Series Thread: Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Pittsburgh Penguins

[scoutyjones2]

Time to break up the trio of prima donna's:


Looking at elimination from the playoffs before the Stanley Cup Final. And if that happens for a seventh consecutive Pittsburgh spring, will anything that happened during a wonderful winter have mattered?

Really mattered?

It doesn't feel like it. A 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night felt all too familiar from inside Consol Energy Center.

It didn't look good inside the Penguins dressing room afterward, either.

As reporters flocked to the stall of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, his fellow members of the Penguins' so-called Big Four (Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) were nowhere to be found.

Not for answers.

Not to protect their goalie.

Failing to show strength in a moment demonstrated their shameful lack of accountability and made it feel like a crisis.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Time to break up the trio of prima donna's:


Looking at elimination from the playoffs before the Stanley Cup Final. And if that happens for a seventh consecutive Pittsburgh spring, will anything that happened during a wonderful winter have mattered?

Really mattered?

It doesn't feel like it. A 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night felt all too familiar from inside Consol Energy Center.

It didn't look good inside the Penguins dressing room afterward, either.

As reporters flocked to the stall of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, his fellow members of the Penguins' so-called Big Four (Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) were nowhere to be found.

Not for answers.

Not to protect their goalie.

Failing to show strength in a moment demonstrated their shameful lack of accountability and made it feel like a crisis.

Who gets traded?

My vote is for Malkin. They did great without him at the end of the regular season and he hasn't done much in the playoffs, barring him going off in game 6 Tuesday.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

And do the trade MAF in the offseason?

 

[scoutyjones2]

I trade MAF and either Malkin or Letang...both are so injury prone and Fleury is on his way down and out and also injury prone

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

I trade MAF and either Malkin or Letang...both are so injury prone and Fleury is on his way down and out and also injury prone

Wonder what a package of all 3 would bring back? Who would take on all 3 of their salaries???

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

They don't have the $'s to score a d man

We do if we could trade MAF & Maatta. It'll be tough, but they were able to move Scuderi, so who knows?

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I trade MAF and either Malkin or Letang...both are so injury prone and Fleury is on his way down and out and also injury prone

We're not trading Geno or Tang, scouty. Be realistic.

 

[scoutyjones2]

I said I would...and yes, that is unrealistic

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I said I would...and yes, that is unrealistic

We just need a 2 way dman, that's the only thing we need. I don't think we're as bad off as you think. No need to blow it all up. We made some amazing strides this season, just gotta build on that.

 

[obxyankeefan]

We just need a 2 way dman, that's the only thing we need. I don't think we're as bad off as you think. No need to blow it all up. We made some amazing strides this season, just gotta build on that.

First off until we lose 4 in a series the season is not over. It feels like it right now, but the Pens have come back before from worse.

Secondly, the three best teams in the playoffs have been the Capitals, the Penguins, and the Lightning. The two that lose do not have to make major changes to make the leap to the top of the heap. The Lightning need to get Stamkos back. The Penguins need some Dman. The Capitals need some kind of sniper, the one they have is not that good. No they honestly need to get over their complex against the Penguins.


The deal the Penguins need to do is send MAF to Dallas(needs a #1 goalie) and get GoGo and another D back in return.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

First off until we lose 4 in a series the season is not over. It feels like it right now, but the Pens have come back before from worse.

Secondly, the three best teams in the playoffs have been the Capitals, the Penguins, and the Lightning. The two that lose do not have to make major changes to make the leap to the top of the heap. The Lightning need to get Stamkos back. The Penguins need some Dman. The Capitals need some kind of sniper, the one they have is not that good. No they honestly need to get over their complex against the Penguins.


The deal the Penguins need to do is send MAF to Dallas(needs a #1 goalie) and get GoGo and another D back in return.

Even if we do beat the Lightning, there's no way we're winning the Cup. We have no power play, no goaltending, and no defense. I've seen teams win without a power play (2011 Bruins), win without goaltending (2010 Blackhawks), and win without defense (2006 Hurricanes), but I have never seen a team win without all 3. We could probably pull a deal off with the Predators this offseason, they have an abundance of dmen but lack team speed. Seems like a good trading partner to me.

 

[obxyankeefan]

Even if we do beat the Lightning, there's no way we're winning the Cup. We have no power play, no goaltending, and no defense. I've seen teams win without a power play (2011 Bruins), win without goaltending (2010 Blackhawks), and win without defense (2006 Hurricanes), but I have never seen a team win without all 3. We could probably pull a deal off with the Predators this offseason, they have an abundance of dmen but lack team speed. Seems like a good trading partner to me.

Our PP is scoring at 25% this postseason, which is fifth of the 16 teams. Yes the Caps made us look bad on the PP, but for the most part outside of that series our PP has been pretty good. PK is at 83% which is also fifth, but ahead of both SJ and St.L. GAA is at 2.5 which is tied with ST.L for 7th.

Yes we need help on the D side of the ice, but the Penguins style of play is fast paced so we will give up odd man rushed a few times a game.

Goalie wise. MAF looked rusty at times out there last night. The second goal was purely on him being out of position. It would not have matter if he had had Lidstrom and Bourque in front of him, by his positiion there was no way he could cover the back half of the net.

Murray looks great in a close game, but has a tendency to lose concentration when the Pens open up a lead.

I do not think we have enough to come back against TB, but will be hoping for it until the Fat Lady starts singing. But if the Pens do win the next two, I can not see St.L or SJ winning more than two games against the Pens.

 

[scoutyjones2]

Our PP is scoring at 25% this postseason, which is fifth of the 16 teams. Yes the Caps made us look bad on the PP, but for the most part outside of that series our PP has been pretty good. PK is at 83% which is also fifth, but ahead of both SJ and St.L. GAA is at 2.5 which is tied with ST.L for 7th.

Yes we need help on the D side of the ice, but the Penguins style of play is fast paced so we will give up odd man rushed a few times a game.

Goalie wise. MAF looked rusty at times out there last night. The second goal was purely on him being out of position. It would not have matter if he had had Lidstrom and Bourque in front of him, by his positiion there was no way he could cover the back half of the net.

Murray looks great in a close game, but has a tendency to lose concentration when the Pens open up a lead.

I do not think we have enough to come back against TB, but will be hoping for it until the Fat Lady starts singing. But if the Pens do win the next two, I can not see St.L or SJ winning more than two games against the Pens.

Yeah, I totally disagree...the Pens would get rolled by either of the West teams. Deep, big, solid D and solid goaltending...but I also don't see the Pens past Tampa either now...that's without Stamkos and Bishop! Pathetic...

No impression on any games by Malkin or Crosby...Letangs impressions are depressions at how crappy he plays

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I'll be rooting for the Pens in game 6 like I always do, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Even after we fired Mike Johnstom, the biggest weakness on this team is that we lack dmen that could transition from defense to offense & vice versa. All our dmen are either defensive or offensive specialists, great for zone play, awful for transitional play.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Can't get sentimental with MAF. Yes, he has done great things for us in the past & he's no doubt a great human being, but Matt Murray & Tristan Jarry are our future in net. Open up some cap space, maybe even get a decent dman if we're lucky.

As much as I would love to trade Maatta, he'll need to prove himself somehow. His stock is at an all time low & no one will want to pick up just a large long term contract, but we did somehow trade Scuderi for Daley, so anything is possible

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Our PP is scoring at 25% this postseason, which is fifth of the 16 teams. Yes the Caps made us look bad on the PP, but for the most part outside of that series our PP has been pretty good. PK is at 83% which is also fifth, but ahead of both SJ and St.L. GAA is at 2.5 which is tied with ST.L for 7th.

Yes we need help on the D side of the ice, but the Penguins style of play is fast paced so we will give up odd man rushed a few times a game.

Goalie wise. MAF looked rusty at times out there last night. The second goal was purely on him being out of position. It would not have matter if he had had Lidstrom and Bourque in front of him, by his positiion there was no way he could cover the back half of the net.

Murray looks great in a close game, but has a tendency to lose concentration when the Pens open up a lead.

I do not think we have enough to come back against TB, but will be hoping for it until the Fat Lady starts singing. But if the Pens do win the next two, I can not see St.L or SJ winning more than two games against the Pens.

Really, the only reason anything I said comes off as controversial is because the season isn't technically over yet. When the season comes to an end tomorrow or Thursday night, they will have to address these issues if they are going to get better. Only way they prove me wrong is by winning the Cup, in which case I would gladly take the egg on my face.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Good news is that the Blues seem even suckier than we are, so at least we're not the worst team in the conference finals

 

[scoutyjones2]

Good news is that the Blues seem even suckier than we are, so at least we're not the worst team in the conference finals

Well, the Sharks captain is showing up, unlike some other team I know! Their PP is deadly

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Well, the Sharks captain is showing up, unlike some other team I know! Their PP is deadly

New Pens theme song...

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

All we could really do now is to go out with a bang. Win or lose, everyone gives it their all. Nice thing is that there really isn't any pressure on us to win the game. After seeing the way we've been playing the last 2 games, you would have to be crazy to pick us to win game 6.