Official GDT Pens vs FLA 2/26/13

[Henry Hank]

. With terrible PK and a GAA that's plunged into the bottom half of the league, they continue to have major problems preventing goals. Shero and Bylsma need to find answers, both jobs should be on the line.

we need a winger for teh sid.

You joke but it still seems that's what people want. No matter how many goals this team scores, people will always complain that they don't have two all-star wingers for both Crosby and Malkin.

They need guys that will help keep the puck out of the net. The PK has been a major problem this season. Tonight was the worst but it was 17th in the league even coming into this one.

[farnham16]

Scratching Despres has nothing to do with it. Despres has been pretty bad all season and has especially taken a lot of penalties. Tonight was a perfect storm just like a lot of these games have been. Some bad goaltending, way too many penalties, poor PK, stupid decisions that lead to odd man rushes and goals against. It looked like they were making some progress but the Philly game has them unraveled. Now we're back to 6-5, 5-3, 6-4 games. This is not the road to go down.

Disagree on Despres. He's had his struggles but has been fine. He doesn't deserve to be benched, thats not how you grow a young defensemen.

But we shouldn't be surprised. This is how Bylsma likes to play. He likes the wide open game where the D play very agressive. I bet you Bylsma has no problem at all with Letang skating way out of position to try to keep a puck in which led to the game winning Florida goal. That's just the game he wants the Pens to play.

The undisciplined play is most concerning. The team has gotten progressively worse in this area over the past few years. I see no accountibility at all from the coaching staff in this regard.

[GDR]

It's been discussed before but the Penguins defensemen are WAY too aggressive, particularly Letang when the Penguins are leading or tied. That pinch by Letang that led to the GWG can't happen in that situation. He was never going to get to the puck first and left Niskanen out to dry.

[pronovost19]

Canes shutout in dc tonight...thursday will be a tough game because the canes are actually playing pretty well...first look at the gronk post trade

[Gaucho]

Scratching Despres has nothing to do with it. Despres has been pretty bad all season and has especially taken a lot of penalties. Tonight was a perfect storm just like a lot of these games have been. Some bad goaltending, way too many penalties, poor PK, stupid decisions that lead to odd man rushes and goals against. It looked like they were making some progress but the Philly game has them unraveled. Now we're back to 6-5, 5-3, 6-4 games. This is not the road to go down.

Despres has been better than everyone but Martin and Niskanen

I respectfully disagree. Despres has been our 5th best defenseman at best. However, I do think he should be playing.

[pens2005]

Worst defensive games seem to come when Despres is not on th ice.

Don't worry, soon Eaton will be playing over Despres and all problems will be solved.

Actually Bortuzzo and Despres will be benched, that's how it works right?

as long as it keeps equating to W's, I'm cool with it.

I've been super negative on here plenty of times, but we are in the top 5 in the league.

Based on some of the things you've been posting just now you'd think we were the Columbus Blue Jackets.

[sniper]

You can't lose to Florida ever. It just can't happen. They are awful. It's got to be a win every time. .

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

So Harrington is going to be better than Letang? I was going to read the last few pages to catch up but now...naaaaaaaaaaaaah.

It's from the people who predicted greatness for Pavel Skrbek and Vladimir Malenkyh.

I don't even recognize the latter's name.

http://www.pittsburghsportsreport.com/1 ... 50102.html

From the depths, 1999. This is why prospects make me nervous. "We have the best crop of young defenseman in the NHL".

Rosival and Ference turned out to be servicable. But until they play in the big leagues you just don't know. Our future of Skrbek, Butenschon, Kelleher, Rosival, Ferrance and Melichar plus a few others turned into two average players.

[columbia]

Despres:
Where potential incorrectly equals current reality for some.

[pens2005]

You can't lose to Florida ever. It just can't happen. They are awful. It's got to be a win every time. .

Their record is totally deceiving. They play good hockey most nights.

They also have tons of young talent to go along with it. They aren't an awful hockey team.

We shot ourselves in the foot for sure, but Florida is no slouch.

[farnham16]

The Pens playing this kind of game will get them plenty of points in the regular season because of their talent. However, as we have seen in the playoffs, it won't get you very far there.

[thepittman]

You can't lose to Florida ever. It just can't happen. They are awful. It's got to be a win every time. .

They aren't awful

[CERV96]

3rd Period shots on goal

FLA:9
Pitt:15

Game totals
Fla:36
Pitt:34

Game notes

Martin lead all players in ice time tonight with 26:24
Crosby was 16-26 in the circle tonight


TEAM STATS
CATEGORY PIT FLA
Power Plays 1/4 4/7
Hits 29 21
Faceoff Wins 29 30
Giveaways 2 3
Takeaways 1 3
Blocked Shots 16 13
Penalty Minutes 18 14

[Mr. Colby]

Too easy to play against. Too many bone-headed plays. It seems like every goal we give up can be traced back to one really bad mistake. It's not always like that.

1. Duper was soft in front
2. Letang failed to clear the puck
3. Why are we taking so many damn penalties in a row?
4. 4 guys standing and watching
5. Letang acting like a total clown

[dixonyy18]

This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

[Henry Hank]

I think Despres should be playing but he has been playing for the most part. I don't think it's a big deal to scratch a rookie occasionally to get another rookie in the lineup when there's not a lot of room in the lineup for them. Despres plays like 13 minutes a night against weak competition and he's prone to making mistakes and penalties. He wouldn't have helped them tonight.

The team as a whole makes too many dumb decisions. But that's a problem that's been going on a while with no apparent solution as is. They're going down the road of losing in the first round again.

[penny lane]

Despres:
Where potential incorrectly equals current reality for some.

has robert bortuzzo out played him? no, I don't think so. seriously.
Despres, if allowed to join the varsity, has the shot to the net.

[pcm]

12th in GA/G is not exactly the bottom half of the league. They let in 3 goals against the league's top offense and 1 vs Florida since the Philly game. Vokoun's lost the team's confidence and it showed tonight. I smell overreactioncity.

[Mr. Colby]

This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

9 goals in the 2 games that Geno missed... it's not like we miss his defensive play

[CERV96]

Three Stars Of The Game

1stB. CampbellDG: 1 SHOTS: 4
A: 2 HITS: 1
PTS: 3 PIM: 2
+/-: -1 TOI: 24:28


2ndT. KopeckyRWG: 3 SHOTS: 4
A: 1 HITS: 1
PTS: 4 PIM: 4
+/-: 1 TOI: 15:19


3rdT. FleischmannLWG: 1 SHOTS: 3
A: 2 HITS: 1
PTS: 3 PIM: 2
+/-: 0 TOI: 20:33

[Gaucho]

Despres:
Where potential incorrectly equals current reality for some.

has robert bortuzzo out played him? no, I don't think so. seriously.
Despres, if allowed to join the varsity, has the shot to the net.

Despres has played more games than Bortuzzo, so I'd say nobody thinks Bortuzzo has outplayed Despres.

[pens2005]

Too easy to play against. Too many bone-headed plays. It seems like every goal we give up can be traced back to one really bad mistake. It's not always like that.

1. Duper was soft in front
2. Letang failed to clear the puck
3. Why are we taking so many damn penalties in a row?
4. 4 guys standing and watching
5. Letang acting like a total clown

1. Dupuis is going to look a lot different not with Sid.

2. Letang was brutal tonight, like he has been most nights this season. He's so cocky with the puck and he doesn't know how bad he has been playing.

3. I can't take it. It's so friggin' annoying to watch. They are dumb penalties too that shouldn't happen on a regular basis at this level.

4. Defense was abysmal aside from Martin and Niskanen in my opinion.

5. See #2.

[jprolley]

really hated it when bylsma didn't call his timeout with 1:25 left with a defensive zone faceoff after that bad shift by the top line. instead, he puts out kennedy dupuis and sutter and promptly turn it over after crossing the blue line. game over.

[Henry Hank]

This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

So you're saying it's just one game?

They're not going anywhere because they give up too many goals. They'll have some regular season success playing Capitals hockey but they're going to get embarrassed in the playoffs again. The only thing that will change that if somehow they replace Bylsma or somehow Shero makes some miracle moves to find the magic mix of players. They're a mess of a team that can win by outscoring teams because few teams can typically keep up with their offense.

[Gaucho]

Wait, Koputzky is NOT the 1st sta?