Are we forgetting why we lost vs Flyers last year?

[Idoit40fans]

fleury was a disgrace in that series. those photoshops are well deserved.

So was the entire team. Its becoming an annoying bad habit to lay all blame at Fleury's feet. He had more than his share of failure in that series, but the over-criticization is unwarranted overall.

Goalies are QBs. Deservedly or not, they get credit when the team is winning and blame when the team is losing.

[shmenguin]

fleury was a disgrace in that series. those photoshops are well deserved.

So was the entire team. Its becoming an annoying bad habit to lay all blame at Fleury's feet. He had more than his share of failure in that series, but the over-criticization is unwarranted overall.

i haven't noticed fleury getting singled out as much as you're saying, but maybe it's the case. i'd still contend that it's impossible to "over-criticize" him, based on that series alone. he was that bad.

[DudeMan2766]

I'll never forgot that goal the puck was slowly rolling thru the crease, Fleury went to cover it with his glove and completely whiffed like he was seeing double or something, and the puck just trickled across the line. That was such a MAF goal.

[Rylan]

fleury was a disgrace in that series. those photoshops are well deserved.

So was the entire team. Its becoming an annoying bad habit to lay all blame at Fleury's feet. He had more than his share of failure in that series, but the over-criticization is unwarranted overall.

i haven't noticed fleury getting singled out as much as you're saying, but maybe it's the case. i'd still contend that it's impossible to "over-criticize" him, based on that series alone. he was that bad.

I tend to pick and choose PR threads, but it seems its either martin or fleury getting skewered by fans.

[shmenguin]

fleury was a disgrace in that series. those photoshops are well deserved.

So was the entire team. Its becoming an annoying bad habit to lay all blame at Fleury's feet. He had more than his share of failure in that series, but the over-criticization is unwarranted overall.

i haven't noticed fleury getting singled out as much as you're saying, but maybe it's the case. i'd still contend that it's impossible to "over-criticize" him, based on that series alone. he was that bad.

I tend to pick and choose PR threads, but it seems its either martin or fleury getting skewered by fans.

or kennedy - which you're a part of. though i guess you don't really "blame" anything on him. you just hate him for some reason.

[Rylan]

I think he is overrated by some and I get annoyed at the notion he is anything more than a third liner. I also think he is overpayed. But aside from that I have no problems with 3rd line TK. 2nd line TK I'm not a fan of.

[newarenanow]

I think it's awesome in the third pic of the MAF photoshops that the beach ball is sitting in the net up on the scoreboard as well.

They missed it on the second one.

[IMFC]

Couple of quick thoughts to get back in the swing of things.

1) Experience doesn't always equate with maturity. Despite being in the league a bunch of years, most of 'em are in their early/mid 20's and they acted like it. Maybe they learn from it, maybe they act like Charlie Sheen again.

2) You have to recognize when circumstances are such that you are not going to be able to 'get to your game.' You better have options, ya dingus. If you don't have a backup plan, you don't have a plan.

3) Tweeners are always going to create discussion. Kennedy is better than a lot of 3rd liners in this league . . . in some ways. Martin is similar - he's going to get a good chunk of money with zero expectation of ever clearing the crease. If he makes mistakes in the other areas of play, he's got nothing to fall back on. Fleury is horrible after we turn the puck over, which we did constantly. The Team might have it's 'game' to get to, but individual players have to be put in position to suceed.

[penny lane]

Why that happened isn't nearly so obvious, although Orpik offered an intriguing perspective.

"It was just a big lack of confidence," he said. "I think it was more a mental collapse than anything.

"You can dissect play after play, but I think the overwhelming reason on every play, if you looked at it there were hockey mistakes, but they were all tentative mistakes, really. Guys who were maybe afraid to make a mistake.

"On the [penalty-kill], you're going out there hoping they didn't score rather than going out there to kill a penalty. Our attitude was a little fragile."

Yeah, a little. Like butterfly wings that have been marinated in liquid nitrogen.

that's a writer's line!


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/spo ... z2IEx787NK

pens need to play the games with more intensity, rather than trying to display their talent and skills nightly.
again with 48 games; all bets off, just win more than lose till april.

[offsides]

The negativity is abound in this thread. Can't we at least wait until the weekend games are over before trashing the team and coaches? If we lose the first two games, all bets are off and let the criticism begin.

So we cant be concerned now but if we lose the first 2 games against two of the best teams in the league go for it.

got it

I was being a bit sarcastic there, but if we lose those first two, we all know it will start.

[The Snapshot]

The reality is nothing else matters but what happens on the ice. I don't care what the Hockey News says about us or any other team. Every team has flaws. Every team that wins maximizes their strengths and minimizes those flaws.

We have enough strengths to win it all, but we have enough weaknesses to miss the playoffs in a 48 game season.

[penmyst]

Why that happened isn't nearly so obvious, although Orpik offered an intriguing perspective.

"It was just a big lack of confidence," he said. "I think it was more a mental collapse than anything.

"You can dissect play after play, but I think the overwhelming reason on every play, if you looked at it there were hockey mistakes, but they were all tentative mistakes, really. Guys who were maybe afraid to make a mistake.

"On the [penalty-kill], you're going out there hoping they didn't score rather than going out there to kill a penalty. Our attitude was a little fragile."

Yeah, a little. Like butterfly wings that have been marinated in liquid nitrogen.

that's a writer's line!


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/spo ... z2IEx787NK

pens need to play the games with more intensity, rather than trying to display their talent and skills nightly.
again with 48 games; all bets off, just win more than lose till april.

Orpik is right that they looked tentative. That's what happens when you are playing badly and the other guys are playing well.

So, obvious statement of the obvious is obvious. I'd expect no less from an athlete with a mic in his face.

Sometimes that "lack of confidence" is used as a catch-all-doesn't-explain-a-thing type of comment.

Confidence comes from success. Success comes from effort+skill+plan. Two of those elements were missing for that Penguins team late last year. When they got to the playoffs, the third element (skill) was no longer enough to overwhelm an opponent that also had similar skill. See, that's why you can coast through a regular season game at times. You can get away with iffy effort and unchallenged plans.... if your talent overwhelms the other sides equation.

Hopefully, Orpik was just mouthing platitudes to the press so as to not offend his teammates and coaches by calling them out for where they actually failed.

"Lack of confidence" tends to come when you are unprepared, unwilling to work, or simply outclassed in talent. The Pens lost on two of those accounts against the Flyers.

[iWonTheCup87]

what are you guys talking about we beat philly last year...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/according-nbc-commercial-sidney-crosby-penguins-eliminated-flyers-164437521--nhl.html

[Kovy27]

So, Yahoo makes fun of NBC for that AND then they do this on their NHL Page.

[DocEmrick]

So, Yahoo makes fun of NBC for that AND then they do this on their NHL Page.

[Zach6668]

"Are we forgetting why we lost vs Flyers last year?"

Yes, because a 6-game sample size is ridiculous.

[offsides]

"Are we forgetting why we lost vs Flyers last year?"

Yes, because a 6-game sample size is ridiculous.

Unless I'm wrong, the Flyers prety much dominated us last year. In a twelve game sample size, I think we were 4-8. I sure would like to start turning this around Saturday afternoon.

[Mr. Colby]

"Are we forgetting why we lost vs Flyers last year?"

Yes, because a 6-game sample size is ridiculous.

Well Jeez... Should the playoffs increase to best of 9? 11? 21? Best of 7 is good enough to determine who's the better team....

[Three Stars]

We lost to the Flyers because they won more games and scored more goals than us.

[columbia]

That's some rock solid analysis.

[Three Stars]

I wanted to make sure I didn't forget. It's been a while.

[tfrizz]

We lost to the Flyers because they won more games and scored more goals than us.

The simple answer is: the Flyers built their team to beat the Penguins, and did so successfully. They've completely dominated the match-up over the past two seasons. The onus is on Shero, Bylsma, and the Penguins to do something about it.

[Rylan]

We lost to the Flyers because they won more games and scored more goals than us.

The simple answer is: the Flyers built their team to beat the Penguins, and did so successfully. They've completely dominated the match-up over the past two seasons. The onus is on Shero, Bylsma, and the Penguins to do something about it.

Look how well gearing up to beat one team worked out...

It was a bad matchup going in and was the only team I felt had the advantage over the pens

[Sarcastic]

I tend to agree with your thinking, moondart. There is too much talk around the NHL about Pens dominating and winning another cup, but unless guys like Martin or Niskanen or Fleury play well, I'll take 2 or 3 teams in the East ahead of us. There are a few key players on this team that must prove themselves or it won't work.

Hopefully, Vokoun will play well, however if we do put Fleury in and he has another breakdown in a crucial game, it may be all for nothing.

Our defense is what continues to worry me. We are such a small group that if we go with basically same 6 D as last year, a physical team like the Flyers will continue to give us real trouble. Maybe Shero can bring some serious size and threat later this year or maybe a rookie can step up. Right now, I don't trust our defense one bit.

[penny lane]