3/1/13 Penguins v. Canadiens- Official Game Thread

[farnham16]

I understand that. But your goalie is apart of the of the team as well. Vokoun should never have started tonight. Bylsma needs to answer for that and he's very lucky the Pens pulled this one out.

They showed solid heart tonight and never stopped working. I will say that.

OK but you didn't say Vokoun shouldn't have started, at least not what I read. That is the same argument as last playoffs in my eyes, because the goalie stunk - yet everyone wants to blame the coach and the D IN this game, and it is dead wrong.

You cannot coach around terrible goaltending and the team never packed it in on the road, in a tough building, against a good team, against their old coach and missing two extremely important players. Guys stepped up offensively in their elevated roles too. The rookie Dman played a Norris Trophy caliber game tonight.

This place is negative. Almost like most here want them to fail because Bylsma is still the coach.

I didn't say Vokoun shouldn't have started in this thread you are correct, I said it in a different thread before the game.

Yes, the goaltending was bad tonight and it was bad against the Flyers, but you can't honestly say that the defense and coaching were not a problem.

They still have the same issues. You can only blame goaltending so much. MAF was really good the other night against the Canes yet the team gave up 4 goals. The team defense was really bad tonight IMO. They gave up 16 goals on this roadtrip. That should be completely unacceptable and someone should have to be accountable for it.

They cannot do anything in the postseason playing like this.

[Metalmike]

Didnt the Pens former 3rd line Centre win an OT game 7-6 with a goal a few years back?

Sutter was great tonight!

Metal Mike, Canada's #1 Penguins Fan.

[slappybrown]

so, what did kennedy do tonight other than have a couple of highly questionable penalties called against him to have people so mad at him?

He breathed.

He breathed in the buttgas that was his once-again WCHL-caliber play. Maybe next game he's good. Now, he blows like Santa Ana winds.

This made me lol

[pens#1]

So what is easier? Making 3-4 trades to get better or making a coaching change. I think everyone agrees this team is flawed...

[Henry Hank]

So what is easier? Making 3-4 trades to get better or making a coaching change. I think everyone agrees this team is flawed...

They're simply not going to fire the coach when they're leading the division. As long as they win in spite of this nonsense, they aren't going to make that change. I can't stand this mess but I can see that.

The only hope is that they can make a few moves that somehow puts together the magic mix of players that can get things under control. Even that seems like a pipe dream. Just like changing the goalie makes no difference, bringing in one player probably makes little to no difference. Somehow they need to get it through their heads that they can't play pond hockey if they want to be anything more than regular season division champs. Or maybe they can just start knitting the #2 in the conference banner right now.

[ville5]

Great, another 3rd line C that's gonna become unhappy with his role.

[Henry Hank]

2.91 GAA, now tied #19 in the league. Tampa, Philly, and Toronto on deck. How loooooooowwwww will they goooooooo

But hey, they're almost in the lead for most goals per game!

[Beveridge]

So what is easier? Making 3-4 trades to get better or making a coaching change. I think everyone agrees this team is flawed...

I'd like to know why a ton of people think that making a coaching change will change everything to sunshine and rainbows? And look what happened last time is not an acceptable answer.

[Bathgate]

Just heard on Montreal radio that Vokuun had the best lifetime save percentage of any opposition goaltender at the Bell Centre. May partially explain why Bylsma started him. They also called his performance tonight "attrocious". On HNIC, they said that 4 of the 6 goals were bad.

[The Snapshot]

They cannot do anything in the postseason playing like this.

Don't disagree, but the issues tonight were not the same as in the previous two. The game tonight, in the midst of a winning streak, would have been epic. The team was in a losing streak, but instead of this breaking the streak - people act like they lost again.

You don't have to be ready for the playoffs right now. You have to win games and position yourself. In a full season, nobody would be overly concerned with being 2nd in the conference after 20 games.

They need to get it together, but remember that last year's team had a long winning streak during which they played outstanding, dominant hockey. They also survived without Sid. They then fell apart in the Playoffs in front of horrific goaltending.

Now many on here want to say this team is the same. It is not. It is not playoff ready, but it is at the top of the conference and beat a team that was also there and playing very well. They beat a team that seems to be what the posters here want us to be.

[columbia]

DB not very pleased sounding in the presser.

[DelPen]

Just heard on Montreal radio that Vokuun had the best lifetime save percentage of any opposition goaltender at the Bell Centre. May partially explain why Bylsma started him. They also called his performance tonight "attrocious". On HNIC, they said that 4 of the 6 goals were bad.

Sounds right

[Eismann]

Just heard on Montreal radio that Vokuun had the best lifetime save percentage of any opposition goaltender at the Bell Centre. May partially explain why Bylsma started him. They also called his performance tonight "attrocious". On HNIC, they said that 4 of the 6 goals were bad.

Sounds right

He dropped pucks like they were dimebags of acid.

[The Snapshot]

Just heard on Montreal radio that Vokuun had the best lifetime save percentage of any opposition goaltender at the Bell Centre. May partially explain why Bylsma started him. They also called his performance tonight "attrocious". On HNIC, they said that 4 of the 6 goals were bad.

Sounds right

Dead on, but let's twist this to make it about the D and Coach, surrender the next three games and decline the playoffs.

[NashvilleCat]

They cannot do anything in the postseason playing like this.

Don't disagree, but the issues tonight were not the same as in the previous two. The game tonight, in the midst of a winning streak, would have been epic. The team was in a losing streak, but instead of this breaking the streak - people act like they lost again.

You don't have to be ready for the playoffs right now. You have to win games and position yourself. In a full season, nobody would be overly concerned with being 2nd in the conference after 20 games.

They need to get it together, but remember that last year's team had a long winning streak during which they played outstanding, dominant hockey. They also survived without Sid. They then fell apart in the Playoffs in front of horrific goaltending.

Now many on here want to say this team is the same. It is not. It is not playoff ready, but it is at the top of the conference and beat a team that was also there and playing very well. They beat a team that seems to be what the posters here want us to be.

Switches will be flipped. I don't buy it. This team has too many of the same issues for me to feel confident about it's chances for a playoff run.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

So .......the Pens are still #2 in the conference?

[Eismann]

They cannot do anything in the postseason playing like this.

Don't disagree, but the issues tonight were not the same as in the previous two. The game tonight, in the midst of a winning streak, would have been epic. The team was in a losing streak, but instead of this breaking the streak - people act like they lost again.

You don't have to be ready for the playoffs right now. You have to win games and position yourself. In a full season, nobody would be overly concerned with being 2nd in the conference after 20 games.

They need to get it together, but remember that last year's team had a long winning streak during which they played outstanding, dominant hockey. They also survived without Sid. They then fell apart in the Playoffs in front of horrific goaltending.

Now many on here want to say this team is the same. It is not. It is not playoff ready, but it is at the top of the conference and beat a team that was also there and playing very well. They beat a team that seems to be what the posters here want us to be.

I agree, but even right now, they can't beat NJ or PHI and until they look like the machine they were at one time, I don't like their playoff chances.

That said, they've played several super-sound games already, so they're capable.

Hope this is just a lull.

Lulz.

[joe icepick]

Vokoun might be one of the buyouts this summer.

[llipgh2]

On the tv side Healy blamed goal 3 on Vokoun as well, and rightly said DB was lucky the decision to play him didn't blow up in his face.

[The U]

Another game where almost every goal comes from 5 feet in front of the net...just like last postseason.

The overall D was bad and the goaltending was awful.

HOWEVER.

The Pens played hard for 60 minutes. Good energy and hustle. That effort wasnt there vs FLA or CAR.

[The Snapshot]

They cannot do anything in the postseason playing like this.

Don't disagree, but the issues tonight were not the same as in the previous two. The game tonight, in the midst of a winning streak, would have been epic. The team was in a losing streak, but instead of this breaking the streak - people act like they lost again.

You don't have to be ready for the playoffs right now. You have to win games and position yourself. In a full season, nobody would be overly concerned with being 2nd in the conference after 20 games.

They need to get it together, but remember that last year's team had a long winning streak during which they played outstanding, dominant hockey. They also survived without Sid. They then fell apart in the Playoffs in front of horrific goaltending.

Now many on here want to say this team is the same. It is not. It is not playoff ready, but it is at the top of the conference and beat a team that was also there and playing very well. They beat a team that seems to be what the posters here want us to be.

Switches will be flipped. I don't buy it. This team has too many of the same issues for me to feel confident about it's chances for a playoff run.

So now we're back to the switch again? There are more games left than we have played. That is not to say that the team doesn't need to focus on playing better team D, but it wins a lot for a bad team.

[Rocco]

So what is easier? Making 3-4 trades to get better or making a coaching change. I think everyone agrees this team is flawed...

The only trade they need to make is to get Iginla.

[Eismann]

So what is easier? Making 3-4 trades to get better or making a coaching change. I think everyone agrees this team is flawed...

The only trade they need to make is to get IginlaJagrRyanUmberger.

Pfykxt

[Henry Hank]

Vokoun was awful. No one should dispute that. But it's not all on him and if that's the take away from this one, they're going to continue to be in these stupid video game matches all the way until their playoff implosion this spring. And people will probably just lay it 100% on Fleury again.

[Rocco]

Just heard on Montreal radio that Vokuun had the best lifetime save percentage of any opposition goaltender at the Bell Centre. May partially explain why Bylsma started him. They also called his performance tonight "attrocious". On HNIC, they said that 4 of the 6 goals were bad.

The last goal he allowed just can't happen. The rest? He may not have been great, but the D did him no favors by leaving people wide open in front of the net.