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.
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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