OT Jake Guentzel
- Thread starter pittbb80
- Start date
The Pensburgh message board true believers want dubas to mortgage all future draft picks to bring in more scorers and go even more all in than they already have, if that's possible. I think they're insane. If you can't even compete for a wild card with all this talent, you stop throwing good.money after bad, IMHO.
Karlsson and Smith were both bad additions. Neither has worked out. Do you flip them at the deadline or bite the bullet and continue to overpay for what they're giving you? Trading Karlsson would be difficult, but not impossible. He wants to win a cup, so he may waive his movement clause.
The bottom six don't give up goals like last year's, but they dont score many, either. The secondary scoring just isn't there.
But the elephant in the room is the power play. 13 percent. Worst since the 1967 pens. Historically bad, with all those stars and "the core" everyone incorrectly demanded had to be kept together.
Let's see what they do against Montreal today.
Dubas has a lot to think about.
Karlsson and Smith were both bad additions. Neither has worked out. Do you flip them at the deadline or bite the bullet and continue to overpay for what they're giving you? Trading Karlsson would be difficult, but not impossible. He wants to win a cup, so he may waive his movement clause.
The bottom six don't give up goals like last year's, but they dont score many, either. The secondary scoring just isn't there.
But the elephant in the room is the power play. 13 percent. Worst since the 1967 pens. Historically bad, with all those stars and "the core" everyone incorrectly demanded had to be kept together.
Let's see what they do against Montreal today.
Dubas has a lot to think about.
People talk about all this talent. By aside from Crosby and Jake who is elite at their position. And Tanger and Karlson are top defensemen. The rest of the team is pedestrian Sid carried them when he was on a hit streak but that’s unsustainable.
This team will struggle to make a wild card. They don’t have enough trade assets to make a huge difference. The only one they have is Jake and the net change isn’t going to be that great.
The problem is Sid’s window is limited. He surely doesnt want to play in a rebuild. So I’m not sure how you blow it up and keep Sid
Interesting, on the last of their eight (yes, eight) power plays last night they finally took Malkin off the number one unit. Karlson too.
It, of course, did not result in a goal. But maybe they have finally reached the point where they are willing to go to Malkin and say we don't care if you don't like it, your play on the power play has been abysmal and we aren't putting you out there any more. If you don't like it, when you do get your chance play better and maybe we'll move you back up.
I'm not nearly an aficionado, but the last 2+ minutes of that OT 3 on 3 was pathetic. I thought 3 on 3 was supposed to be free flowing and end to end. This is just an average hockey club.
There is no reason Sullivan should be around. Good coach, but time for a change.
There is no reason Sullivan should be around. Good coach, but time for a change.
So......this is the Pens PP results in their last 13 one goal losses.
vs. ANA (2-7)
vs. NYR (0-4)
vs. BUF (0-2)
vs. NSH (0-2)
vs. PHI (0-5), (0-3)
vs. OTT (0-4)
vs. WSH (1-3)
vs. VAN (0-4)
vs. VAN (0-4)
vs. CAR (0-4)
vs. VEG (0-1)
vs. FLA (1-8)
That is 4-51 7.8%. If they even would have had a PP of around 15% (which would still be bottom 3rd) in those games, they would have 6-8 more points, with games in hand they have, they would be really sitting strongly in playoff contention.
If Montreal beats them tonight. I will make a prediction. Sullivan will be fired.
vs. ANA (2-7)
vs. NYR (0-4)
vs. BUF (0-2)
vs. NSH (0-2)
vs. PHI (0-5), (0-3)
vs. OTT (0-4)
vs. WSH (1-3)
vs. VAN (0-4)
vs. VAN (0-4)
vs. CAR (0-4)
vs. VEG (0-1)
vs. FLA (1-8)
That is 4-51 7.8%. If they even would have had a PP of around 15% (which would still be bottom 3rd) in those games, they would have 6-8 more points, with games in hand they have, they would be really sitting strongly in playoff contention.
If Montreal beats them tonight. I will make a prediction. Sullivan will be fired.
A lot of good points in the previous posts from today ......
- I thought the Pens played pretty well 5v5 last night against Florida but the PP let them down again (1-8) ...... as "Joe" said, on the last PP, they took Karlsson and Malkin out and substituted Letang and Puustinen in and that unit looked really good getting 3-4 grade A chances but unfortunately missed the net on all the shots .... still they moved the puck really well and got great shots in high danger areas ...... if they don't try those same players on PP1 tonight, they should fire Sullivan during the game.
- The bottom 6 is much better this year defensively but only minimally better offensively so we aren't getting enough secondary scoring from them which makes PP goals all that more important.
- Malkin and Karlsson are terrible when they play together ..... the goal differential when they are on the ice together is hugely negative .... they both want the puck on their stick, both turn it over too much, and both are not strong defensively to say the least.
- Reilly Smith started the season really well with Malkin for the first month and since then has played poorly and at times looked like he doesn't want to be in Pittsburgh ..... he of course has been out injured but when he comes back they need him to step up his game significantly.
- The other new player that has been a disappointment is Ryan Graves who says that the Pens system is much different then the Devils system and he has been slow to adopt to the way the Pens play ...... he has trouble with the Pens breakout system and positioning system and when to pinch in the offensive zone, etc....... last night the Panther's first PP goal by ERod was a direct result of Graves taking the wrong man defensively.
- Sid's line has been great, Geno's line bad ...... we need so much more from Geno's line.
- The goalies have played overall very well this season so far and it's too bad they have kept us in many games that we don't execute well enough otherwise to win.
- Regarding 3 on 3 overtime ..... it used to be wide open end to end until teams learned that puck possession was important in winning OT games ..... the team that controlled the puck the most during the OT had the higher chance of winning and an important factor in puck possession was winning face-offs (the Pens are one of the better teams in winning face-offs in regulation play and have been terrible in OT, thus a big reason for poor puck possession in OT) ..... another factor in OT success is how you make line changes (remember OT is like the second period where your bench is farther from your defensive zone/goalie), so teams try to control the puck and get in position to make line changes while they have the puck in a position where the opponent can't make a line change safely and you get fresh players on the ice against opponent's tired players ...... working to get shots in high danger slot areas is also a big key to success on OT (and obviously converting them into goals) ...... keeping turnovers to a minimum is also magnified in 3 on 3 OT as turnovers in that situation very often lead to odd man breaks which is a common way for goals to be scored in OT ...... so that's why you frequently see OT played the way it was in the Pens game last night.
- Not sure if Pens are going to be buyers or sellers at trade deadline ..... Dubas said he would give the team until the All-Star break to decide what he was going to do (which would be after tonight's game) but he has now said he will give it more time ...... they are close enough to Playoff position now that I expect he may not sell off in a major way although the Pens have a lot of teams to pass to get into the Playoffs and they have to win a lot of games to do that ...... it will be interesting to see what he does if they are in Playoff contention ...... I'd be more than surprised to see Sullivan fired if they lose tonight but stranger things have happened.
- Montreal game coming up shortly ..... LET'S GO PENS !!!
- I thought the Pens played pretty well 5v5 last night against Florida but the PP let them down again (1-8) ...... as "Joe" said, on the last PP, they took Karlsson and Malkin out and substituted Letang and Puustinen in and that unit looked really good getting 3-4 grade A chances but unfortunately missed the net on all the shots .... still they moved the puck really well and got great shots in high danger areas ...... if they don't try those same players on PP1 tonight, they should fire Sullivan during the game.
- The bottom 6 is much better this year defensively but only minimally better offensively so we aren't getting enough secondary scoring from them which makes PP goals all that more important.
- Malkin and Karlsson are terrible when they play together ..... the goal differential when they are on the ice together is hugely negative .... they both want the puck on their stick, both turn it over too much, and both are not strong defensively to say the least.
- Reilly Smith started the season really well with Malkin for the first month and since then has played poorly and at times looked like he doesn't want to be in Pittsburgh ..... he of course has been out injured but when he comes back they need him to step up his game significantly.
- The other new player that has been a disappointment is Ryan Graves who says that the Pens system is much different then the Devils system and he has been slow to adopt to the way the Pens play ...... he has trouble with the Pens breakout system and positioning system and when to pinch in the offensive zone, etc....... last night the Panther's first PP goal by ERod was a direct result of Graves taking the wrong man defensively.
- Sid's line has been great, Geno's line bad ...... we need so much more from Geno's line.
- The goalies have played overall very well this season so far and it's too bad they have kept us in many games that we don't execute well enough otherwise to win.
- Regarding 3 on 3 overtime ..... it used to be wide open end to end until teams learned that puck possession was important in winning OT games ..... the team that controlled the puck the most during the OT had the higher chance of winning and an important factor in puck possession was winning face-offs (the Pens are one of the better teams in winning face-offs in regulation play and have been terrible in OT, thus a big reason for poor puck possession in OT) ..... another factor in OT success is how you make line changes (remember OT is like the second period where your bench is farther from your defensive zone/goalie), so teams try to control the puck and get in position to make line changes while they have the puck in a position where the opponent can't make a line change safely and you get fresh players on the ice against opponent's tired players ...... working to get shots in high danger slot areas is also a big key to success on OT (and obviously converting them into goals) ...... keeping turnovers to a minimum is also magnified in 3 on 3 OT as turnovers in that situation very often lead to odd man breaks which is a common way for goals to be scored in OT ...... so that's why you frequently see OT played the way it was in the Pens game last night.
- Not sure if Pens are going to be buyers or sellers at trade deadline ..... Dubas said he would give the team until the All-Star break to decide what he was going to do (which would be after tonight's game) but he has now said he will give it more time ...... they are close enough to Playoff position now that I expect he may not sell off in a major way although the Pens have a lot of teams to pass to get into the Playoffs and they have to win a lot of games to do that ...... it will be interesting to see what he does if they are in Playoff contention ...... I'd be more than surprised to see Sullivan fired if they lose tonight but stranger things have happened.
- Montreal game coming up shortly ..... LET'S GO PENS !!!
There's an own goal in there too.
That looks like beer league, where the lack of icing can favour the shorthanded side.
