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Pens definitely smelt the blood in the water at start of this third!
Sure do...and Murray needs to hold the fort.Need one soon "T". The clock is winding down quickly.
Chicken$hit penalty calls each way.And evened up...cause they knew it...I will take the good guys 4 on 4 any day....
Look....GO AWAY you condecending POS. Everything you post OT is filled with hate and vitriol , Conservative/Liberal, Republican /Democrat it doesn't matter. Intellegent people debate and learn, or its an idiot Twitter post no comment, no nothing. I imagine it is because your fingers are in your mouth ...to the rest of this Pens board i apologize but somebody has to come right out and say it apparently point blank. I'll take it on....no problem.
Now you are also under the opinion you are annexing Canada you POS mother ****er! Go on and tell me more dirtball!
Sorry gents
.....bad form to bring it here.
http://www.thescore.com/news/1218832
Thoughts? Interesting for sure...I think GMJR would need to sweeten the pot just a bit to get it done. Shattenkirk would certainly help out on the backend, if only for a few months....a pure rental it seems.
Excuse me while I wade through the incessant Twit feeds to respond to your pertinent inquiry...I don't know if you guys watched the ASG Skills last night, but I gotta say I found it underwhelming at best. It started with the goofy "appearance" by Snoop Dawg, along with the fact the players acted like they didn't know they were being introduced.
The fastest skater was fine......though I admit to being surprised (and frankly, disappointed) that McDavid didn't break the record; and I was downright shocked to learn that Mike Gartner's time stood up for 20 years until 2016. But I thought the hardest shot and shootout competitions ended up largely a waste of time. Ovechkin needed to challenge Weber......which he didn't......and basically nobody from the West made either Price or Rask have to move in the shootout. Price was SO unchallenged that I'm not sure he even needed to take a shower afterward.
Meanwhile, it was pretty obvious to everyone watching that Crosby was the class of the entire competition, even though the pressure on him was arguably greater than anyone else. And I liked Mike Smith shooting Score-O. But by the time the competition was over, I was ready for it (and Snoop Dawg) to just go away.
Great read...I honestly didn't realize MAF's numbers were that inflated in the wrong direction! I guess it goes to show my eye test isn't always the proper narrative lol. I had thought he looked ok but not spectacular this year...same for MM really. Both of them need to be better if value is to be found in a trade and a Cup repeat is the desire...Interesting analysis this morning by the Pitt Post Gazette's Jason Mackey regarding particularly-troubling (and almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ledger) YTD Pens' stats. Granted stats may never tell the entire story; but at the end of the day, they (unlike political discussions) never lie......
By Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
As the Penguins emerge from the All-Star break and look to plow through the dog days of winter, a few parts of their game could use some work.
At least if you consider how the past 11 Stanley Cup champions — the salary-cap era — have fared when it comes to things such as goals and shots allowed, faceoffs and penalty-killing.
The Penguins, despite looking unstoppable at times, have a few weaknesses. They might be able to hang five goals on you, which they’ve already done 15 times, but some of their defensive numbers aren’t as pretty.
These four stand out the most.
The problem? They’ve allowed 140 goals in 48 games, an average of 2.92 per contest that has them ranked 23rd in the league. Only two teams since 2005 have finished outside the top 10 in goals against per game — the 2008-09 Penguins (2.84, 17th) and the 2005-06 Hurricanes (3.15, 20th).
The connections there are sort of ironic; current Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was in his old job in Carolina when the Hurricanes won. But it’s not smart company to keep. The past 11 Cup champs have allowed an average of 2.38 goals against per game.
You can say it’s skewed by eras. Fine. The average rank of a Cup winner was sixth. The 2016-17 Penguins have work to do here, and they know it.
“It’s very important to tighten it up defensively,” defenseman Trevor Daley said.
How to fix it? A couple things. Before the break, coach Mike Sullivan seemingly ditched the goaltending timeshare and started Matt Murray in six consecutive games.
It’s great to say you have two No. 1 goaltenders, but your second guy (Marc-Andre Fleury) is allowing 3.23 goals-against per game, his worst such mark since 2005-06, when the Penguins coughed up an average of 3.78 goals an outing.
Aside from smoothing out the goaltending bumps, the Penguins have weathered a spate of injuries to their defense. Daley, Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin all missed games, and Olli Maatta has been inconsistent. It’s tough to gain traction defensively when your back end is a game of musical chairs.
The problem? Of the four categories studied, shots allowed might be the least problematic. Five of the 11 Cup winners finished 15th or worse. That includes the Penguins a year ago, when they clocked in at 29.7.
Only one team — the 2010-11 Boston Bruins at 32.7 per game, which had them ranked 29th — has been worse than the current Penguins (32.4, 27th).
It’s also worth noting that Tim Thomas put up some pretty absurd numbers in Boston that season — 2.00 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and nine shutouts.
How to fix it? Having Murray thrust himself into the Vezina Trophy conversation would be an easy solution, but that might be asking a bit much from someone still eligible to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
Sullivan has exhorted his players to outplay, and not simply outscore, teams. He’s no dummy. Strong play away from the puck tends to lead to good things — more time with it, fewer shots against — and that’s the easiest way to correct this one.
“You can’t always control the goals,” Sullivan said. “What you can control is the process — how you play and limiting teams’ opportunities, more specifically their Grade-A opportunities.
“If you do that, usually the goals-against comes down. We discuss that with our team consistently about becoming a harder team to play against, a playoff-type team. That has to be part of our identity moving forward.”
The problem? No Cup winner in the salary-cap era has had a penalty-kill worse than Rutherford’s Hurricanes, ranked 19th at 81.8. That’s about three points better than these Penguins. Worse, the 2016-17 Penguins have allowed at least one power-play goal in 27 of 48 games (56 percent). They’re 15-11-1 (.574) when they do compared to 15-2-3 (.825) when they do not.
Power plays will decrease in the playoffs as referees swallow their whistles, but that only ramps up the importance of killing the opportunities the other team is afforded.
How to fix it? Getting Matt Cullen back from a broken foot in a couple of weeks will help, but it offers no guarantees; the group got this way while Cullen was healthy.
Sullivan has started to try a few different guys here, specifically a recast-as-a-fourth-liner Chris Kunitz, who has not looked out of place.
But the biggest issue with this group is not easily explained with numbers. It’s confidence. Kill a bunch in a row. Feel good about yourselves. Rinse, wash, repeat.
The problem? The Penguins don’t win nearly enough faceoffs.
Sidney Crosby isn’t concerned with his 47.5 success rate on draws, even though he never has been below 50 percent for a full season. For someone so smart, dedicated and consistent, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
But the team-wide numbers aren’t good. Only the 2008-09 Penguins (19th at 49.1) have hoisted a Cup without winning at least 50 percent of draws. The faceoff struggles also have compounded the penalty-killing issues; the Penguins have won just 40.8 percent of draws short-handed, 28th in the NHL.
The average Cup winner since 2005 wins 51.6 percent — about four percent better than the Penguins right now — and ranks eighth. That gulf, from their ranking of No. 27 to the average of No. 8, is the largest of any of the four categories.
How to fix it? Video, video and more video, for one. The Penguins watch a lot, but extra certainly wouldn’t hurt. Having Cullen’s return could help. Nick Bonino puts a tremendous amount of work into winning draws, but his success rate has dropped from 50.4 percent a year ago to 48.9 percent in 2016-17.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
Horny is just on fire...and what a second. Lots of jam out there! Bring it home gents!Nice wraparound by Hornqvist. Not sure how it got in, but gives Pens a 3-1 lead.
It's Cyclones tonight right? Crazy week ...I didn't even know it was the Preds and it was tonight till a couple hours ago lol...Time to turn to the Mounties. I trust MM and the boys can protect a 4-1 lead going into the 3rd. Nice job Pens and Let's Go Mountaineers!
Just tipped off on the Deuce! LGM!It's Cyclones tonight right? Crazy week ...I didn't even know it was the Preds and it was tonight till a couple hours ago lol...
Well I tried to turn it on and she blocked me! In favour of the Pens....arrrggghhh...I guess I can't complain. She participates in a portion of my penchants....Just tipped off on the Deuce! LGM!
LOL! You can catch the 2nd half.Well I tried to turn it on and she blocked me! In favour of the Pens....arrrggghhh...I guess I can't complain. She participates in a portion of my penchants....