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Penspal wrote:Pens lose 3 -1
- Full credit to the Devils, but the Pens beat themselves
- The refs are consistently bad, so we can no longer blame them. Pens have to adjust their game (checks near wall are penalties)
- Devils have found their slow, boring, trapping game (oh what fun we have watching these games!)
- PK was fantastic, until it wasn't. MAF was solid.
- Botuzzo's falling down at least once a game continues. He's involved and physical, been a long time since Pens have had a Dman of that type
- Sutter looks like he's finding his game, but hard to play in when always on PK
- Good to see Engy remind Devils (and rest of the league) there are no freebies on Pens superstars
- If I were an opposing coach, I'd definitely be poking Geno more, he seems like he's just about to go off (Crazy Russian Madman Mode - CRAMM for short), let's hope not!!!
- I expect HCDB to make lineup changes, keep guys involved and rest some tired PK guys
Penspal wrote:Pens lose 3 -1
- Full credit to the Devils, but the Pens beat themselves
- The refs are consistently bad, so we can no longer blame them. Pens have to adjust their game (checks near wall are penalties)
- Devils have found their slow, boring, trapping game (oh what fun we have watching these games!)
- PK was fantastic, until it wasn't. MAF was solid.
- Botuzzo's falling down at least once a game continues. He's involved and physical, been a long time since Pens have had a Dman of that type
- Sutter looks like he's finding his game, but hard to play in when always on PK
- Good to see Engy remind Devils (and rest of the league) there are no freebies on Pens superstars
- If I were an opposing coach, I'd definitely be poking Geno more, he seems like he's just about to go off (Crazy Russian Madman Mode - CRAMM for short), let's hope not!!!
- I expect HCDB to make lineup changes, keep guys involved and rest some tired PK guys
NJ5934 wrote:I don't think the Devils trap at all, not anymore than we do anyway. As for the officiating, come on, I know it's contagious but it's lame. Yea, there were a couple of weak calls but the Pens played a solid first 15 minutes and then fell back on their heels and allowed the Devils to dominate. The Devils outskated them for most of the 2nd and 3rd. Add a couple of undisciplined moments and it should come as no surprise that the PP time was lopsided. I think the Pens were credited with 7 or 8 hits. That is probably a bit under reflected being in another building, but I didn't see much of anything after 3/4 of the 1st period.
On the positive: Fleury was solid. Boychuk is really doing all of the right things out there, it would be nice to see him put one in. Despres and Bortuzzo are looking confident and Bort in particular seems to get a lot of guys attention on the ice. Nice to see a Penguin getting under someone's skin out there.
Luckybreak wrote:-Refs have really suffered from the lockout, poor guys. Where was their sob story video?
-Geno has looked overly 'hyped' since the first game, needs to find some composure. WE GOTTA KEEP OUR COMPOSURE!
-Still loving Despres and Bortuzzo, the swagger and the grit are fun to watch. D holding it together despite lack of Letang and Nisky.
-PK was great but the penalties killed us, no momentum for Sid/Geno who both looked thrown off their game.
The Snapshot wrote:Luckybreak wrote:-Refs have really suffered from the lockout, poor guys. Where was their sob story video?
-Geno has looked overly 'hyped' since the first game, needs to find some composure. WE GOTTA KEEP OUR COMPOSURE!
-Still loving Despres and Bortuzzo, the swagger and the grit are fun to watch. D holding it together despite lack of Letang and Nisky.
-PK was great but the penalties killed us, no momentum for Sid/Geno who both looked thrown off their game.
Bortuzzo was in intense battles with several Devils, and at one point he moved a guy from Flower's crease before Engel could get there after a whistle. I like the edge he has in his game and you can see his confidence building to the point where he is going to assert himself.
He's a very good skater and pretty good with the puck too, which seem to be underestimated parts of his game. He has a big shot from the point too. I saw all of that right before the lockout ended when I caught a WBS game, and glad to see it translates to the NHL. It's hard to tell when a guy is amongst some of the pluggers at the AHL level.
I think he's going to be a very difficult guy to play against in this league for a while if he continues to make good decisions out there. His reach to go with his skating and edge should make him good money.
Desiato wrote:Typical Pens loss. The high energy level they start the game with gets whittled down by making skating into the same brick wall over and over again. As they get fatigued , the lapses, errors and bad penalties come. This spirals as fatigue increases from PKs and defensive scrambles. This was a winnable game. To me, this was another example of "our game or the highway." They seem so damned and determined to win every game by overwhelming their opponents rather than handling them the most efficient way possible.
Desiato wrote:Typical Pens loss.....They seem so damned and determined to win every game by overwhelming their opponents rather than handling them the most efficient way possible.
Luckybreak wrote:Despres is really earning his spot and was learning from Letang, would be a shame to see him dropped to 3rd pairing (I'm fully against trading him or WBS). Good problems to have I guess!
Rylan wrote:The refs weren't the reason the Pens lost. But they were the reason it was a boring game.
Luckybreak wrote:Desiato wrote:Typical Pens loss. The high energy level they start the game with gets whittled down by making skating into the same brick wall over and over again. As they get fatigued , the lapses, errors and bad penalties come. This spirals as fatigue increases from PKs and defensive scrambles. This was a winnable game. To me, this was another example of "our game or the highway." They seem so damned and determined to win every game by overwhelming their opponents rather than handling them the most efficient way possible.
Proof of this will come tonight with the display, or lack of, adjustments (NJ obv did following the Pens previous game). Pens may still want to 'get to their game' and might succeed if they do but HCDB must at least instill some discipline and adjust to the calls that are being made.
Desiato wrote:Luckybreak wrote:Desiato wrote:Typical Pens loss. The high energy level they start the game with gets whittled down by making skating into the same brick wall over and over again. As they get fatigued , the lapses, errors and bad penalties come. This spirals as fatigue increases from PKs and defensive scrambles. This was a winnable game. To me, this was another example of "our game or the highway." They seem so damned and determined to win every game by overwhelming their opponents rather than handling them the most efficient way possible.
Proof of this will come tonight with the display, or lack of, adjustments (NJ obv did following the Pens previous game). Pens may still want to 'get to their game' and might succeed if they do but HCDB must at least instill some discipline and adjust to the calls that are being made.
Tonight's game isn't going to prove anything.
It's all about one's expectations for this team. I think we have the personnel to be a dominant regular season team that can cruise to the playoffs. It is an aging team, but still young, so I don't think we should be plagued by injuries like we have been, consistently, for years. I, like most analysts, expect this to be a perennial contender that makes it deep into the playoffs every year or goes down looking very strong.
I know it seems crazy to be critical of the Pens when they're doing well in terms of W-L, GF vs GA, but we've been strong in those areas without real success for a while now. "We're" better than a 1-4 seed, first/second round team. This talented team has the personnel, experience and familiarity with each other to be on cruise control on most nights and still win top seed with bodies saved for war in the playoffs.
Luckybreak wrote:Tonight might display a continuation of HCDB's recent alterations following glaring problems. Failure to respond in some way after that loss emphasises my fear that whilst this team can certainly win on cruise control, they have displayed a distinct failure to adapt to certain strategies and that will count during the playoffs.
Rylan wrote:The refs weren't the reason the Pens lost. But they were the reason it was a boring game. :pop:
marek wrote:Rylan wrote:The refs weren't the reason the Pens lost. But they were the reason it was a boring game.
Couldn't disagree more. The refs were why the pens lost. When a set of refs decide to call a game a certain way which favors one team over another they impact the result by default.
Removing the aggressive forecheck that the penguins Want and need to implement in order to be successful by calling a roughing penalty for sneezing was not due to anything the devils did. It was done by the refs.
Desiato wrote:Luckybreak wrote:Tonight might display a continuation of HCDB's recent alterations following glaring problems. Failure to respond in some way after that loss emphasises my fear that whilst this team can certainly win on cruise control, they have displayed a distinct failure to adapt to certain strategies and that will count during the playoffs.
What I'm saying is the Pens don't have an effective 'cruise control'. A point should come in a game when you handle a team efficiently, via positioning and trapping, without a lot of energy expenditure and risk of injury. The 7-13 min guys should be the energy guys putting their bodies on the line, but the 15-22m guys need to pace themselves over the course of a full season and get to the playoffs healthy.
I often think, when watching the Pens play, that regardless of ability, they play like a team of Dan Bylsmas, a career 7-13 minute guy who was paid to put his body on the line every shift.
When I say 'handle' a team, think Bowman, Babcock, Hitchcock, Lemaire, etc. The Pens need that element to their game; in addition to the style they already play.
marek wrote:Rylan wrote:The refs weren't the reason the Pens lost. But they were the reason it was a boring game.
Couldn't disagree more. The refs were why the pens lost. When a set of refs decide to call a game a certain way which favors one team over another they impact the result by default.
Removing the aggressive forecheck that the penguins Want and need to implement in order to be successful by calling a roughing penalty for sneezing was not due to anything the devils did. It was done by the refs.
Gaucho wrote:Becoming an elite team comes after winning a Cup?
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