OFFICAL POST GAME THERAPY ...uh I mean ANALYSIS

[NIN]

All of those who missed the exciting and inciteful game thread now can sit there drunk bloated butts down and enjoy this thread. I totally want to know what you drunk wing/pizza eaters seen that we missed? Please, enlighten us.

[relantel]

The effort tonight seemed to be on par with the 5-6 games before last Saturday's 7-1 drubbing. Nothing wrong 5 on 5 tonight, but it hurts giving up a shorty. I thought MAF should have had that save, but it turned out not to matter. MAF kept the Pens in the game, and the Pens did a fair job for the first half of the game on keeping the Rangers shot totals down. I think total for the game allowed was 26 or 27 or so. Fleury even got his first career NHL point tonight on the assist on Recchi's powerplay goal on the coast-to-coast rush.

The Rangers goalie was on tonight -- stopped many good scoring chances. I still feel the Pens don't shoot enough, but that problem goes back to well before the current crop of lineup. Even the winning teams we had 98-01 didn't shoot enough.

I thought there were some questionable calls/non calls today, but in the end, I don't think that would have made much difference. One that stuck out to me was Orpik's charging call, where the player he hit had the puck at his feet. Even the MSG announcers thought it was a bad call, as they thought with the puck there it was a legal hit. I have PST scheduled to TIVO on its 1am reair to see the Steigy reaction to the game...

This team has a long way to go, but tonight was a start. They found a way to keep Jagr off the scoresheet, while Crosby was blanked as well. Rozy is killing us as a ranger. I don't think he'd have done much for us if we had kept him, but he is lethal against us as a Ranger.

[NIN]

If the rulebook is not factored in the Penguins would be a .500 club and when you consider the average age of the team, that would be very impressive. Unfortunately there are rules and they simply cannot seem to get on the right side of the rulebook. From day one this team has been unprepared for the changes the league has made and very few players have made the adjustment and look comfortable out there. Special teams have been pathetic. The power play was expected to be superb, many (myself included) assumed it would be the best in the league!

This game was not a bad effort but it was the same old same old as far as special team play goes and bad penalties. They get called for enough ticky tacky stuff so they don't need to take dumb penalties on top of that, but yet they insist on doing just that. :x Recchi can't make up for all of his constant blunders with a nice end to end goal any easier then Gonchar could.

The outlook for the rest of this season lies somewhere between watching Therrian try to whip the team into an aggressive yet disciplined machine and a showcase of what kind of potential these guys should have for the next campaign.

[fourtKNOX]

i believe somebody needed to measure the size of the goal last night... i think the rags switched goals in between periods so the pens shot at a smaller goal...

I think we hit the post 3 or 4 times... thats insane.... they pulled one over on us


is it legal to challenge the goal size!

[Pitts]

As far as the rulebook comment. I just cannot fathom why these players still get called for the dumbest penalties. Hooking, holding and tripping should be long gane from your game by now. How hard is to grasp that idea? Anyone who takes a dumb penalty should have to sit the rest of the period. The trouble is, we have no one to take the offender's place in the line up. They all do the same crap over and over again. That is what is so frustrating. The other teams, for the most part, appear to have grapsed that concept.

[BCHill]

I hate it when Gonchar avoids going for the puck because he might get hit, but on the bright side he had 5 blocked shots.

Crosby shouldn't have played. He didn't do himself or the team any good playing while sick.

Recchi's end to end was fabulous. Love seeing him on the point on the power play.

LeClair actually had his legs going last night. I was a bit surprised by the speed he showed.

Rita is not showing me anything.

Ouellet is going the way of Surovy. Is there invisibility powder in the juice they're drinking?

The hitting was great! 28 hits to the Rangers 15.

Jagr left the ice a couple of minutes before the end of the 2nd to go to the locker room. You can always tell when he's frustrated with what the other team is doing out there when he starts pouting.

[relantel]

Even in the better efforts of the season, including last night, the Pens are slow to the puck. I think it was the rangers 2nd goal where the Pens won the faceoff, yet could not clear, and they scored within 30 seconds.

I don't know that coaching can cure being slow to the loose puck. Maybe it can help put them in the position to make plays to their other players than just a general area. I think I saw no fewer than 5 occaisions where the Pens had possession behind their own net, yet got outnumbered down low by the Rags to force a turnover. It's almost like they are looking at their feet instead of the stick or the puck, and are oblivious to the opposing players closing in on them.

There were many moments of hope, plays made that if there was more consistency would be the norm instead of the exception, we might just be 5 games under instead of 19. Our D needs help, no secrets there. Other than Welch, I can't say I even remember who else we have waiting in the wings. 5 on 5 has improved, but the special teams are killer. I understand why Talbot was sent down, but I think he was missed on the PK last night.

[BCHill]

Faceoffs were horrible last night. I looked up the percentage but don't remember what it was. One player was above 50% though. That's pretty sad.