Series Thread: Pens vs Rangers round 2

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I think he is going to be a very good Dman...had a nice assist last night. I think better of him than Seth jones...but I was never on the Seth Jones wagon to begin with...

I really hope to see Maatta, Pouliot, Harrington, Dumoulin, Ruopp, & Samuelsson as our top 6 very soon. I would rather have those guys than the guys we have at the blue line right now.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Ok ok ok I'll admit I was wrong about the Pens tonight. Great game by MAF & Geno. Would be sweet if this Pens team showed up more often.

 

[Darkstone42]

Crosby had jump and pace tonight, and it was a big difference for him and the Penguins. I wonder if his commitment to not retaliating and getting sucked into the after-the-whistle agitation stuff led him too far in the passive direction. He was edgy in game one, and tonight he was flying. Maybe he's found that balance, and if he has, the Rangers are in for some considerable difficulties in the upcoming contests.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Crosby had jump and pace tonight, and it was a big difference for him and the Penguins. I wonder if his commitment to not retaliating and getting sucked into the after-the-whistle agitation stuff led him too far in the passive direction. He was edgy in game one, and tonight he was flying. Maybe he's found that balance, and if he has, the Rangers are in for some considerable difficulties in the upcoming contests.

Hope so, we'll need all the help we can get with the series shifting to NYC. Would love to see the Pens replicate their game 2 performance in game. 3, but I don't know if this team can put forth solid performances in back to back games. At least the Rangers won't have much time to make adjustments.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Nice to see Tang breakout, now if only Sid could score.

 

[element1286]

Crosby had jump and pace tonight, and it was a big difference for him and the Penguins. I wonder if his commitment to not retaliating and getting sucked into the after-the-whistle agitation stuff led him too far in the passive direction. He was edgy in game one, and tonight he was flying. Maybe he's found that balance, and if he has, the Rangers are in for some considerable difficulties in the upcoming contests.

That's a good point. The whole team seems a little different in that regard. I've noticed James Neal has taken his game in a different direction, instead of letting himself be agitated and then blow up, he's agitating the other team, especially Lundqvist last night.

 

[element1286]

I think he is going to be a very good Dman...had a nice assist last night. I think better of him than Seth jones...but I was never on the Seth Jones wagon to begin with...

I've heard Pouliot's defensive game, awareness, positioning, etc is what is holding him back right now from the NHL.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I've heard Pouliot's defensive game, awareness, positioning, etc is what is holding him back right now from the NHL.

I don't think that defensive awareness & positioning is a valid excuse to keep Pouliot down. If that's the case then 2/3 of our dmen have no place on this team either.

 

[element1286]

I don't think that defensive awareness & positioning is a valid excuse to keep Pouliot down. If that's the case then 2/3 of our dmen have no place on this team either.

Ok, but all of those guys passed the defensive awareness test at some point, he can't even get that far. And the problem is the system, not the players. We've seen plenty of competent NHL defensmen come through here and regress defensively.

 

[scoutyjones2]

Watched Pouliot all game last night. Dude is a very good Letang type puck mover and had very good D awareness. The problem I can see is his size and how dominant this Portland team truly is...they are a very good WHL team that is absolutely stacked.


Pouliot is the stud D man, even ahead of Dumba.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Watched Pouliot all game last night. Dude is a very good Letang type puck mover and had very good D awareness. The problem I can see is his size and how dominant this Portland team truly is...they are a very good WHL team that is absolutely stacked.


Pouliot is the stud D man, even ahead of Dumba.

If Pouliot can bulk up I think he has the potential to be the best dman in his draft class, maybe even better than Ryan Murray.

 

[element1286]

Also watching last night, it's amazing how much more effective the 4th line is when there is someone with some skill on it. Yeah, Vitale is a good forchecker, but his complete lack of puck skills just leads to at best a few hits and then an easy exit the other team. Toss Gibbons out there, who has ability to corral the puck and establish possession after the Vitale/Adams throw a few hits and the puck is up for grabs, and you have at least an NHL caliber 4th line.

When it's Glass - Vitale - Adams no one has the skill necessary to hold possession of the puck in the offensive zone.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I was most impressed with MAF. Although the defense played well in front of him he made some tough saves early on setting the tone for the game. We like to get on MAF for messing up & letting in soft goals. I think we should also give him props when he shuts the door on the other team like that. Hope we can replicate last night's performance. I expect the Rangers to be much stronger in game 3 than they were in game 2.

 

[Darkstone42]

Also watching last night, it's amazing how much more effective the 4th line is when there is someone with some skill on it. Yeah, Vitale is a good forchecker, but his complete lack of puck skills just leads to at best a few hits and then an easy exit the other team. Toss Gibbons out there, who has ability to corral the puck and establish possession after the Vitale/Adams throw a few hits and the puck is up for grabs, and you have at least an NHL caliber 4th line.

When it's Glass - Vitale - Adams no one has the skill necessary to hold possession of the puck in the offensive zone.

I was coming here to post just this. Gibbons was excellent once again last night, and the fact that the fourth line was actually able to accomplish something positive was a major boost. There were times in these playoffs that we would get some momentum going from a couple good shifts from the Crosby/Malkin/Sutter lines, and then the fourth line threw it all away. Last night, we could just keep rolling them, and it wore down the Rangers so they never had a chance to come back.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I don't think we could get too excited about yesterday's game. As well as the Pens played, the Rangers looked sort of off with the exception of Lundqvist. Really felt more like a 1-0 win than a 3-0 win.

 

[Darkstone42]

I don't think we could get too excited about yesterday's game. As well as the Pens played, the Rangers looked sort of off with the exception of Lundqvist. Really felt more like a 1-0 win than a 3-0 win.

Lundqvist is the reason it wasn't 5-0 or so by the end of the second. I don't care how long it took us to score that first one, or how long it was until the second, we controlled that game beginning to end.

And if the Rangers were flat, maybe they're tired, and we punished them yesterday. If we keep our feet on the gas, we have a chance to essentially take them out of the series tonight.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I think the Rangers were just content to have split the 1st 2 games @ Pittsburgh. I expect them to be much stronger at home where they have to defend home ice.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Goc? Stupid penalty

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Kunitz gets denied on the breakaway again

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Oh Neal