Game 16 vs Isles - Thoughts from the Morning After

[Penspal]

Pens win 4-3 in OT

- Wow, what a comeback. Continued "playing well" was about to become questioned, so this comeback to beat the streaking Isles is one for the books for sure
- Rust and McCann carried the 2nd line, Geno was there to poke in the big goal. Hopefully this gets Geno going!
- Murray with "The Scorpion" save and then Rust with the Penguin snipe. This was the play made it all possible.
- WTF is up with the powerplay? Seriously, a couple hot goalies along the way, but its got to give soon. Missing Horny in front.
- Marino made a game saving swat when the puck bounced up and was within reach of an Islander. He's got raw skills, just needs experience at this level.
- Will the Pens play some more with the "new lines"? I hope they do.

[sjnhiils]

Maybe now the idea of packaging Rust in a deal will be tamped down!

[Penspal]

Maybe now the idea of packaging Rust in a deal will be tamped down!

I certainly hope so. Going back to the 2nd half of last year, he's been the most CLUTCH guy the Pens have.

[midd]

I think you could say that for any one at this moment. Bjugstad has seem to come alive these past few games. The JJ haters club has seemed to die down. Galchenyuk has shown glimmers of breaking through. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later that he does.

Maybe now the idea of packaging Rust in a deal will be tamped down!

[DelPen]

This team still has major issues with consistency at almost every single position and talent level. We can’t keep hoping to come back from 3-0 deficits or put 7 goals up on bad teams.

Of course having the same roster for more than a couple games in a row might help.

There is no reason to keep playing Johnson over anyone else on the roster right now. With Letang out we need to get Ruhwedel in with Riikola, Marino was actually good with Dumoulin.

[RisslingsMissingTeeth]

Johnson is so glaringly out of place in this line-up. Seeing Riikola and all he brings makes me mental that he isn't dressed every night. He is great with the puck, a playmaker, hits to move bodies and fast.

Rant over. Rust has been a man possessed. Maybe the extended rest helped him and maybe he cools? hopefully not.

First line needs a playmaker on the right. Simon remains a huge void. Galchenyuk is an empty sweater. McCann? Idk.

[Steve Dave]

Johnson is so glaringly out of place in this line-up. Seeing Riikola and all he brings makes me mental that he isn't dressed every night. He is great with the puck, a playmaker, hits to move bodies and fast.

Rant over. Rust has been a man possessed. Maybe the extended rest helped him and maybe he cools? hopefully not.

First line needs a playmaker on the right. Simon remains a huge void. Galchenyuk is an empty sweater. McCann? Idk.

Makes me kind of wish JJ was moved instead of Gudbranson (longer term and Guds was nice to have for the Tom Wilsons).
Would have liked to see a Riikola Gudbranson pairing.
Schultz could have been moved to make room for Marino.

Dumoulin Letang
Pettersson Marino
Riikola Gudbranson

[largegarlic]

I'm not necessarily a full-blown acolyte of advanced stats (I think they're sometimes helpful, but still need to be checked against what your eyes tell you), but the Pens are now #2 in the league in Corsi For % and #1 in Fenwick For %. That matches up with my impression watching the games that the Pens have generally been outplaying teams, but have been let down by some soft goals allowed and a bizarrely cold PP.

If the Pens keep playing like this, and Murray and the PP bounce back to normal levels, I think the team will start piling up wins. I think the 2nd period of the Bruins game and the 3rd period last night looked the closest to the 2016 Cup team since, well, 2016. The Bruins and the Isles, two very good teams in their own right, just couldn't handle the speed and tenacity of the Pens.

[midd]

I guess I woke the haters up. Ok if you think he doesn't belong, ok. He's not going anywhere.

39 shots yesterday, 44 vs the Bruins, 52 vs the Oilers, 37 vs Philly,27 vs the Stars. Injuries and a few bad bounces/plays have hurt. Welcome to the NHL first time watchers.

[Pitts]

I'm not necessarily a full-blown acolyte of advanced stats (I think they're sometimes helpful, but still need to be checked against what your eyes tell you), but the Pens are now #2 in the league in Corsi For % and #1 in Fenwick For %. That matches up with my impression watching the games that the Pens have generally been outplaying teams, but have been let down by some soft goals allowed and a bizarrely cold PP.

If the Pens keep playing like this, and Murray and the PP bounce back to normal levels, I think the team will start piling up wins. I think the 2nd period of the Bruins game and the 3rd period last night looked the closest to the 2016 Cup team since, well, 2016. The Bruins and the Isles, two very good teams in their own right, just couldn't handle the speed and tenacity of the Pens.

This, agreed. Watching the game day thread, the swings in attitude of the comments are hilarious. One minute, they suck, trade them all. The next, we are so awesome!

This is a GOOD team and they have been playing with the speed we've missed since 2016. They have generally been out playing every other team and really haven't taken a night off yet. I think the goaltending needs to get back to at least baseline. Add in a stable roster for more than a few weeks and this team will do some real damage. Let these guys work and I think the fans will be rewarded.

[Pens4Life]

Johnson is so glaringly out of place in this line-up. Seeing Riikola and all he brings makes me mental that he isn't dressed every night. He is great with the puck, a playmaker, hits to move bodies and fast.

Rant over. Rust has been a man possessed. Maybe the extended rest helped him and maybe he cools? hopefully not.

First line needs a playmaker on the right. Simon remains a huge void. Galchenyuk is an empty sweater. McCann? Idk.

I agree for Riikola.. McCann - idk?? Ha?

[Dr Rosenrosen]

Time to fire up the Riikola/Marino pairing to see what you've got. Johnson has been better this season, but regressed a good bit last night IMO. Riikola carried his @ss all night and still looked good while playing his off-side.

[theblackarts]

Coming back from 0-3 twice, and going up 4-3 twice, is pretty impressive, although obviously you don't want to be down 0-3. This tells me that the team is coming out mentally not quite there, and then ramping it up. If we get it together, and get some momentum, and for the love of zeus stay healthy, we could have a pretty strong team. I haven't seen this level of tenacity since '17.

[Pitts]

Loved this quote tday from Bjugstad:

The Penguins had given up a short-handed goal in the second period and looked well on their way to a third consecutive loss. So, was the coach a little salty?

“Nah,” Nick Bjugstad said. “Not at all, really. It was just pretty quiet. Everyone in here was so calm. It’s cool being around people who have won Stanley Cups. I’ve noticed in my short time with this team that no one ever gets rattled. No one needs yelled at. I think guys in here knew exactly what had to happen.”

https://theathletic.com/1360847/2019/11 ... -overtime/

[Ericf]

Coming back from 0-3 twice, and going up 4-3 twice, is pretty impressive, although obviously you don't want to be down 0-3. This tells me that the team is coming out mentally not quite there, and then ramping it up. If we get it together, and get some momentum, and for the love of zeus stay healthy, we could have a pretty strong team. I haven't seen this level of tenacity since '17.

No, Murray is mentally coming out not quite ready...

[Southern Fan]

What’s their record with both Letang and Malkin in the lineup? Small sample size but weird.

[Sigwolf]

I'm not necessarily a full-blown acolyte of advanced stats (I think they're sometimes helpful, but still need to be checked against what your eyes tell you), but the Pens are now #2 in the league in Corsi For % and #1 in Fenwick For %. That matches up with my impression watching the games that the Pens have generally been outplaying teams, but have been let down by some soft goals allowed and a bizarrely cold PP.

If the Pens keep playing like this, and Murray and the PP bounce back to normal levels, I think the team will start piling up wins. I think the 2nd period of the Bruins game and the 3rd period last night looked the closest to the 2016 Cup team since, well, 2016. The Bruins and the Isles, two very good teams in their own right, just couldn't handle the speed and tenacity of the Pens.

The obvious counter... you can't expect their inflated Corsi and Fenwick are their actual position while expecting their low PP and goalie stats are the aberrations. It's really no different than it has been for years... They have all the talent they need to succeed. Whether they can put it together in the end remains to be seen, but it really comes down to drive and leadership.

[Owchar76]

I'm not necessarily a full-blown acolyte of advanced stats (I think they're sometimes helpful, but still need to be checked against what your eyes tell you), but the Pens are now #2 in the league in Corsi For % and #1 in Fenwick For %. That matches up with my impression watching the games that the Pens have generally been outplaying teams, but have been let down by some soft goals allowed and a bizarrely cold PP.

If the Pens keep playing like this, and Murray and the PP bounce back to normal levels, I think the team will start piling up wins. I think the 2nd period of the Bruins game and the 3rd period last night looked the closest to the 2016 Cup team since, well, 2016. The Bruins and the Isles, two very good teams in their own right, just couldn't handle the speed and tenacity of the Pens.

The obvious counter... you can't expect their inflated Corsi and Fenwick are their actual position while expecting their low PP and goalie stats are the aberrations. It's really no different than it has been for years... They have all the talent they need to succeed. Whether they can put it together in the end remains to be seen, but it really comes down to drive and leadership.

Their current Corsi is about 1 point higher than they've finished twice before under Sullivan. That number could regress a bit as the number of games rises, but it's really not that inflated as the Pens have finished relatively high numerous times under Sullivan. As we've seen before with teams like Carolina and SJ, if you aren't getting at least league average goaltending, your possession numbers could be misleading.

The Pens are currently 5th in 5v5 save%. 5th! And people are complaining about Murray? The Flames and Oilers are the bottom two teams. Carolina and Dallas are both struggling too. I'm willing to bet when the Pens bring that shooting % a little more back to the norm we'll be winning a lot more games.

Leader in Corsi and Fenwick, a top 5 save% at 5 on 5, a slightly lower than normal shooting % and a lower than normal PP% leads me to be optimistic.

[Puck-Lurker]

Pens have:
- 27 players with NHL appearances this season.
- 26 players that have played at least 4 games.
- Only 8 players have played all 16 games
- Malkin, Rust, Galchenyuk, Bjugstad are the key sources of lost man-games.
- Lafferty, Blandisi and Adam Johnson have played as many games as the four above.
- a 9-6-1 record despite this.
- Only PHI and NYR contending for the 3rd Metro spot at this moment.

I'd love to see what this team can do when it gets more reps in something resembling a steady lineup. It might not be better, but, our present record has been good enough for the playoffs.

[OKpensfan247]

Another vote here that this is the most excited/confident I have been to watch Pens games in 3 years. We are finally back to our speed identity.

Would also like to see Riikola/Marino tried when Tanger gets back. Johnson will be most useful against heavier/slower teams it would ideal to sit him against these speed teams if Riikola can show any consistency.

Does Sid look slower this year to anyone else? It seems like he is losing puck possession behind the cage much more this year and even on zone entries because he does not have the same burst of quickness. Defenders seem to be closing on him and forcing turnovers more this year. I like they took Simon off the top line to try and get Sid/Jake going again.

I also like the reunion of Simon and Bjugstad. They and Horny had some solid chemistry last year and complimented each others games nicely possession-wise.

[Humperdink]

Murray is tied for 25th in overall save %. The beauty of statistics. Not sure what the average relative humidity was during the games.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats?sea ... t=8&time=0

[largegarlic]

Does Sid look slower this year to anyone else? It seems like he is losing puck possession behind the cage much more this year and even on zone entries because he does not have the same burst of quickness. Defenders seem to be closing on him and forcing turnovers more this year. I like they took Simon off the top line to try and get Sid/Jake going again.

I thought Crosby looked great earlier in the year when his line was carrying the team, but has seemed a bit sluggish the past 1-2 weeks. I don't if it's just a normal lull over the course of a long season, or if he might be slightly banged up.

[murphydump55]

Murray is tied for 25th in overall save %. The beauty of statistics. Not sure what the average relative humidity was during the games.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats?sea ... t=8&time=0

Usually people know to use a minimum GP when looking at stats like that.

[Humperdink]

Murray is tied for 25th in overall save %. The beauty of statistics. Not sure what the average relative humidity was during the games.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats?sea ... t=8&time=0

Usually people know to use a minimum GP when looking at stats like that.

Oh you caught me. Cherrypicking a statistic ...... just like you did.

Ah, the beauty of statistics, but I repeat myself.

[FLPensFan]

John Marino may be better than sliced bread. Really impressed with his play, and even a lot of the little things. Watched him try to break out of the Penguins zone in the 1st period, Hawk player got into him to try and gain the puck....Marino quickly shifted his body in a position to fend off the player while successfully clearing the zone. Lot of these little plays go unnoticed. I expected him to have more offensive upside, and I think we are starting to see him getting more comfortable, so the points are starting to show up.

Fun fact: The Penguins started the season with 10 defensemen, one of which is named Chad Ruhwedel. Did you know, Chad is alive and well, and still on the Penguins NHL roster.

I dont get the Ruhwedel situation. 2 years in a row they have kept him on the roster because they believe he is a strong 7th....but you got to play the guy every so often. They did the same thing last year...I believe his first game was in late November last year.