The Pens Thread

Great game by the pens today. Looked very good defensively and theyre starting to cut down on the turnovers.

87's best game of the year.

Sutter looked good and Boychuck does have some skills we'll just have to wait and see.

I have been reading these boards for years, but haven't really posted much.  I gotta say though guys, this looks more like an anti-pens board, than fans posting.  I agree that their start hasn't been great, but other than 2 guys on the team, no one has seen hockey in almost a year.

To start talking about trading Crosby and some of the other moves discussed on here is nothing short of pushing a panic button way to early in the season.  Things will shake out, and today's game is hopefully a glimpse of things to come.  I have been a fan since Lemieux came into the league, and therefore witnessed and stuck by this team when they were bad for 6 years, not 6 games.

In a couple games most of you haters will be praising the Pens and saying their the best team ever.  I do agree with some of the arguments on the coaching decisions made by Blysma, but you gotta give him atleast 10+ games to say he doesn't deserve to coach them anymore.

Anyway, I enjoy reading most of your posts, especially you crow... but you have been a little more heated and critical than usual.  Cheers guys, hopefully this will be the season we take back the cup to its rightful team!

I wouldn't say it was a great game, but it was a good game with a great result. This teams is still far from clicking on all cylinders. Still plenty of time for that to happen. The PP still has issues. Aggressive PK's seem like they are gonna give us trouble. Still doing to many soft pass through the center of the ice and throwing it out towards the points without looking to see if a forward is there to pick it off or even if a D-man is at that position. Crosby looked good. Winning 1 on 1 battles and going into traffic and getting off shots or getting possession of the puck. Hopefully the Caps continue to be bad at hockey tomorrow afternoon.

I do agree with some of the arguments on the coaching decisions made by Blysma, but you gotta give him atleast 10+ games to say he doesn't deserve to coach them anymore.

He's been the coach for 3.5 years. He won a Cup, but a large part of that was still Therrien's team/system. He did a good job of coaching when Crosby and Malkin were both out, but other than that his teams have disappointed. Especially last year. You could even say the year that Crosby and Malkin were out was disappointing as well because they had a 3-1 lead in that series.

Everyone on here who has complained about Bylsma has a much larger sample size than 6 games.
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I would say today's game was great and not just because of the result. They played great defensively (especially Martin who continues to play well). Despres looks better each game he plays and Bortuzzo looked better as well. They have been cutting down on the turnovers the last few games. The only real negative I saw was the SH goal. I've never liked 4 forwards on the PP. I've said it in years past, I said it when they had Neal on the point, and I said it before they moved Malkin there. You are playing with fire. Luckily it didn't cost them today. If they are going to keep Malkin back there, he needs to learn to not be so aggressive when he's the only man back. But still, he's never going to be as good as a defenseman in those situations.

I don't know what changed in Crosby from Thursday to today, but that is the real Crosby. Even when he wasn't putting points up, he was creating chances and winning the battles. We haven't seen any of that from him this year until today.

Boychuk looked decent. I think he earned another game on that line.  

Pete, I agree that we have been watching Blysma over the last few years and the end result has not been there.  I guess I mean, that since the Pens decided to start him as the coach this year, its hard to let him go with under 10 games played, especially if the team is over .500.

I liked Boychuk today... hopefully, he can build some chemestry with that line and become the cheap missing link on the 2nd line.  It would be nice to have solid lines penciled in for each game and maybe it will stop Blysma with messing with them so much.

PP needs to get less fancy and start connecting for the Pens to really acheive what they are capable of. 

Everyting was clicking today, except for the PP ... that is still a disaster.  Unless of course it their goal is to lead the league in short-handed goals against, then the PP is right on track.  Haha

The best thing was the Crosby had his best game of the season, and this was after taking that shot to the head into the boards by Del Zotto the other night ... so he has taken a hard hit to the head and appears to be none the worse for it.  This was also the first game of the season that Crosby and Kunitz looked like they are starting to get their old chemistry back.  People forget that before Crosby got hit by Steckel two years ago, no two players were doing more damage at even strength than Crosby and Kunitz were that season.

I think they also held the Devils to 16 SOG.  That's pretty impressive too ... Devil-like, so to speak. 

Agreed! Crosby was firing on all cylinders today and had his best game of the season. The notoriously slow starter is showing that he is a notoriously slow starter. I don't think there was any need to panic about him. I also thought Boychuk looked decent on Malkin's line and deserves some more playing time there. Much better than Tangradi anyways. Good move by Shero picking him up. Neal is also always in on the action, checking and getting the puck away from bigger players than himself. I am really impressed with Neal. If the rest of the Pens could follow his attitude on the ice and they might never lose again. Last time I looked, the Caps were in last place in the conference with 3 points.

If your not going to complain and criticize your team when they are playing bad, I take that as not caring much. And praise them when they are playing well....How do want people to re-act to their team?  Praise them when they look terrible? I really don't understand the logic of people thinking like that. Maybe you could explain it to me? I'm really at a loss as to where your coming from? Did you like the Islanders game?

CUP4PENS   


  

Igloo, I didn't say you couldn't criticize, just thought that a lot of people were being too harsh for only playing a handful of games.  I was on the Blysma get your **** together and what the heck were you thinking bandwagon as well.  BUT, some just took it too far and acted like the end of the world was upon us.

I guess I just have a lil more patience with the franchise than most, but again, don't think I didnt break something during the Islanders game, lol

Hopefully the team is getting their mojo back. I have a feeling they aren't going to make a trade for a winger until Bennett recovers from his injury and then they will give him a shot. I missed the game today. How did Boychuk play? I can't imagine he'd play any worse than Tangradi, Kennedy or Jeffrey.

I guess I just have a lil more patience with the franchise than most

Well, maybe you do. But everybody knows it's  a shorter season and a team can't expect to go into a long slump and expect to make the playoffs. I don't think there would be as much panic if it was a full season schedule. Plus the fact that considering the team has been getting knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs lately, I think is cause for some concern? And there is that hole on Malkin's line that hopefully Boychuk can fill. This is kind of like Boychuk's last go round if he doesn't play well. So he has to give it all he's got. He looked better than anybody else that's been there so far. I have no clue as to why Bylsma would think Kennedy would work there?

And somebody brought up the fact that the teams that have been winning the Cup lately are teams with $5 and $6 million players, spreading the wealth around more than on just 2 players with a cap. I think you expect those 2 to lead a little more than they are and people start thinking, well maybe? I can understand that side of it also. But in the end, it's up to Shero and Lemieux to decide if it's worth the risk of a BIG move like that. One would certainly fetch a king's ransom, so it would also be interesting and risky at the same time. I think it's more understandable when there's a hole on Malkin's line that the Pens can't fill. Crosby seems to be able to play with anybody.....

CUP4PENS  

Plus the fact that considering the team has been getting knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs lately, I think is cause for some concern

That's really the biggest thing. I don't think anybody was that concerned about starting the season 3-3, but they were concerned that the team was playing like they didn't learn anything from last year's meltdown. Even the games they won they looked sloppy, undisciplined, and not focused. 

This one good game may put a pause on the concerns, but they are still there. They need to continue to play that way. If they resort back to thinking they will out-talent everybody, they may still make the playoffs, but they won't get out of the first round. This team has higher expectations than just making the playoffs.

Last year while Sid was out they were disciplined to play a complete game. When he came back it was pedal to the metal, we can outscore anybody. It was kinda fun to see wide open hockey but I think they thought they could flip the switch come play off time. Wrong. Hopefully they learned their lesson. Barring any major iniuries, this team will be fine. Last years playoff loss to the Flyers was an anomaly. No offense to the Flyers but the Pens were a better team. The Flyers knocked the Pens off their game and played less crappy for seven games.

Theyre not clicking on all cylinders now but who wants to be clicking on all cylinders in Feb? Last year they were really good in Feb. Take care of business one game at a time.
 
Rumor is Holmgren is looking to bring in a big time winger. Yesterday I read Iginlas name brought up.

Anybody watching the Pens-Caps game, I am the guy with the loud yellow jacket sitting right by Fleury next to the bench. Good game through 2.

I see you CrowDog! Looks like the Pens are getting back to the basics and I like it. (forecheck, fast paced, hitting, defense and all the good stuff)

Thats a pretty sweet seat crow, how did you get that?

Thats awesome crow!  Good game, could of been Great if they didn't fall apart a bit in the third... had me worried for a lil bit. 

Damn, missed you Crow. Did you get Fleury's autograph, haha. Was watching the game and don't usually go online while a game is on. Hopefully the Pens are starting to roll a bit. You want to save your best hockey for the end of the regular season though. Ahhh, winning is so much better than losing, haha. 
Hey Crow, did you throw a hat on the ice when Kunitz got the hat trick? 

CUP4PENS    

Haha ... my buddy tossed his cap onto the ice.  I didn't have one to throw.

The coolest part of the game ... other than the 6 goals of course ... There was a big check right in front of me that caused the ice to spray up and cover the glass.  Imagine your windshield when it's raining, and you can't use your wiper blades.  Orpik actually asked for a towel and wiped off the ice for me, so I could see.   Now that was cool.

I also couldn't appreciate just how big Malkin is until he was right next to me ... that guy is one big dude. 

Very good game overall. The pens were a bit complacent in the third period. I was so happy the pens destroyed the caps. The caps are awful. 3 good players on Ribiero, Ovechkin and Backstrom, but none of them play together except on the power play. Beagle and Crabb on the top line? Pathetic

I love seeing how irrelevant Ovechkin has become. Pens looking better, the scoring is starting to come with more regularity as it should. Bortuzzo is playing very good shutdown D and Despres is getting better game by game too.