Official Gameday Thread - Penguins vs Flyers - 20/2/2013

[Cagsjr724]

Fire DB! Hire Gary Roberts as the next HC. Gary will give this team exactly what it needs...A kick in the ass.

[bh]

Motivation, Focus, in our heads, have our number... I think that right now, the Flyers have great confidence when playing us and I think the Pens play with a lack of confidence.

[Mr. Colby]

Teams have to be catching on. Pens come out guns-a-blazin for the first 10 minutes. All you gotta do is weather the storm, keep the game within reach, and then capitalize on one of their many ill-advised mistakes.

[Steve]

I missed the third period, had a hockey game.

Just checking the box score - 27 minutes of ice time for Sid - is that due to powerplays etc? Also, 27 faceoff wins to 7 losses - Sid has definately come along way there.

[booboo]

I'm more upset that we blew another 2 goal lead again than anything. I have nightmares about Laviolette's timeouts.

Laviolette's timeout was after the first goal. They promptly boarded Bortuzzo, leading to another Pens goal

So?

The ice tilted against us right at that moment. Coz they started jumping at us. Yes, they gave up a PP goal as a result of that boarding call. But they won the game. Coz we (=Bylsma) had no effective answer.

[jprolley]

same old junk.

[Mr. Colby]

In terms of personnel... we have toooo many players that make no impact.

[booboo]

Fire DB! Hire Gary Roberts as the next HC. Gary will give this team exactly what it needs...A kick in the ass.

Yeah!

[mac5155]

I don't know what this game says, but it proves that they lack veteran leadership. All game they were goaded into bad penalties. 87 and 71 weren't totally, but they all need to get their heads on straight sooner or later

[Steve]

Vokoun had a bad game. For those drawing comparisons to last year's playoff, the similarity was bad goaltending on our side. Vokoun needs a little more consistent work I think.

Goals 1, 2 and the last one at least were all bad. Simmonds made a simple move and tucked it right around him. He was way too scrambly tonight.

Pens did take a few penalties out of a lack of discipline, but I don't think that was the major story.

taking penalties isn't the only indicator of issues with composure. going for unnecessary big hits and more importantly, getting distracted by the theatrics is pretty significant. not to mention, every time you give the flyers the pleasure of engaging in the garbage, the ****-eating grins on their faces get wider, and they start playing better.

the red wings never used to give you an inch. and they drove everyone nuts. that's the attitude this team should be focusing towards.

Yup - when i see Letang slashing Rinaldo, that's a battle won for the Flyers right there.

[MRandall25]

I missed the third period, had a hockey game.

Just checking the box score - 27 minutes of ice time for Sid - is that due to powerplays etc? Also, 27 faceoff wins to 7 losses - Sid has definately come along way there.

The Pens had a series of PP's from the 11:36 mark to the 15:52 mark where Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Kunitz, and Letang never left the ice.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

I am sorry I have to post this:

Pens Inside Scoop ‏@PensInsideScoop
#Pens got trapped playing #Flyers game. Fights, scrums, post-whistle infractions. Flyers thrive off it and got Pens off their game -SK

Can someone tell me if this is a joke? Dont these tools actually work for the Pens? I read the Penguins feed also said the Penguins were getting dragged into things after the whistle and so on.

Seriously, did I not watch the same game as everyone else? The Simmons - Glass fight was after both the Pens came to the defense of a player after a hit, other than that I really dont remember much altering the game. Can we just accept that we lost? Maybe the team does need to a leader, who knows. This is annoying me though. We lost because they scored more hard working goals than us.

[columbia]

I don't know what this game says, but it proves that they lack veteran leadership. All game they were goaded into bad penalties. 87 and 71 weren't totally, but they need to get their heads on straight sooner or later

Well,sure.
It's not clear why more don't see that.
I guess it's easier to blame the coach?

[shmenguin]

In terms of personnel... we have toooo many players that make no impact.

that's the flip side to the "2 players making almost 18 mill" coin.

[mac5155]

I don't know what this game says, but it proves that they lack veteran leadership. All game they were goaded into bad penalties. 87 and 71 weren't totally, but they need to get their heads on straight sooner or later

Well,sure.
It's not clear why more don't see that.
I guess it's easier to blame the coach?

During the cup runs, guerin or Roberts were looked to as tone setters. Now, malkin Crosby and company have to assist that role. 87 embraces it, 71 emulates the antithesis of it.

[bh]

It's shocking how many times there was Flyer all alone in front of the net.
They always seem to have numbers coming into our zone.
These games make ME uncomfortable. It's like WTF is going on?!
Everyone is speeding about as fast as fast can be.
Agree with however said they needed to go into lock down mode after the 2nd goal.

[Kharlamov]

ahh rats

[Godric]

yeah, sure. no use panic firing anyone now or trading the bad seeds (since the main one won kinda won league mvp last year) .

WHAT NOW?? LOLOLOLOL Oh yeah guys, its Malkin's fault the pens lost not the player who is getting raped by Giroux everytime we play the Flyers.

I honestly want to see the stats what how many points Crosby has against the flyers even strength against the Giroux line. I'm sure its loltastic

I don't mean to make this a Crosby is underpreforming thing or a Crosby vs Malkin thing but jesus

[BleuLineLady]

The thing I notice the most is the way that Philly puts pressure on the Penguins players constantly. The forecheck and backcheck are relentless. That is definitely more of recent change over the past couple seasons since laviolette has been the coach. The Flyers make it uncomfortable and hard to play against and for a team like the Pens who are used to just using their offensive talent to glide through games sometimes, it can frustrate players like Malkin. I dont know if the Flyers play this intense every game, I doubt it, theyre 8-9-1, theres reason why. But when it comes to playing the Penguins, they know the formula to beat them. Just frustrate them and they get thrown off. I wish the Pens played more like that and maybe Shero needs to trade for a couple guys who play more of that style of a game. They need more guys who are like Kunitz, Dupuis, Sutter...players who have some scoring touch but are tough to play against and are defensively responsible. We have too many guys on the team who are thinking offense, instead of playing both sides of the ice.

Agreed. Pens were getting hit and harassed all over the ice in every zone. We played that way in 2009.

Philly doesn't play like this all the time, only against us.

Unfortunately for us they have our number right now. How many games they win or lose vs Florida, Caps, Toronto, etc...are meaningless. They play well vs the Penguins. Throw out seeds and records. We need to find a way to beat them and NJ.

Shero has 13 million to spend and we are coming off three incredibly disappointing playoff runs. Pressure is on.

Physical defensive dman, tough bottom 6 forward or two, and a top 6 scoring winger are all needed. Between now and April I wouldn't be surprised if 4 new guys are added and 3 or 4 current Pens are demoted or traded.

I think Shero needs to find players that go against Byslma's system or prototypical player. If you cant change the coaches style and youre not going to fire him (Byslma is still a good coach imo), then its the job of the GM to find players that will balance Bylsma's offensive style. Meaning dont go out and trade for Setoguchi or some player who is a one dimensional offensive type player. Go out and get players who good 2 way players, who are smart, tough and who can add a spark to this team.

Also youth always breeds hunger. So for starters, in many of these games, Engelland should not be playing. I would have been perfectly fine with him not playing even against the Flyers. That's why they have Glass, Adams, Cooke etc. Despres and Bortuzzo are better than Engelland. Theyre young, skilled and faster than him. Bennett should be playing as well. This teams needs more youth not less.

[murphydump55]

It's shocking how many times there was Flyer all alone in front of the net.
They always seem to have numbers coming into our zone.
These games make ME uncomfortable. It's like WTF is going on?!
Everyone is speeding about as fast as fast can be.
Agree with however said they needed to go into lock down mode after the 2nd goal.

This whole worrying about defense first absolutely goes out the window against these guys. I'm not in total agreement of a needed veteran presence, but then we play the Flyers and it changes my mind completely. Would a Brandon Morrow type help us there?

[MRandall25]

It's shocking how many times there was Flyer all alone in front of the net.
They always seem to have numbers coming into our zone.
These games make ME uncomfortable. It's like WTF is going on?!
Everyone is speeding about as fast as fast can be.
Agree with however said they needed to go into lock down mode after the 2nd goal.

This whole worrying about defense first absolutely goes out the window against these guys. I'm not in total agreement of a needed veteran presence, but then we play the Flyers and it changes my mind completely. Would a Brandon Morrow type help us there?

If by "help us", you mean "get skated around like he's a traffic cone", then yes.

[Cagsjr724]

I don't know what this game says, but it proves that they lack veteran leadership. All game they were goaded into bad penalties. 87 and 71 weren't totally, but they all need to get their heads on straight sooner or later

I agree this team does lack veteran leadership. I was joking with my earlier post about Gary Roberts being the next HC but this team misses the older guys like Roberts and Billy G. I am not an expert but this team needs a solid veteran defensemen like a Hal Gill who can shut down the top lines of the opposing team especially late into the game.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Ok, my last post on this. I have seen tweets from over 5 media types with their thoughts, 3 players quotes, a HCDB quote, the Pens Inside Scoop and now the actual Penguins. All keep talking about the retaliating penalties and how the Flyers get them involved.

Is it me or did I see I game that lots of teams in the NHL play and the type of game I see 90% of the time in the NHL?. In your face, hitting, swarming the net. I dont remember much after the whistle stuff at all. Letang cross checked some turd 3 times, he slashed him back - 2 penalties. Big deal, happens twice in EVERY NHL game. A fight after a questionable hit, a guy cross checks Malkin and he retaliates.

This isnt limited to the Flyers people, this has been going for eons in the league.

This game was nothing like that at all anyways. Its like nobody can admit what actually happened on the ice. Starting to think our media and team itself are the same and its why we got bounced in the playoffs easily.

[shmenguin]

yeah, sure. no use panic firing anyone now or trading the bad seeds (since the main one won kinda won league mvp last year) .

WHAT NOW?? LOLOLOLOL Oh yeah guys, its Malkin's fault the pens lost not the player who is getting raped by Giroux everytime we play the Flyers.

I honestly want to see the stats what how many points Crosby has against the flyers even strength against the Giroux line. I'm sure its loltastic

I don't mean to make this a Crosby is underpreforming thing or a Crosby vs Malkin thing but jesus

I don't think you understand the specifics of what's being discussed

[Pitts]

I don't know what this game says, but it proves that they lack veteran leadership. All game they were goaded into bad penalties. 87 and 71 weren't totally, but they need to get their heads on straight sooner or later

Well,sure.
It's not clear why more don't see that.
I guess it's easier to blame the coach?

I posted the same thing during the game. 71 and 87 may be considered "vets", but they are still too young to be able to brush off the Flyer's gameplan and get the win. They miss Roberts/Guerin type to settle them when things are getting out of hand. I think it's crystal clear this hasn't been the same team since Guerin left.