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OT - PENS ........

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goalieman

All P I T T !
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Obviously a bad start to the season for the Pens .... 2-4 and playing unbeaten Colorado tonight .....

Some thoughts ......

- It's very early in the season but many of the same problems as last year are popping up ....

- Not enough defensive structure leading to many odd man breaks against with high danger scoring chances for the opponents ...

- Lack of secondary scoring by the bottom 6 who in total have 1 goal and 3 assists after 6 games ....

- Power play has been poor converting just 12.5% of their chances ..... hopefully Karlsson can help with that long term ......

- Not physical enough especially in front of their own net ....... I thought Ludvig playing in his 1st game as a Pen against Dallas the other night looked overall pretty good and was very physical until he was concussed and left the game .....

- Several terrible 2nd periods so far for the Pens and overall team speed looks quite average at best, size on the small side and showing our age too often .....

- Goaltending looks average at best so far ...... Nedeljkovic is hurt and on LTIR already after playing just 2 games ....... Jarry has been healthy but still has some weaknesses, hopefully he will get to the top of his game soon ....... Nedeljkovic was really good his first year with Carolina but bad the last 2 years with the Red Wings ...... he has some decent upside but will he improve from the last 2 seasons and will he stay healthy ? ...... Against Dallas the other night Nedeljkovic looked good the first half of the game but the 3rd and 4th goals he gave up later in the game were bad ( 3rd goal where he went 40 feet outside the crease, didn't control the puck and Dallas scored into an open net and the 4th goal where he did not get in the rVH position on the post properly and gave up a very soft goal) ......

- Hopefully Carter is a healthy scratch soon .....

- L1 and L2 overall playing pretty well ...... Rakell having problems scoring but he is getting some good scoring chances and if that continues expect the goals to come ......

- Karlsson/Pettersson defensive pairing seems to be playing well, outscoring the opponents while they are on the ice and very good advanced stats so far .....

- Big change in the roster and I think players still trying to mesh with each other and although it is still really early in the season, they have to improve on so many things quickly or they are going to get far behind in the strong Metropolitan Division ..... I think it is also bothersome that even with the big change in the roster, the team is still showing many of the same problems it had last season ..... you start to wonder about the system not fitting the players and whether the coaches can adjust based on the strengths and weaknesses of the team .....

- Let's hope for a win tonight against a very good Colorado team ..... that would be a big help in possibly turning things around.
 
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Pens are old and slow. Father Time is winning the face offs now. Franchise will go down with their stars In Pens sweaters. That’s how they want it, how the Trio wants it, and how the fan base at large wants it.
 
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Some early thoughts on some of the new players after 6 games .....

- Ryan Graves has been ok, learning how to play as Letang's defensive partner, not too physical for size, solid defensive defenseman with what so far looks like limited offensive potential ....

- Reilly Smith playing well with Geno and good all around 200' player ....

- Lars Eller solid defensively but L3 needs to score more ...... I think he would be a very good 4th line center at this point in his career ....... hopefully L3 picks it up offensively .....

- Noel Acciari - not as physical so far as advertised in first 6 games, offensive game needs to pick it up .....

- Matt Nieto - hasn't looked any better so far then many of the WBS forwards .... no scoring threat to date ....

- Alex Nedeljkovic ...... as per my comments in my previous post in this thread ...... on LTIR already .....

Again it is very early in the season and these are just some initial impressions after the first 6 games ..... impressions could change greatly as the season progresses and hopefully they do for the better.
 
Very good first period by the Pens up 2-0 against Colorado, now can they overcome their 2nd period meltdowns ? ....... so much better when they play well structured and stay in good position without so much free lancing ..... playing a simplified game ....... Colorado with only 5 shots on goal in the 1st period.
 
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I figured when the Pens brought back Sullivan and Jarry, nothing would change.

But then I got sucked in by the acquisition of Carlson and the reps of some of the role players, plus a backup goalie I thought had a chance to push Jarry (hopefully all the way out of town).

Carlson has made some impressive plays here and there so far but otherwise the rest of the hopefuls are looking pretty dubious at this point. I think I’m most disappointed with the goaltending; bringing Jarry back and automatically anointing him the top spot was the biggest questionable decision of the offseason.
 
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While today is looking good, Sullivan has coached them horribly. It’s offense first, defense never. He still thinks his stars are in their 20s. It hasn’t worked for half a decade. He’s not the great coach people think he is
 
The Ole Six-Fiver said:
I figured when the Pens brought back Sullivan and Jarry, nothing would change.

But then I got sucked in by the acquisition of Carlson and the reps of some of the role players, plus a backup goalie I thought had a chance to push Jarry (hopefully all the way out of town).

Carlson has made some impressive plays here and there so far but otherwise the rest of the hopefuls are looking pretty dubious at this point. I think I’m most disappointed with the goaltending; bringing Jarry back and automatically anointing him the top spot was the biggest questionable decision of the offseason.
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Great first thought. With Jarry and Sullivan back, ain’t nothing gonna change. You were right the first time.
 
Old and slow. Inconsistent. Tonight they are hitting on all cylinders after a couple of stinkers. Fans are spoiled and happy wearing 87, 71 and 59 sweaters and dreaming of another cup.
 
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Reilly Smith 4 goals already. Acquired by Dubas. Just let him wheel and deal.
No player should be off limits.
 
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Nice win by the Pens tonight against Colorado ..... we looked like a different team and that is the way they have to play to win more games ....... thought our structure and overall positional hockey was excellent which greatly decreased odd man breaks against us as we had more layers of defense that the Aves had to go through and for the most part we kept them on the perimeter ..... no bad pinches by the d-men and the forwards were good at battling on the boards and at puck retrieval ..... we really simplified the game ..... we generated a lot of offense off our defense, trapped successfully later in the game and kept the lead for once ...... I think this is the way the team needs to play to win games but they need to do it consistently not just for a game or two and then go back to their free wheeling game which doesn't work.

L1 and L2 scored a total of 3 goals but L3 (DOC-Eller-Zohorna) scored a goal and are now playing a better 2 way game, they are improving and we'll see what their upside is.

Pens PK was really good tonight and Colorado was 0-5 on the PP.

Shea has been getting better but not sure his upside, Jarry finally played a really good game but can he become more consistent and stay healthy ..... goaltending has been average at best so far this season and that is not good enough.

Would like to replace Carter on L4 with a younger solid 200' player, even someone from WBS.

Geno ..... please no more stupid stick penalties !

I have no illusions that the Pens will win a Cup but if they buy in and play like this consistently, maybe they can make it into the Playoffs which is better than the alternative to me.
 
goalieman said:
Nice win by the Pens tonight against Colorado ..... we looked like a different team and that is the way they have to play to win more games ....... thought our structure and overall positional hockey was excellent which greatly decreased odd man breaks against us as we had more layers of defense that the Aves had to go through and for the most part we kept them on the perimeter ..... no bad pinches by the d-men and the forwards were good at battling on the boards and at puck retrieval ..... we really simplified the game ..... we generated a lot of offense off our defense, trapped successfully later in the game and kept the lead for once ...... I think this is the way the team needs to play to win games but they need to do it consistently not just for a game or two and then go back to their free wheeling game which doesn't work.

L1 and L2 scored a total of 3 goals but L3 (DOC-Eller-Zohorna) scored a goal and are now playing a better 2 way game, they are improving and we'll see what their upside is.

Pens PK was really good tonight and Colorado was 0-5 on the PP.

Shea has been getting better but not sure his upside, Jarry finally played a really good game but can he become more consistent and stay healthy ..... goaltending has been average at best so far this season and that is not good enough.

Would like to replace Carter on L4 with a younger solid 200' player, even someone from WBS.

Geno ..... please no more stupid stick penalties !

I have no illusions that the Pens will win a Cup but if they buy in and play like this consistently, maybe they can make it into the Playoffs which is better than the alternative to me.
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I always appreciate reading your takes on the Pens.
 
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Some nights this team definitely can put it together…last night for sure. There are always going to be some dud games and they aren’t always going to completely shut down one of the best teams, but the secret is to bottle up this kind of game and try to replicate it all the time, rather than fall into the awful habits that defined the previous two weeks.
 
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The Ole Six-Fiver said:
Some nights this team definitely can put it together…last night for sure. There are always going to be some dud games and they aren’t always going to completely shut down one of the best teams, but the secret is to bottle up this kind of game and try to replicate it all the time, rather than fall into the awful habits that defined the previous two weeks.
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As you said the Pens put it all together last night and as Panther Holla said they were hitting on all cylinders ..... my post game reply was to try and analyze why they were hitting on all cylinders and putting it all together and a big reason was that they played a much more highly structured game with great positional hockey all over the ice, basically played a much better defensive game/system and created a lot of offense off of great defense ..... the way they played tended to keep Colorado more on the perimeter ...... the Pens didn't make a lot of bad pinches by the D-men and gave up less odd man breaks ..... Jarry played an excellent game and made a number of great saves but when you limit odd man breaks and when you are getting the puck out of your end, it helps the goalie a lot ....... I thought the Pens simplified the game especially on breakouts where instead of numerous long stretch passes, they made more quick shorter passes and got the puck out of the zone with better control and speed into the neutral zone and fewer turnovers ..... they also trapped (1-2-2) nicely later in the game especially when the forecheck wasn't there and again good structure and discipline helped that work very well .....

Playing the game this way gives them the best chance of winning but as you said and as I said in a previous post, they have to commit to playing this type of defensive game consistently and not for one or two games and then going back to a free-lancing poorly structured game which doesn't work for them at this point .....

Again, I have no illusion that the Pens will win a Cup ..... and with their age and injury history they are more likely to fizzle out and not make the Playoffs especially with a really tough Metropolitan Division, but if they play the system they did last night consistently, IMO, that gives them the best chance of winning games and if they make the Playoffs there is always a small chance they can make a run like many teams have in the past.
 
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pittdan77 said:
Nailed it.
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Per the site Left Wing Lock, Pens are the league’s oldest team by more than two years over the runners up (WASH), 31-29 Yrs avg age. Most of the cup contenders are in the 27-28 range. Pens are middling in height and one of the lightest squads.

Old, small and light is no way to go through the NHL grind.
 
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goalieman said:
As you said the Pens put it all together last night and as Panther Holla said they were hitting on all cylinders ..... my post game reply was to try and analyze why they were hitting on all cylinders and putting it all together and a big reason was that they played a much more highly structured game with great positional hockey all over the ice, basically played a much better defensive game/system and created a lot of offense off of great defense ..... the way they played tended to keep Colorado more on the perimeter ...... the Pens didn't make a lot of bad pinches by the D-men and gave up less odd man breaks ..... Jarry played an excellent game and made a number of great saves but when you limit odd man breaks and when you are getting the puck out of your end, it helps the goalie a lot ....... I thought the Pens simplified the game especially on breakouts where instead of numerous long stretch passes, they made more quick shorter passes and got the puck out of the zone with better control and speed into the neutral zone and fewer turnovers ..... they also trapped (1-2-2) nicely later in the game especially when the forecheck wasn't there and again good structure and discipline helped that work very well .....

Playing the game this way gives them the best chance of winning but as you said and as I said in a previous post, they have to commit to playing this type of defensive game consistently and not for one or two games and then going back to a free-lancing poorly structured game which doesn't work for them at this point .....

Again, I have no illusion that the Pens will win a Cup ..... and with their age and injury history they are more likely to fizzle out and not make the Playoffs especially with a really tough Metropolitan Division, but if they play the system they did last night consistently, IMO, that gives them the best chance of winning games and if they make the Playoffs there is always a small chance they can make a run like many teams have in the past.
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Your posts are great, much appreciated!
 
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goalieman said:
Nice win by the Pens tonight against Colorado ..... we looked like a different team and that is the way they have to play to win more games ....... thought our structure and overall positional hockey was excellent which greatly decreased odd man breaks against us as we had more layers of defense that the Aves had to go through and for the most part we kept them on the perimeter ..... no bad pinches by the d-men and the forwards were good at battling on the boards and at puck retrieval ..... we really simplified the game ..... we generated a lot of offense off our defense, trapped successfully later in the game and kept the lead for once ...... I think this is the way the team needs to play to win games but they need to do it consistently not just for a game or two and then go back to their free wheeling game which doesn't work.

L1 and L2 scored a total of 3 goals but L3 (DOC-Eller-Zohorna) scored a goal and are now playing a better 2 way game, they are improving and we'll see what their upside is.

Pens PK was really good tonight and Colorado was 0-5 on the PP.

Shea has been getting better but not sure his upside, Jarry finally played a really good game but can he become more consistent and stay healthy ..... goaltending has been average at best so far this season and that is not good enough.

Would like to replace Carter on L4 with a younger solid 200' player, even someone from WBS.

Geno ..... please no more stupid stick penalties !

I have no illusions that the Pens will win a Cup but if they buy in and play like this consistently, maybe they can make it into the Playoffs which is better than the alternative to me.
Click to expand...
I enjoy your reads too. I’d put my knowledge of Pens Hockey of the last 25 years up against almost anyone but you’re an exception.
 
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Panther Holla said:
Per the site Left Wing Lock, Pens are the league’s oldest team by more than two years over the runners up (WASH), 31-29 Yrs avg age. Most of the cup contenders are in the 27-28 range. Pens are middling in height and one of the lightest squads.

Old, small and light is no way to go through the NHL grind.
Click to expand...
A lot of that is skewed by 87, 71, 58 and Jeff Carter. Dubas dropped a lot of dead weight in the off-season.
 
Jarry is another head case in Goal. Pens completely out played the sens for most of the game
 
Jakey_John said:
I think they need to replace Sullivan. That’s not to say he is a bad coach but he has run his course here.
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Correct. Only it should have been done 3 or 4 years ago. They left a one trick pony stick around while the team aged. The saddest part is that this team had proven in the past that it responds to new coaches. Instead these morons at the top gave this one trick pony an extension, ensuring that our aging stars will play their final few seasons under the comfortable watch of Sully, where playing the so called "right way" just isn't possible anymore. I guess they can still play hard for a game like they did against the Avalanche, but, then they need to mail it in for the next couple.
 
Against Ottawa the other night the Pens came out and played a dominant 1st period outshooting Ottawa 21-7 and had many great scoring chances but couldn't finish and unbelievably were behind 2-0 at the end of the period as Jarry was totally off angle and out of position way too deep in the net on the deflected 1st goal and again too deep in the net and somewhat off angle on the 2nd goal .... on the 2nd goal Ottawa had a 2 on 3 and still scored because Graves took a man that was already covered and let his man (a good scorer) go free down the left wing to score.

Then in the second period Jarry gives up another soft goal to make it 3-0 and the Pens opened the game up, pressed, took chances losing structure and ended up losing 5-2.

So main problems IMO were not finishing scoring chances in 1st period, poor goaltending, having to press and gamble later in 2nd period and 3rd period which didn't go well ..... also, our power play couldn't score again and remains a problem.

Pens vs Ducks coming up shortly.
 
Get a cardboard cutout of Tim Kerr or Espo and park it in front of the goal on the powerplay. Couldn’t hurt. This perfect pass thing just ain’t working.
 
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