Post-Game Talk: Pens vs Wild Loss: We miss you Flower

[AuroraBorealis]

Can you tell me the lotto numbers?

Pedanticism aside, it sure would have been nice to find out if we could have beaten those other teams. But MAF single-handedly cost this team multiple playoff rounds. He also saved this team's ass in 2017 for a round.

Dems the facts

Sorry I just don't see how they were gonna beat the 2010 Hawks, 2011 Bruins or 2012 Kings. Do you?
I'm not convinced they would have even made the 3rd round in a few of those runs.

Yeah it bothered me that Flower lost us a few series, but looking back I don't believe he lost us Cups. Saying that would be disrespectful to the winning monster teams.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

How funny is it that 38 year old Evgeni Malkin playing out of position makes a far better top six grinder on the wing than the five bajillion this team's last 3 or 4 GMs have acquired for the same role? Not that that's really a good thing. Totally wasted, there. But at this stage who friggin cares.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I thought Geno was okay at wing. Gonna take a bit of adjustment if they keep the big two together. Even though Sid had 3 assists, I wasn't really all that impressed with his game. Rakell works well with those two, though.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I thought Geno was okay at wing. Gonna take a bit of adjustment if they keep the big two together. Even though Sid had 3 assists, I wasn't really all that impressed with his game. Rakell works well with those two, though.

He was working hard and doing the whole "facilitator" kinda thing. Playing the complimentary role.

It will help Sid and Raks put up some points. Yay.

 

[Gurglesons]

He was working hard and doing the whole "facilitator" kinda thing. Playing the complimentary role.

It will help Sid and Raks put up some points. Yay.

The typical Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby’s model by Mike Sullivan.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

The typical Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby’s model by Mike Sullivan.

I mean... I wanted to get Crosby going if for no other reason than it was getting depressing but I can't help but roll my eyes a little that that's now Malkin's problem when the reverse is never, ever true.

But again... who cares. This team is beyond cooked and not even remotely compelling in any way shape or form on top of that. I can't think of one interesting player to keep an eye on this season.

 

[Invalid cuz QoC]

It’s annoying knowing he won’t get fired, but I wake up hoping for good news after each loss.

 

[vodeni]

He was working hard and doing the whole "facilitator" kinda thing. Playing the complimentary role.

It will help Sid and Raks put up some points. Yay.

I am sure Sid will return the favor when Geno gets in his sleepwalking phase. Sid’s effort last night was dramatically different from all the games so far, and I have a hunch that that has something to do with it. I used to hate even an attempt to think about moving Gen to wing (especially all of that was really in bad faith) but now I don’t have problem to try to energize the team for a period of time. They were +1 last night and they actually look good. I stilll want to see them winning!

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I am sure Sid will return the favor when Geno gets in his sleepwalking phase. Sid’s effort last night was dramatically different from all the games so far, and I have a hunch that that has something to do with it. I used to hate even an attempt to think about moving Gen to wing (especially all of that was really in bad faith) but now I don’t have problem to try to energize the team for a period of time. They were +1 last night and they actually look good. I stilll want to see them winning!

Sid would. The coach won't.

I want to see them win. But we are past that, now. Whatever hope there may have been for that the GM stamped out pretty emphatically this past offseason.

 

[Beau Knows]

If we're gonna be bad, the games should at least be watchable. Crosby and Malkin together might be entertaining enough.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

wtf was up with offensive deployment last night?? Yeah, we killed a lot of penalties, but still..

Beauvillier - 11
Bunting - 13

Meanwhile..

Hayes (who I don't even like) - 6:30
Puljujarvi - 5

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I thought Geno was okay at wing. Gonna take a bit of adjustment if they keep the big two together. Even though Sid had 3 assists, I wasn't really all that impressed with his game. Rakell works well with those two, though.

Rakell works well with Sid, period. It's just ridiculous that our moron coach doesn't see it and insists on his pet Rust always being in that spot.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

wtf was up with offensive deployment last night?? Yeah, we killed a lot of penalties, but still..

Beauvillier - 11
Bunting - 13

Meanwhile..

Hayes (who I don't even like) - 6:30
Puljujarvi - 5

This team desperately seems to want to make Beau a thing. As for Hayes yeah I thought they would try him out a lot more. So far they are really limiting his role which... eh... probably the right choice in most ways. Pulju is seemingly always going to be the odd man out. And as for Bunting... they are likely trying to wheel the narrative back around to "he really made that Jake trade a win!"

 

[AuroraBorealis]

How funny is it that 38 year old Evgeni Malkin playing out of position makes a far better top six grinder on the wing than the five bajillion this team's last 3 or 4 GMs have acquired for the same role? Not that that's really a good thing. Totally wasted, there. But at this stage who friggin cares.

He was working hard and doing the whole "facilitator" kinda thing. Playing the complimentary role.

It will help Sid and Raks put up some points. Yay.

Most encouraging thing I saw was that Crosby chose to move his legs again. That created two of the goals.
Now, whether that was a one-off for Flower night and he'll go back to slacking or Malkin on his line made him try, time will tell.

 

[SomeDude]

wtf was up with offensive deployment last night?? Yeah, we killed a lot of penalties, but still..

Beauvillier - 11
Bunting - 13

Meanwhile..

Hayes (who I don't even like) - 6:30
Puljujarvi - 5

I thought Hayes was dreadful last night. Could have been the lines shuffling and he’s been fine so far this year, but he looked lost and took a bad penalty to boot.

As pointed out, Beauvillier was bad again and it showed on the scoresheet. -3. Woof.

On the plus side, I really like how Glass is shaping up. Could be a nice depth player or at least another pick at the deadline.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

How funny is it that 38 year old Evgeni Malkin playing out of position makes a far better top six grinder on the wing than the five bajillion this team's last 3 or 4 GMs have acquired for the same role? Not that that's really a good thing. Totally wasted, there. But at this stage who friggin cares.

2 Years ago I wanted to yo 2C hunting so Malkin can kick ass as a winger. Be that playmaker winger.
The issue Is we don't have a proper 2C to Let Malkin move to Wing permanently.

A guy like Trochek at 2C sure would be nice...

Beauvillier is not good.

People complaining about Flower my lord.
He won 3 cups. Went to 5 finals.
Let's appreciate him.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

No offense but this franchise has been celebrating Fleury emphatically every single season since he left. We get it. We're appreciative. The team is just using it to sell tickets and even that's not working anymore because these guys are so awful and boring.

 

[BusinessGoose]

At least they got Jagr out of the way

It would be even more embarrassing to trot him out in front of this.. We were ALMOST still fighting for playoffs last year with his night

 

[heysmilinstrange]

He was the prime reason for our playoff failures in the early 2010s but i dont feel like he gets enough credit for the 08 run and the Caps series in 17. We were completely outplayed in Game 7 of the 17 Caps series and the only reason we squeaked by was because Fleury completely stole it.

Really? I've mostly seen fans say that he's the sole reason the Penguins beat the Capitals in 2017. I think he gets plenty of credit.

I don't really care for Fleury, so nights like these annoy me, but that aside, I get why people like and appreciate him. It's not weird to celebrate a guy in his position.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I mean... I wanted to get Crosby going if for no other reason than it was getting depressing but I can't help but roll my eyes a little that that's now Malkin's problem when the reverse is never, ever true.

But again... who cares. This team is beyond cooked and not even remotely compelling in any way shape or form on top of that. I can't think of one interesting player to keep an eye on this season.

That's my issue with the whole thing. When Geno struggled, they did absolutely nothing to get him going. But the moment Simple Sid does, his dumb ass needs all the help.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

At least they got Jagr out of the way

It would be even more embarrassing to trot him out in front of this.. We were ALMOST still fighting for playoffs last year with his night

I dunno. It couldn't get much worse than that. Didn't they lose every single game he watched and scored all of like one goal combined?

It was so awful his 20 year old girlfriend looked like she was about ready to dump him for even having to be there.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

At least they got Jagr out of the way

It would be even more embarrassing to trot him out in front of this.. We were ALMOST still fighting for playoffs last year with his night

Nah they were moist trash last year too.

I dunno. It couldn't get much worse than that. Didn't they lose every single game he watched and scored all of like one goal combined?

It was so awful his 20 year old girlfriend looked like she was about ready to dump him for even having to be there.

She was so bored, poor Jagr had to buy her a nintendo switch just to keep her occupied.

 

[vikingGoalie]

I feel like we romanticize the gen X era way too much. Make no mistake, that era sucked ass. Getting blown out every night, the anxiety of almost leaving town. We only look fondly on it because what it ultimately led to.

I think part of romanticisim was that we had no expectations. It was also a lot more entertaining. Remember the cardiac/comeback kids for a time there we were never out of a game. We had youth and an energy around the club that is just not there now.
Now the vibe around this team is awful.
We are trotting aging players out who might have some bright moments ahead of them but all the big achievements are in the past, father time always wins.
We just got beat by an almost 40 year old goalie leading a team that didn't make the playoffs last year. There isn't much hope right now, and you either embrace the suck or you go for it. We are stuck in neutral not going in either direction.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

People act like we had some insane youth that time. When really we had - Archibald, Wilson, Kuhnhackl, etc up as well. Youth. We have that now. But he's wanting none of that and when he does he uses them like shit.

Don't know how many more ways to say it's f***ing Sullivan that's the issue before we all lose our f***ing minds.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Jeff Carter bled goals for two years and we did everything short of giving the guy a parade.

It’s just the way org is.

Yeah but what’s really vexing is that it’s not the way it has to be. They choose to be like this.

How funny is it that 38 year old Evgeni Malkin playing out of position makes a far better top six grinder on the wing than the five bajillion this team's last 3 or 4 GMs have acquired for the same role? Not that that's really a good thing. Totally wasted, there. But at this stage who friggin cares.

Maybe we can make him PK next.