'13 Playoffs Game 4 vs Bos - Thoughts from the Morning After

[Penspal]

Pens lose 1-0, series 4-0

- The better team won the race to 4, and quickly too
- Vokoun saved perhaps his best two games as a Penguin for games 3 + 4, but Rask was better
- Pens just couldn't get the first one. Never had a lead in the series.
- Pens PK was good last night, like it had been all series.
- Pplay did not contribute, key factor in losing series. With goals so hard to come by, any pplay goals would have swung the tide.
- Bruins controlled all the Pens rebounds in the series (and the ones they didn't, the hockey gods did). #wherenetfrontpresence
- Boston Strong was a factor, a rallying cry if you will. Campbell playing that shift with a broken leg will become part of hockey legend.
- Can't see how anyone in the West is going to beat the Boston Bruins. This bear is firmly in control
- Sid was not himself from game 1. His quote before game 1 about taking 3 practices to feel comfortable with the cage off.... not the same player
- Changes were bound to come because of salary cap and contract issues, but this series loss will strongly influence decisions by GMRS, Mario, et al
- And while many are full of panic, I find myself strangely calm.... In GMRS I trust

[pens_CT]

The Bruins played a defensive system that the Pens always have had trouble with. It says more about our coaching staff's inability to change more than anything.

The Bruins will lose to the Blackhawks in the final. The hawks have a better d-core than the Pens, and are getting contributions from multiple lines. Hawks in 6.

[Geezer]

http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacev ... z2VYCol2d6
Excellent summary.
Radio summary on the way to work last night discussed no one going to the net, the one on three stick handling approach, and a general lack of desperation in game 4 compared to game 3.
Jones and Milbury post game stated Bylsma is a goner which hopefully gets done this weekend.

[Gaucho]

I'm already sick of hearing about the broken leg. Nothing heroic about it.

[iWonTheCup87]

penguins suck? they are an embarrassment

[DelPen]

Bylsma, Fleury and Niskanen need to go.

Iginla was a huge mistake.

How does this team score just 2 goals over 4 games?

[Inkio]

Bylsma, Fleury and Niskanen need to go.

Iginla was a huge mistake.

How does this team score just 2 goals over 4 games?

+1

[Pavel Bure]

Welcome back to crappy boring Devils hockey. Eff Claude and that style. 2nd fire DB, he can't handle teams that game plan for his "system"

[joker10277]

Disco will be back if its up to RS! He goes by the nashiville model of draft defensemen and keep your coach forever and make the playoffs. Only way Disco goes is if Mario forces RS to do it, and I don't know if mario cares, he did the same thing when he was a player.
As far as the team goes, they are babies, they can't stand adversity, crosby, malkin, orpik, letang = no leadership!
The pens have created an atmosphere that pampers the players too much and these are the results you get.
One year of this stuff is a fluke, when it happens in some variation every year you have serious issues.

[Henry Hank]

I feel that Boston was just the better team. That's the main reason the Pens lost. You can argue that three of the four games could have gone either way. They all went Boston's, that's either really bad luck for the Pens or the Bruins are just better. They have a strong and complete roster, really good goalie, really good game plan. Most importantly, they have players that all buy into it.

[topshelf]

- And while many are full of panic, I find myself strangely calm.... In GMRS I trust

[bh]

Yeah no way to see it other than Boston was better in pretty much everything.

[bh]

They had chances. With like a minute left Geno had it on his stick right in front with a little room.... and he didn't even get a shot off.

[bh]

I mentioned it in another thread but the style of play in these playoffs is irksome.
The amount of picks, hooking, holding, obstruction, interference was off the charts.
We are back to the ol clutch and grab days. Better start drafting big plodders that take up space.

[Avyran]

I mentioned it in another thread but the style of play in these playoffs is irksome.
The amount of picks, hooking, holding, obstruction, interference was off the charts.
We are back to the ol clutch and grab days. Better start drafting big plodders that take up space.

Relevant quote by Josh Yohe last night (note: not saying that this is the reason Pens lost, nor was Yohe):

Many Penguins have seethed about the officiating this series. Don't think they were making excuses, but one compared it to "90s stuff"

After tonight + the series, a few things...

- Vokoun played amazing. Him and Martin were the 2 bedrocks for the Pens, I think.
- You have to wonder how much the Pens will be willing to offer Letang after these playoffs. He just was making horrible decisions many times.
- Having only 6 points as a team isn't going to win any playoff series.
- That being said, despite the lack of goals, I thought Malkin played decently (though he characteristically made a few bad turnovers).
- Thought Murray played the best of our new pickups. Quality defenseman, if a little slow.
- Still think the coaching staff + the Pens as a whole certainly did not help Iginla succeed here, but he has also lost a little bit, I think. Pretty sure he has more to give, though.
- We never got a bounce all series. That being said, the Bruins (and especially Rask) didn't give us many bounces to get in the first place.

Also, re: the powerplay, NEITHER team scored a single power play goal all series. When has that last happened?

[ExPatriatePen]

I'm already sick of hearing about the broken leg. Nothing heroic about it.

UN-eff'n-believable.

If it had been a Pen that had done that...

Nevermind.

[Lt. Dish]

I still can't believe the season is over so abruptly, so cruelly, so ignominiously...it just doesn't compute how the Pens could go out like that.

Josh Yohe feels the same:

Josh Yohe ‏@JoshYohe_Trib 35m
Pens went 21-3 against playoff teams in regular season. The Bruins needed less than a week to beat then four times. Something doesn't add up

[shmenguin]

Yeah Boston was better and they played exceptional. So was Detroit in 08, but we eventually managed to make that series competetive. With this roster, getting swept is unacceptable against any team. Even with the aliens surrounding Boston's crease.

[Gaucho]

I'm already sick of hearing about the broken leg. Nothing heroic about it.

UN-eff'n-believable.

If it had been a Pen that had done that...

Nevermind.

If it had been a Pen and he was allowed to go on with a concussion...

Nevermind.

[pressure=9Pa]

I'm already sick of hearing about the broken leg. Nothing heroic about it.

Same feeling about Malone in '07 when his nose exploded?

[blackjack68]

We had our Hossa year and lost. This year, we had Iginla and lost.

I think we regroup and come back stronger next year, just like after the Hossa year.

[blackjack68]

I could've missed the pain, but I'd have to have missed the dance.

[GSdrums87]

Dropped this in the GDT for those that don't think Geno got the shot off there at the end. And yes that's Chara.

http://i.imgur.com/hXEmvx7.gif

[Henry Hank]

Clutch and grab snuck back into the playoffs pretty quickly. It was there plenty in both series in the finals against Detroit. There's no complaining about it. What the Pens need to do is take advantage of it themselves. Boston did, another reason they're moving on and the Pens aren't.

Pens were already talking about the officiating after game one. Never a good sign when a team resorts to that.

I don't think the season really ended up that abruptly. They made it to the third round. Last year was abrupt. They were supposedly Cup favorites and a handful of days into the playoffs they're already down 3-0. Boston is really good. There's no shame in losing to them no matter what people were saying about the Pens being favorites. Getting swept is a bit much but they lost two one goal games to end the series. Those could have easily gone the other way and it's a 2-2 series. But the margin of error is slim when you're facing a team good enough to match what you can do. Again, Boston is a really good team.

[malkinshair]

I mentioned it in another thread but the style of play in these playoffs is irksome.
The amount of picks, hooking, holding, obstruction, interference was off the charts.
We are back to the ol clutch and grab days. Better start drafting big plodders that take up space.

I think it's relevant to this series in particular because of the two teams style of play. The Bruins were able to completely neutralize the Pens preferred style of play by hooking, holding, and interferring. They're built to do that. The Pen's mojo, for better or worse (worse!), comes from being creative and scoring goals. When they can't do that, frustration seeps in, and they revert to pond hockey levels of defensive discipline. A good coach alters the style of play for his team to help counter this, but, alas, I don't think we have that type of coach.

I'll never understand why the Pens don't answer the 90's stuff with some of their own. Jagr hooks the crap out of Malkin to steal the puck, but Orpik lets Bergeron get inside position to win game 3. You have to fight fire with fire sometimes.