User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 

Wednesday, 13 October 2010 18:23

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

PREGAME

-Greetings from a wonderful fall day in Pittsburgh. Once again, it's sunny in the mid 60s and there's barely a cloud in the sky:

-The skating rink at PPG place is under construction:

-Looking up at One PPG Place:

-Cool old-time sign of the day:

-We would make this change if we were in charge of this place:

-If you didn't know all this stuff... you do now:

-Looking up at UPMC's evil corporate lair:

-The Penguins somewhat moderate corporate lair:

-The line for student rush tickets:

(Another Ruslan Fedotenko jersey.)

-The ice:

-Some jersey signings. Here's an all-timer. Borje Salming:

-Jay McKee t-shirt:

-Evgeni Malkin Team Russia:

-A Pittsburgh Hornets jersey:

-Did Tie Domie ever wear No. 40?

-We know he wore No. 28:

-Fans entering off Center Avenue:

-Here's an all-timer. Dave Roche:

-Sergei Berezin? Yeesh:

-Troy Loney:

-Another Mike Rupp:

-Petr Nedved:

-Arron Asham:

-Jaromir Jagr:

-Rob Scuderi:

-Colby Armstrong still has at least one fan here:

-Wendel Clark:

-Warm ups:

-The Penguins' starting lineup is Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis at forward, Paul Martin, Kris Letang at defense and Marc-Andre Fleury in goal.

-Their scratches are Zbynek Michalek, Mike Comrie and Brooks Orpik.

-The Maple Leafs' starting lineup is Kris Versteeg, Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel at forward, Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin on defense and Jonas Gustavsson in net.

-Their only scratch is John Mitchell.

-Eric Godard gets his first action of the season. We'd be shocked if he didn't cross paths with his buddy Colton Orr at some point:

-It just got red and maple leafy in here as Jeff Jimerson offers the national anthems:

FIRST PERIOD

18:30: Alex Goligoski and Ben Lovejoy are teamed together. We assume that means Deryk Engelland and Andrew Hutchinson will be the third defensive pairing.

18:17: Luke Schenn sneaks a slapper on net from the right point. Fleury boots it away.

15:17: The great Mike Zigomanis attacks the net from the left wing. He jabs a little wrister on net from the slot

14:47: Mike Brown moves up the left wing and puts a wrister on net. Fleury fights it off.

14:42: Dear lord. Colton Orr scored? On a really nice play too! Hutchinson loses the puck deep in his own zone. Brown deals it back to Schenn at the right point. Schenn whips it at the net. Orr is in front and deflects it with his forehand by Fleury's left leg. What a pretty play. Brutal turnover by Hutchinson. The Penguins' injuries on defense appear to be an issue already. Schenn and Brown get assists. Maple Leafs 1-0.

13:33: Carl Gunnarson fires a slapper on net from the left point. Fleury eats it up.

13:31: Off a faceoff wing, Phaneuf immediately whips a wrister on net from the right of the left circle. Fleury hugs it against his chest and freezes play.

11:37: Colby Armstrong Mike Zigomanis and Tim Brent used to be Penguins:

11:32: The Penguins get the first power play of the game as Schenn is nabbed for high sticking. Schenn drew some blood so it's a "four-minuter." Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, Martin and Goligoski take the ice. This is a weird configuration as Goligoski is on the right wing and Malkin is at the right point.

10:30: Hutchinson is getting some time on the power play.

9:58: Letestu winds up and cranks a slapper. It gets blocked by Gunnarsson. Ten minutes in and the Penguins still don't have a shot on net.

9:22: Malkin has the puck in the left circle. He has a clean shot but makes a fancy backhanded blinde pass to Martin at the top of the slot. Martin guns a slapper which is blocked by Zigomanis and cleared out of the zone. Fire Ray Shero.

8:33: As the fans begin to get restless with the less than aggressive power play, the Penguins strike. Goligoski sneaks up the left wing and sneaks a backhande pass back to Malkin at the left point. Malkin just blasts a slapper on net. Kunitz is in front and deflects the puck by Gustavsson to tie the game. That looked simple. What took so long? Malkin and Goligoski get assists. The "Woo Hoo!" song is played. Maple Leafs, Penguins 1.

8:28: During a stoppage, a video tribute to Bill Guerin is offered. When Guerin is shown in Mario Lemieux's suite, a standing ovation is offered.

5:51: Off a turnover in the neutral zone, Malkin blasts a one-timer from above the left circle. Gustavsson eats it up. During a television time out, Lemieux' goal from his comeback game against the Maple Leafs 10 years ago is replayed:

-Ten years? Yeesh.

2:27: Dion Phaneuf controls the puck on the right wing boards in his own zone. Maxime Talbot chases him down and forces a turnover. Matt Cooke corrals it behind the net and distributes to the slot. Talbot drives to the net and punches it by Gustavsson. Terrible play by Phaneuf. Cooke and Kennedy get assists. Talbot pretty much created that entire play. The "Woo-Hoo!" song is played. Penguins 2-1.

1:33: Crosby and Schenn mix it up in the left wing corner in the Toronto zone.

0:28: Lovejoy jabs a half one-timer off the side of the cage from the right circle.

0:12: Nikolai Kulemin snaps off a wrister from the right circle. Fleury challenges him and fights it off for a tough save.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Maple Leafs 1.

FIRST INTERMISSION

-That was a pretty up and down period. The Penguins were really flat the first half of it and couldn't even get a shot on net. Then they seemed to wake up a bit and got serious.

-Why can't the Penguins just do the simple things on the power play like they did with Kunitz' goal. That was an ugly meaty goal. But guess what? It counted just as much as some skill competition passing play.

-Goligoski continues to look like a season veteran. Late last season, he looked like a shaky rookie.

-The Maple Leafs have a 7-5 lead in shots.

-No one has more than one.

-Goligoski leads the game with 8:34 of ice time.

-Versteeg leads the Maple Leafs with 7:50.

-The Penguins have an 8-7 edge in faceoffs (53 percent).

-Crosby is 5 for 5 (100 percent).

-Mikhail Grabovski is 2 for 2 (100 percent).

-Lovejoy and Gunnarsson each lead the game with two blocked shots.

SECOND PERIOD

19:36: Dupuis is planted into the ice inside the Penguins' blue line on a nice shoulder check by Beauchemin. Dupuis hops up apparenty no worse for wear.

18:15: Kunitz is dropped inside the Toronto blue line by Schenn.

17:18: Tangradi collects a loose puck behind the Toronto net, fights off a check from Schenn and tries to jam one by Gustavsson. No dice. Nice play by Tangradi though to fight off Schenn who is a pretty tough checker.

17:06: Maybe it was too nice. Tangradi is called for high sticking Schenn. Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, Goligoski and Lovejoy take the ice.

16:59: Unlike the Penguins, the Maple Leafs don't waste time on the power play. Tomas Kaberle slinks his way up the left wing and dishes a cross ice pass through the slot to Clarke MacArthur in the right circle. MacArthur lifts a shot by Fleury's glove hand to tie the game. Really nice play by Kaberle to feather that pass to MacArthur. MacArthur now has nine points in his last nine games against the Penguins.Kaberle and Phaneuf get assists. Maple Leafs 2, Penguins 2.

16:32: After a scrum near the Penguins' net, Cooke is sent off for slashing. Crosby, Dupuis, Martin and Letang take the ice.

14:32: Just as the Cooke penalty expires, Toronto reclaims the lead. Zigomanis cleanly wins a faceoff against Crosby in the right circle.The puck goes to Schenn at the right point. He moves it to Beauchemin who blasts a slapper through traffic and by Fleury. That was a rocket by Beauchemin. He gets a lot of attention as a defensive player, but Beauchemin's offense is underrated. The Penguins got their clocked cleaned in the faceoff circle for each of the last two Toronto goals. Schenn and Zigomanis get assists. Fire Ray Shero. Maple Leafs 3-2.

13:52: Uh wow. Engelland shows some guts and drops the gloves with Orr, one of the toughest guys in the NHL. They trade some rights before Engelland decides to cover up a bit. Engelland's helmet actually slips over his face and surprisingly, Orr pulls it off. He either wanted to fight fairly or he wanted to an a few rights square on Engelland's jaw. It turn out to be a bad decision as Engelland gets back in the fight and lands a few big rights before finally connecting one huge right to the face of Orr and dropping him. Engelland falls over onto Orr the clear winner. This place explodes in cheers. Orr gets up and is escorted to the locker room. Engelland goes to the penalty box. The crowd "oooooooohhhhhhhhssss!!!!" Wow! Orr is 6-foot-3, 220 pounds and he just got dropped by the 6-foot-2, 202-pound Engelland.

10:53: Phaneuf blasts Lovejoy in the right faceoff circle in the Penguins' zone.

10:50: Kunitz gains the offensive zone on the left wing. He centers to Crosby in the slot. Crosby fakes a shot then dishes to Dupuis on the right wing. Dupuis appears to have some open net to shoot at but his low one-timer is denied by Gustavsson who slides to his left and makes a big save with his left leg. Wow.

9:30: Craig Adams forgot to set his alarm clock apparently. He was totally asleep on ths play. Grabovski chases down a puck behind the net. Martin pursue him from the right of the cage. Adams just kind of stands to the left of it, not moving and not paying attention to MacArthur sneaking in from behind. Grabovski deals a backhanded pass to MacArthur who snaps off a wrister by a helpless Fleury. Ugh. That was ugly. Adams was toasted there. Grabovski and Kulemin get assists. Maple Leafs 4-2.

7:28: Gunnarsson blasts a slapper from the top of the slot wide to the left of the cage.

6:16: Crosby challenges Phaneuf one-on-one off the right wing. Phaneuf slaps the puck away with a nice poke check.

5:20: Attendance is announced as 18,112. It is the team's 179th consecutive sellout.

4:58: Talbot drops Kulemin along the left wing boards in Toronto's zone.

3:58: Rupp gets away with a trip on Versteeg in the right wing corner in the Penguins' zone.

3:27: Fredrik Sjostrom gains the offensive zone and snaps off a wrister. Fleury fights it off. Some fans offer mock cheers.

2:39: Talbot apparently went to the locker room with some sort of ailment.

1:57: Malkin gets behind the Tornot defense on a mini-breakaway. Phaneuf chases him down, dives and takes out Malkin's left leg. Malkin crashes into the net. An official points at center ice to signal a penalty shot. After a small delay, fans begin "GE-NO! GE-NO! chants. Malkin takes the puck, swings very far to the right with it, moves in towards the net, goes backhand-forehand several times and whips a terrible shot wide to the far side. Ugh. That was brutal.

1:19: Off a Toronto turnover, Cooke corrals a puck on the left wing in the offensive zone. He dishes immediately to Dupuis. You know Dupuis isn't going to waste time. He immediately blasts a one-timer on net. Gustavsson eats it up. Rupp crashes into him and appears to knock the puck over the goal line but it's still not a goal.

0:43: Welcome to 2010-11 Sidney Crosby. We've been expecting you. He gains the offensive zone on the left wing and leaves the puck for Cooke. Cooke immediately snaps off a pass to Lovejoy moving in off the right point. Lovejoy shoot/passes it to Crosby, who has cut across the slot, down to the left of the crease. Crosby makes a nifty re-direct which he lifts by a helpless Gustavsson. It's Crosby's first goal of the season. He does a Captain Morgan-esque leg-lift in the right wing corner to celebrate. Lovejoy and Cooke get assists. The "Woo Hoo!" song is played. Maple Leafs 4-3.

youtube width="480" height="385"}iRyO26H3GhM{/youtube}

0:11: Malkin cuts inside a defender in the right faceoff circe and snaps off a low wrister. Gustavsson boots it out.

0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 3.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-Well were it not for Crosby's goal towards the end, we were ready to write off that period as an absolute disaster. That said, even despite Crosby's goal, it was pretty bad. The Penguins entered with a one-goal lead and lefts with a one-goal deficit.

-The defense, not just the defenseman mind you, has been pretty rough. We know it's a tough deal to overcome with Michalek and Orpik, their two best defensive blue-liners out, but the Penguins have allowed the Maple Leafs to operate with far too much space and time in the offensive zone.

-The Penguins wasted a chance to take back some momentum with the Engelland-Orr fight. The crowd was electric after Engelland's win. But they simply didn't take advantage of it.

-Fleury could've made a better play on the third goal which was off a clean shot from Beauchemin, but to blame him solely for this score is simply ignorant.

-Nice to see Sidney Crosby back on the scoreboard. They need him to produce period.

-Why can't Malkin take penalty/shootout shots?

-Mark Letestu has been pretty quiet after being the Penguins' best player the first three games.

-Clark MacArthur now has 10 points in his last nine games against the Penguins. Yeesh.

-Funny how the Penguins have this really thin defense tonight, but Toronto is absolutely stocked on the blue line. Kaberle would be a top two guy anywhere else. For the Maple Leafs, he's a No. 3.

-The Penguins have been schooled on some pretty key faceoffs.

-The Penguins have a 16-12 lead in shots.

-Malkin leads the game with four.

-Schenn and MacArthur each lead Toronto with two.

-Goligoski leads the game with 16:38 of ice time.

-Kaberle leads Toronto with 15:39.

-The Maple Leafs have an 18-16 edge in faceoffs (53 percent).

-Grabovski is 6 for 9 (67 percent).

-Crosby is 7 for 12 (58 percent).

-Lovejoy, Versteeg and Gunnarsson each lead the game with two blocked shots.

THIRD PERIOD

18:16: Kulemin sneaks up the right wing on a two-on-one with Brent against Engelland. Kulemin sneaks in towards the net. Engelland flops down to take away the shot and manages to poke the puck away. Fantastic play.

16:52: Kennedy swoops behind the Toronto net and attempts a wrap around from the right of the cage but he whips the puck through the crease.

15:52: Lovejoy cranks a slapper from the top of the slot. It appears to get tipped wide to the left of the net.

14:01: Letang controls a puck at the right point and dishes to Martin moving with speed from the left poitn. Martin grips and rips a wrister well high of the cage. He has to get that on net.

13:08: The Penguins have a chance to tie it up as MacArthur is sent off for delay of game after he put the puck out of play. Crosby, Malkin, Goligoski, Kunitz and Martin take the ice.

12:38: Malkin sneaks in towards the cage off the left half wall and snaps off a wrister. Despite a screen by Kunitz, Gustavsson fights it off.

12:23: Crosby pumps a slapper on net from the right wing. Gustavsson boots it out with a "thud."

11:04: As the MacArthur penalty expires, Letang gets away with some interference against Sjostrom.

9:56: Cooke drops Grabovski in the right wing corner in Toronto's zone.

9:18: Dupuis steals a puck in the left wing corner in Toronto's zone and immediately distribute to Adams in the slot. Adams jabs a little shot which appears to get blocked a bit.

8:19: Armstrong decides to make an appearance and snaps off a wrister from the left wing. Fleury fights it off easily.

8:07: Malkin grips and rips a wrister from above the right circle. Kaberle gets a piece of it and deflects it wide.

7:29: From the right wing, Crosby feeds a pass to Tangradi rushing towards the net from the slot. Tangradi is a step slot can't handle the puck cleanly. He needs to get that on net. That was a fantastic chance.

6:16: Malkin challenges Kaberle one-on-one ont he right wing. Kaberle pokes the puck away.

5:21: Big moment here for the Penguins. Letang is called for tripping Kulemin. They must kill this in order to make a come back.  Martin, Cooke, Talbot and Lovejoy take the ice.

4:42: Phaneuf chips a wrister on net from the left point. Lovejoy blocks it into the left wing corner.

3:54: Crosby  moves up the right wing and attacks the Toronto net shorthanded. From the right circle, he snaps off a wrister. Beauchemin blocks it away.

3:49: Kulemin cranks a shot on net from the right wing. Fleury boots it out with a big "thud." There's a rebound but no one in a white jersey can clean it up.

3:21: The Penguins kill off the Letang minor. That was crucial.

2:13: Talbot chucks a wrister on net from a tough angle on the left wing along the goal line. Gustavsson says no.

2:07: Martin snaps off a wrister fromthe left point which gets deflected wide on the near side.

1:51: A wrister by Martin from the right point is deflected on net. Gustavsson gets a piece of it.

1:38: Crosby spins and whips a wrister on net from the right circle. Gustavsson boots it out with his left leg.

1:21: Dan Bylsma calls a time out to get his team organized. Fleury is pulled for an extra attacker.

1:13: Letang picks up a loose puck in the slot and golfs it wide to the left of the cage.

0:27: Off a fee from behind the net, Letestu jabs a quick shot on net. Gustavsson stands his ground and comes up with a tough save.

0:10: Armstrong whips a backander from the left wing at the empty cage wide on the near side.

0:00: End of game. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 3.

POSTGAME

-The building is cursed right? That's an excuse we can use right? 

-The Penguins played AHL-caliber defense tonight and that's what did them in. And we're not just talking about the members of the blue line. The entire team's defense was terrible.

-We're not going to blame Fleury. He didn't have a lot of help tonight. But you know what? Jonas Gustavsson stole a few goals tonight. We're not sure we would say the same of Fleury.

-Dan Bylsma pretty much said the same thing:

"There’s a couple there that are goals that he’s got to come up with a save for us. There’s a breakdown on, I believe, the fourth goal, but there’s a time when Flower’s got to come up with the save."

-Lots of folks will look at the score sheet and see that Fleury allowed four goals on 14 shots and conclude he played bad. But that's not the case. Toronto pretty much went into a defensive shell in the third period and didn't challege offensively. He was okay but not great. If you want to be mad at him for not being great, that's fine. He's supposed to be a franchise goaltender.

-Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin need to start playing like the team's best players. Right now, they're just part of the pack and they hardly stand out among their teammates.

-Evgeni Malkin is one of the most dynamic players in the world and he simply is awful with penalty/shootout shots. Period.

-Andrew Hutchinson hardly distinguished himself tonight. We wouldn't be surprised if they gave Corey Potter a try if Orpik and/or Michalek are out for extended periods of time.

-Amazing how when the Penguins just go and get a simple meat and potatoes goal on the power play, they abandon that philosphy and go back to the hockey version of And-1 basketball. A bunch of fancy passes and moves which lead to nothing.

-Clarke MacArthur is the latest owner of the Penguins. He has 10 points in his last nine games against them.

-MacArthur had an interesting point about playing against the Penguins:

"Maybe its the style they play. They're a high risk team. They have a great offense over there. I think you get breaks off that every once in a while."

-The Penguins actually ended up with a 25-14 lead in shots.

-Malkin led the game with six shots.

-Schenn, MacArthur and Kulemin led the Maple Leafs with two each.

-Martin led the game with 27:39 of ice time.

-Phaneuf led the Maple Leafs with 23:39.

-The Maple Leafs had a 25-21 lead in faceoffs (54 percent).

-Crosby was 10 for 16 (63 percent).

-Versteeg was 3 for 4 (75 percent).

-Lovejoy and Versteeg each led the game with four blocked shots.

-The only three times the Penguins lost their first three home games of the season was 1983-84, 2001-02 and 2005-06. They failed to reach the postseason in all three of those seasons.

-Tyler kennedy moved past Kris Letang for 93rd place on the team's all-time scoring list. Both players have 81 points but Kennedy (39) has more goals than Letang (21).

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights.

Comments (27)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by FDeuce, October 13, 2010 - 08:21 PM

lets go pens!

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 08:41 PM

You could probably modify that Feds jersey into a Tangradi with one of those eBay jersey kits...

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Louder_Is_Best, October 13, 2010 - 08:50 PM

This is a bad hockey team right now. A large part of it is injuries, of course....but this team isn't clicking. They seem mechanical out there, not machine-like. Passes aren't right, turnovers are bad, they're not controlling the puck....there are just problems right now.

Consol Curse?

• 
• -2
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 09:22 PM

Good God, it's seriously been 10 years? That is depressing...

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by drpaindds, October 13, 2010 - 09:22 PM

tie domi played 2 games i guess in 1990 with number 40, i only know this because i was wondering why colton orr was allowed to wear 28

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 09:43 PM

Wow, that was an epic right hand thrown by big E. Nice work!

'Evening all ... let's go Pens!!

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 09:48 PM

I don't think Mike Yeo was the problem with the power play last year...

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 09:49 PM

I think I'm going to start a campaign for everyone to chip in 1% of their paycheques so we can all buy Sid a goal, since he can't buy one of his own.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 09:52 PM

Ugh, 4 goals on 10 shots. I'm a self-admitted Fleury apologist, but damn...

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Louder_Is_Best, October 13, 2010 - 09:52 PM

Home ice disadvantage.

The longer it takes for them to not play embarrassingly bad hockey in the new arena....the harder it's going to be for a win.

They're barely competitive right now. Mistakes galore.

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by espo33, October 13, 2010 - 09:53 PM

this team stinks and why do they continue to suck at home? For once I would like to see them only lose like 5 or 10 games on the year. Go 31-10 or better. They have to realize they aren't that good and need to fight for the puck and not do all the dumb things they have been doing all season. They don't capitalize on other teams mistakes and about 90% of the time the other team scores on our mistakes.

• 
• -2
• 
• 

...
written by MStufft, October 13, 2010 - 09:56 PM

Fleury looks horrendous, I mean this team right now is almost Pirates embarrassing. Pens are really disappointing so far this year

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 10:01 PM

Step back from the ledge everybody, we're only 4 games in and half our D is on the shelf. If they're still playing like this two weeks from now we can start to panic.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 10:04 PM

C'mon Geno!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 10:07 PM

I have heard them talk about the ice not being great here yet. I wonder how much that has to do with our inability to complete plays, though really if that's the case our brilliant players should still be able to keep things simple and still be effective.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 10:08 PM

YES!!!!! Maybe that'll change the tone of this barn now that Sid's scored!

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 10:58 PM

Well on the positive side of things, Sid finally got a goal, and we're 1-0 on the road ...

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by andrew, October 13, 2010 - 11:01 PM

I agree, we're only a few games in with some injury issues. Calm down.

Sloppy game for both teams tonight. One of the biggest differences was the goaltending. I'm a big proponent of not looking at goalie stats, but rather watching the games and seeing if goalies make the saves to put their teams in a position to win the game. That was the difference tonight. Fleury didn't let in any softies, but he has to steal some of those saves. That's what Gustavsson did in the third period.

Also, the poster that was comparing this situation to Pirates bad needs to lay off the booze or other hallucinogenic substances that they're on.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by canadian_bacon, October 13, 2010 - 11:03 PM

Hope they haven't thrown out the keys to Mellon yet.

• 
• +2
• 
• 

...
written by andrew, October 13, 2010 - 11:05 PM

Wow. That comment is still irking me. Starting a season 1-3 vs 18 straight losing seasons?? PLEASE.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Bones, October 13, 2010 - 11:48 PM

Agree with andrew on the goaltending. Fleury's defense was poor tonight, but an elite goalie steals one or two of those. I am a Fleury fan and look forward to him having a long, successful career as a Penguin, but we need more. Not that his defense did him any favors tonight. Solid goaltending is sometimes not enough, sometimes we need him to be spectacular and he wasn't tonight.

• 
• +2
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 11:49 PM

LOL I bet it would even irk the Pirates. Arrrr!!

G'nite ... we'll win the next one at home, I'll put money on it! (well perhaps not *my* money on it, but that's just details)

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by bastage42, October 13, 2010 - 11:51 PM

@Fleury ... yes, expectations are higher than just solid ... I have to believe he'll get there, hopefully sooner rather than later!

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by eman41, October 14, 2010 - 12:42 AM

Something I say a lot while watching football and hockey both when games are in the balance is: Someone step up and make a play.

Maybe that's Malkin burying a Penalty Shot, or Tangradi putting that puck in off the Crosby feed or Fleury robbing a Leaf in front or scoring on PP after a silly Leaf penalty. One of those HAS to happen in a tight game.

If you play average you leave it up to chance and close plays. If you make great , timely plays, you turn 3 one goal losses into 2 or 3 one goal wins. See: Capitals, Washington. They haven't played much better through 60 minutes than the Pens quite honestly (Powerplay is worse % wise too), but their big guns step up when it matters. That's what we need right now.

• 
• +2
• 
• 

...
written by eman41, October 14, 2010 - 12:50 AM

Right before it went to 4-2, the Monster made a huge save on Dupuis that would have made it 3-3. Game changer.

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by Patrick, October 14, 2010 - 08:43 AM

Agree with the most of what's written in the post-game posts, above. I'm a huge Fleury fan, and he's the starter here--period. But that said, a goal or two here were stoppable by a big-time goalie and he didnt play that way. Nor did Sid or Geno step up (come on, Geno--bury one!). The biggest problem, however, was team-D -- too many sloppy neutral and defensive zone giveaways. That'll just kill you, and here it did.

All this said, I think this is a more talented Pens squad than what he had going for us last year--when healthy. I think it's going to be a very exciting season ahead.

• 
• -1
• 
• 

...
written by SonnyDrysdale, October 14, 2010 - 10:21 AM

The team is playing like they did last year after the good start (11-2) I think. They were mediocre from that point on and in the playoffs. I have to look at the coaching Bylsma is looking more and more like a 1/2 year wonder. The PK the PP are awful. The attention to detail is pathetic. Fleury never stands on his head (I like MAF). Is it time to bring back MT? How long will this display of inept hockey continue?

• 
• +1
• 
•