully was capable of learning from his mistakes I would be ruing the fact that we didn't get annihilated instead but since he cannot, I will take the point and indulge in wishful thinking. Namely that a healthier defense would somehow bring back the fighting spirit of the Pens.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Complaining about the refs is almost always a losing proposition and a sign of weakness. This team has none of the “find a way to win” energy past teams had and it comes from the top IMO.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Didn't watch again and I'm only on page 1 of this thread. But did anyone else point out that Gruden only got 3:20 and POJ 12:16? I know POJ is having a bit of a rough stretch but Ruhwedel got like 22 minutes.

Sully wants Ruh to play through his issues. So far in 32 games its not working.

 

[eXile3]

Pretty tough to assess the part of the game I have the most control over but refuse to do anything about. Anyhow, we'll be getting back to our game and focus on playing hard, every shift, from now on.

He said the same thing last week. I think it was after the Hurricanes game.

It’s such an awful excuse. Get better on the PP and PK and shut up.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

It's really weird to me that in a game where $1.8M/y backup goalie Casey DeSmith performed far better than his opponent Cam Talbot, a starter who makes $3M/y, half the posts on here are about how bad CDS is and how the Penguins should replace him? Mind boggling.

What an exciting group of young players the Sens have and their power play especially looked great. They thoroughly outplayed the Penguins for huge stretches and only the goal tending on both sides kept it close.

+ CDS
+ Zucker, Malkin, Rakell as a line and individually

- Crosby line good in small bursts, but need much more
-- the whole bottom six is just a mess I don't understand the thought process and it looks like the players don't either they gave nothing

Desperately want to see Letang, Petry and Ruutta all back. Will be relieved to see Poehling and Archibald back too if and when that happens, the fourth line has lacked any kind of identity since those two have been out of the lineup.

Ehhhh. The team as a whole minus a few players aren't playing very well but if your leaning in CDS it's not a recipe for success.

He's not a very good goalie period. Jarry can't get back soon enough as well as the other players you listed

 

[HandshakeLine]

He said the same thing last week. I think it was after the Hurricanes game.

It’s such an awful excuse. Get better on the PP and PK and shut up.

God, it’s infuriating to watch the coach go from “shut your mouth and play hard for 60 minutes” to whining constantly. It’s just the basic level of living what you preach.

Ehhhh. The team as a whole minus a few players aren't playing very well but if your leaning in CDS it's not a recipe for success.

He's not a very good goalie period. Jarry can't get back soon enough as well as the other players you listed

Ideally, if our blueline was better and we committed to team defense, it could work and has worked. But we’re missing big chunks of that equation.

This team used to tighten up around the backups and that got us through tight spots.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Great to see Malkin back to being PPG player. Honestly he's been much better that this season probably 1.1-1.15 PPG level.

Sullsma is making sure Malkin stays at 0 EN points on the year though. It will be extremely tough to maintain PPG under those conditions.

 

[MrBrightside]

Lost in the special teams shit show and the ongoing comedy of Carter and Dumoulin, Crosby's line got run over last night. Sid had an xGF% of 25.4% and HDSC were 11-4 for Ottawa with him on the ice. I hate breaking up the second line given that it's the only functional line on the roster but this ain't working.

 

[Pens x]

It's really weird to me that in a game where $1.8M/y backup goalie Casey DeSmith performed far better than his opponent Cam Talbot, a starter who makes $3M/y, half the posts on here are about how bad CDS is and how the Penguins should replace him? Mind boggling.

What an exciting group of young players the Sens have and their power play especially looked great. They thoroughly outplayed the Penguins for huge stretches and only the goal tending on both sides kept it close.

+ CDS
+ Zucker, Malkin, Rakell as a line and individually

- Crosby line good in small bursts, but need much more
-- the whole bottom six is just a mess I don't understand the thought process and it looks like the players don't either they gave nothing

Desperately want to see Letang, Petry and Ruutta all back. Will be relieved to see Poehling and Archibald back too if and when that happens, the fourth line has lacked any kind of identity since those two have been out of the lineup.

.87% save percentage is a + to you?

Wild

 

[lucasjb]

Ehhhh. The team as a whole minus a few players aren't playing very well but if your leaning in CDS it's not a recipe for success.

Well sure but that's true of nearly every team in the league, no one wants to be forced to start their backup goalie every game for long stretches. I just don't get the huge amount of hate for CDS especially after he just played a strong game and outplayed his opponent. He's not a great NHL goalie, he's around the middle of the pack, a good backup at a reasonable price which is nothing really to complain about.

I want Jarry back too

 

[Pens x]

Its not just about CDS though. Jarry’s playoff resume suggests the need for a backup that is closer to 1B.

This isn’t hindsight. It’s common sense. Your #1 goalie was atrocious two playoffs ago and injured last year. How do you possibly re-sign a guy to be his back up who has been injured in the last two playoffs, and who has been awful at times?

It was a lazy decision

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Lost in the special teams shit show and the ongoing comedy of Carter and Dumoulin, Crosby's line got run over last night. Sid had an xGF% of 25.4% and HDSC were 11-4 for Ottawa with him on the ice. I hate breaking up the second line given that it's the only functional line on the roster but this ain't working.

Sid and Jake are horrific defensively. I've been saying it for 2 years now.
But guess who are the top 2 guys sent over the boards in EN situations?

Oh and a solid plus to the chick in the yellow shirt behind Sully

 

[ChaosAgent]

Sid and Jake are horrific defensively. I've been saying it for 2 years now.
But guess who are the top 2 guys sent over the boards in EN situations?

Oh and a solid plus to the chick in the yellow shirt behind Sully

But it's all Rust tho

 

[orby]

This team is so much better with Rakell on line 1. Sullivan is approaching "Dupuis on L1 over Iginla" levels of insanity.

 

[Night Shift]

Sid and Jake are horrific defensively. I've been saying it for 2 years now.
But guess who are the top 2 guys sent over the boards in EN situations?

Oh and a solid plus to the chick in the yellow shirt behind Sully

I think it's that The core doesnt want to play a more defensive style, its not that they can't play D. They still want to run and gun like they are 25 and won't adjust to play different due to age.

The Bruins core is the same age as ours. Isn't their core and team devoted to a more defensive style because they are "older?" Look at their success and they're probably not running their bottom 6 to play just defense.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm just echoing changes need to be made with coaching and I think Sid and Malkin need to be open to playing different than to be worn out at the end of year because of age

 

[Coastal Kev]

Can you make JUST ONE post without bashing Hextall? my god man.

There's a lot to talk about Hextall, especially in regards to getting hired in the first place.

But his contract extension of Carter mid season is most definitely a firable offense. It would have been bad giving the extension when he did for one year. Hextall doubled down for a bro with TWO years and you're seeing the devastating domino effect in our bottom 6. This one move more than any other kills any hope for this team this season. With the additional cap space and a coach willing to push through multiple looks with WBS players, the bottom 6 goes from being an anchor to springing life throughout the team.

Solution: Fire Sully/Burke & Hextall. Trade Carter with an asset to dump the contract. Turnover the bottom 6 on a nightly basis trying every possibility from within before looking to add via a trade.

 

[Pancakes]

This team is so much better with Rakell on line 1. Sullivan is approaching "Dupuis on L1 over Iginla" levels of insanity.

Line1 is super frustrating but line 2 has been really good lately and I'm sure that's in part due to Rakell. I bet if he ever makes the swap again line 2 starts struggling a bit because Rust has sucked this year.

What he *should* try (but won't) is Zucker-Sid-Rakell and Guentzel-Malkin-Rust. God forbid we try something new though. Gotta stick with the same stale combos.

 

[LOGiK]

Philadelphia is the only team with a winning percentage in their last 10 (in the bottom 10)... the other nine teams are bottoming out...
Up in the air, literally, who makes the final two spots...
I hope it isn't the penguins. First round exit special would be fully operational.

 

[Andy99]

Pretty tough to assess the part of the game I have the most control over but refuse to do anything about. Anyhow, we'll be getting back to our game and focus on playing hard, every shift, from now on.

Lol…this is from RW’s blog…it’s not hard to assess that the team was beaten to every puck and Ottawa easily avoided the Pens forecheck like it was a fruit fly lol…but let’s not mention that, ok?

“As far as criticism of the referees goes this is about as hard as Mike Sullivan is going to go at them in the regular season. There are valid gripes to be had. However, the Penguins also got worked over at 5v5 so while the reffing wasn’t stellar, neither were the Penguins. They were out-attempted 41-24 at 5v5 and had an xGF% of 42.7. They got worked over by the refs and the Senators. They were pretty fortunate to escapes Canada’s capital with a single point. They probably deserved none.

Since taking over for Tristan Jarry in the Winter Classic on January 2nd Casey DeSmith has stopped 165 out of a 186 shots. He is at an .887 save percentage. Not good enough.”

 

[KrisLetAngry]

+ ZMR
+ Petterson I thought he did well this game
+ Friedmen he scored a goal where we aren't getting goals scored by D and he rides a bench

--- GCR
-- I do not feel like we have a coach coaching right now. Just a guy collecting a pay cheque
- refs i won't blame the loss on reffing however the zebras definitely tilted the ice one way.

A lot of people talk about breaking up GCR and swapping parts with ZMRak. I don't think we should right now they are our best line and looking good. I think Breaking up GCR is a priority.

I'd slap rust and/or Guentzel on the 3rd line with Blueger. Give Crosby whatever.
GCR is not doing anything in a majority of games and are a liability it's time to break em up.

I think putting Carter as 4th line Centre or 4th line RW with PP + PK duties might be the way to go. Guy needs a few less minutes.

He did great for us the first playoffs here and had a spurt of huge offense to get the 2 year extension. Since then he has struggled and we need go reevaluate his ice time. I fully believe he can become a contributing member to this team.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

It's whatever at this point. I'm going to finally watch the game this Friday (tomorrow) and am going to use it as an excuse to drink.

 

[LOGiK]

The penguins used to beat the non playoff teams usually...
Have rough go's at playoff teams, now having a rough go at bottom 10 teams?
oyyyy....

 

[Icarium]

Question for the Penguins players:
Malkin draws two penalties in a row, then scores after a very long shift. The opposition goalie looks extremely shaky: Do you:
a) Show some pride and desire to win and start fighting for pucks, hitting people, etc.?
b) Tighten up defensively and stop taking stupid penalties?
c) Try to test Talbot as much as possible?
d) None of the above, keep coasting like it's a pre-season game

Seriously, a 36 year old, injury-prone Malkin shouldn't be one of the few players going to the dirty areas and fighting for pucks along the boards. Line 1 is as a physical as figure skating nowadays. Sure, this is mostly on Sully for persisting with GCRust but all three players can play a lot more physically than that. They (and many of their colleagues) play like it's game 82, the playoff berth is secure and avoiding injuries is number one priority. The two most injury prone guys, Malkin and Zucker, are hustling the most. The way things are going one of them is going to get injured and the Pens will be even less physical.

Yes, we are a team built for speed and skill (in theory at least) and I would keep it that way but that doesn't mean being allergic to contact no matter what.