Random Penguins Fodder

[penny lane]

Rangers have played 75% in these islander games.

[Skatingpen]

2-1 isles

[KG]

Isles get the shoot out loss point.

[DelPen]

Isles get the shoot out loss point.

**** Rangers

[Puck-Lurker]

Flyers up 1-0 against Devils, Caps tied 2-2 against Bolts

[DelPen]

Wheeling clinched playoffs last night, had to play at the practice facility because of flooding in WV.

Baby Pens are playing really good right now and if we can’t pull off a miracle then they get back their top D pair, Zohorna and Puustinen for their playoffs.

[penny lane]

Coach Badger Bob told the pens to go see a western... today, computer games, family, go outside and breathe?

Return tomorrow and begin anew.

[thehockeyguru]

Any word on when / if Broz will sign an ELC?

[DelPen]

Any word on when / if Broz will sign an ELC?

He would be a great add for WBS for the playoffs.

[Crash66]

Baby Pens / Hershey game on local TV. Pens on PP, Hershey scores a shorty to take the lead halfway through the 3rd. Pens have given up 9 shorties this year. Apparently the PP suckitude is an organizational thing.

[KBone]

Baby Pens / Hershey game on local TV. Pens on PP, Hershey scores a shorty to take the lead halfway through the 3rd. Pens have given up 9 shorties this year. Apparently the PP suckitude is an organizational thing.

I have heard in the past that WBS runs the same system as the Penguins so transitions up to the big club are easier.

[KG]

Ned gets the start tonight.

Sounds like Harkins might be back in the lineup, Z was out there late. Z hasn't looked good. Really not sure what Puljujarvi did now to upset Sully. But it doesn't really matter at this point. Just win baby!

[lemieuxReturns]

Ned gets the start tonight.

Sounds like Harkins might be back in the lineup, Z was out there late. Z hasn't looked good. Really not sure what Puljujarvi did now to upset Sully. But it doesn't really matter at this point. Just win baby!

Well, it would be nice if he put the puck in the net. (Puljujarvi).

4 points in 21 games is not great.

[Pruezy11881]

Ned gets the start tonight.

Sounds like Harkins might be back in the lineup, Z was out there late. Z hasn't looked good. Really not sure what Puljujarvi did now to upset Sully. But it doesn't really matter at this point. Just win baby!

Well, it would be nice if he put the puck in the net. (Puljujarvi).

4 points in 21 games is not great.

Harkins - 0 G, 4 A, -4, 43 games played
Pool Party - 3 G, 1 A, +2, 21 games plated

[FLPensFan]

Ned gets the start tonight.

Sounds like Harkins might be back in the lineup, Z was out there late. Z hasn't looked good. Really not sure what Puljujarvi did now to upset Sully. But it doesn't really matter at this point. Just win baby!

Well, it would be nice if he put the puck in the net. (Puljujarvi).

4 points in 21 games is not great.

I agree...with an asterik. The Penguins have a flexibility/versatility problem with their roster construction.
--Acciari can play C & RW, but he is much more productive on RW; he's been forced to play center for 95% of his games this year.
--Carter can play C & RW, but he doesn't really play well at center anymore...except for faceoffs. So, until injuries hit, he'd been strictly at RW, blocking Acciari from playing his better position.
--Puljujarvi has been a RW his entire career...until he got to Pittsburgh, where after about 5-8 games, he moved to LW...right about the time he scored his last goal...still on RW.
--Jansen Harkins is strictly a LW. And it seems like Sullivan really likes playing Harkins (he came off with the game guys today, so he's likely back in tonight)...or, maybe the issue is actually Sullivan doesn't have enough guys that can play LW.

Back to the focus on Puljujarvi...asking him to play on his off-wing, where he's never played in the NHL to my knowledge, and then being disappointed with his production doesn't sound like a good formula. It's okay to want him to expand his roster flexibility, but, if it isn't working, put him back at his correct position and see if the strong forechecking and the production that was starting to come returns, instead of just casting him aside now like a spare part.

It's akin to Puustinen getting like 7 points in his first 9 games getting 13-14 minutes TOI, then putting him on the 4th line getting 7-8 minutes TOI and wondering why he isn't producing...then realizing when you put him back up the lineup and give him 12-14 minutes, his production returns.

[Sigwolf]

Ned gets the start tonight.

Sounds like Harkins might be back in the lineup, Z was out there late. Z hasn't looked good. Really not sure what Puljujarvi did now to upset Sully. But it doesn't really matter at this point. Just win baby!

Well, it would be nice if he put the puck in the net. (Puljujarvi).

4 points in 21 games is not great.

It's not great. But you aren't going to find a whole lot of players that are going to get good numbers when the coach has them playing around five minutes a game. (Season average listed as 9:05, which is, in itself, more than four minutes under his career average, but the past five games have him much closer to the five minute mark).

[Coffey Break]

I'm not sure it really matters who is on that fourth line.

Carter
Puljujarvi
Bemstrom
Harkins
Zohorna
Acciari
Nieto

How many legitimate NHL teams are fielding any of these guys on the 4th line with hopes of competing? Let alone Jeff freakin' Carter getting seemingly triple-shifted out there. It's an embarrassing job of roster construction.

[ahawk9]

Harkins has to me just been a bunch of hard skating with nearly zero generated offense. Throw in a poor penalty or two, and that's pretty much his season summary. If he plays these two games, I'm hoping his finally tally ever in Pens uni is 45 games. He is not to blame for all their bottom-6 woes but he's definitely chipped in to that narrative with his inability to find the net. Like Bylsma, Sully looooooooves the fringe guys who try hard. They probably see themselves as players in them.

[ahawk9]

To add to Coffey Break's post, it probably doesn't matter much who's on the line when 2/3 of it gets 5 minutes a game and JMFC at 39 finds himself on the third line, on the power play, and killing penalties. I understand wanting your best players out there a lot but, man, when your best players are in their 30s - and when you have a horrible habit of blowing third-period leads with a short bench - you have to play other guys more than 5 minutes a night. I wonder if there's a correlation between the shortened bench and the blown leads, or if it's just systematic or a combination of the two.

[FLPensFan]

I still think the 3rd and 4th lines are an identity issue. They built no identity for those lines. They don't have any 15 goal, 35-45 point wingers on the 3rd line to help provide secondary scoring, and the 4th line isn't some great shutdown defensive line or energy line...it's just a collection of spare parts thrown together.

It's just one more thing this team has gotten away from and forgotten from it's Cup years.

[ahawk9]

Yep. The HBK line separated the Pens from the pack those years. They have not replicated it - or come even close - since. Plus, having Matt Cullen as 4C was great as well.

[Ericf]

This was from last week.

[KG]

This was from last week.

Pens finishing has been had for a few seasons now. Too fancy, not enough simplicity to their game. Bunting addition has helped. We need more sticky goals.

[Three Stars]

[FLPensFan]

Wanted to throw this out there, as I didn't see this mentioned in the last few days. I think before the Red Wings game, it came out from Sullivan that Ryan Shea was a player the Penguins had been interested in since 2020. This is from DK's site (can't link to it as it's part of their feed):

PENGUINS WANTED SHEA IN 2020
Mike Sullivan dropped an interesting tidbit in his morning skate media availability on Saturday.

Sullivan said that the Penguins first pursued Ryan Shea back in 2020 when he was coming out of Northeastern. Shea was initially a 2015 fourth-round pick of the Blackhawks but went unsigned and became an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020 as a result.

The Penguins liked Shea’s game in college and were one of the teams interested in him. Shea opted to sign with the Stars and spent all three years of his entry-level contract in the AHL.

When Shea went unsigned by the Stars this past summer, the Penguins went after him again. Their pursuit paid off, and Shea has now played 28 NHL games for the Penguins