++++ Fleury: Great game. He shined tonight. Not as cool/calm with his rebound control, but made amazing saves when we needed it.
++++ Fourth Line: Once again drew us a penalty and a goal.
+++Guys like Bort/Despres are playing awesome hockey. Paul Martin is living up to every single word he said if he got an extra chance. It's just tremendous to see players holding themselves accountable.
+++ Dan Bylsma: We give him ****.. so lets give him some love. He coached a great game. Perfect timing on the time out and he also didn't panic with lines w/ all the chaos in the game (penalties, powerplays, comeback). Great coaching job to stay the course.
++++ Extra ups to Crosby and Geno who I thought looked like stars tonight. They had that extra hunger. That was one of the best quiet games Geno has played in his career. He was a horse tonight.
+ Neal's release: Lightning fast.
edit: Third line is also starting to click. Let them keep playing together and gain chemistry.
Just guessing here but I'm thinking it's more likely an issue of chemistry. If Boychuk (or anyone) actually sticks on that line for a while they may be able to form some.
Or maybe not.
Boychuk playing on instinct against NJ looked good in combination with Malkin and Neal.
Boychuk evolving through coaching to play like TK 2.0 is looking more and more like TK with Malkin and Neal.
++++ Fleury: Great game. He shined tonight. Not as cool/calm with his rebound control, but made amazing saves when we needed it.
++++ Fourth Line: Once again drew us a penalty and a goal.
+++Guys like Bort/Despres are playing awesome hockey. Paul Martin is living up to every single word he said if he got an extra chance. It's just tremendous to see players holding themselves accountable.
+++ Dan Bylsma: We give him ****.. so lets give him some love. He coached a great game. Perfect timing on the time out and he also didn't panic with lines w/ all the chaos in the game (penalties, powerplays, comeback). Great coaching job to stay the course.
++++ Extra ups to Crosby and Geno who I thought looked like stars tonight. They had that extra hunger. That was one of the best quiet games Geno has played in his career. He was a horse tonight.
To be honest, right now I don't even want Niskanen in the lineup when he is back. Not that he isn't better than some of the ones who play, but this right here should be what we are working on. Ie. to get Despres and Bortuzzo on to this team for good. They add just the qualities we've been short off (well, short of being PP QBs ), and once they iron out a few kinks, this is a naughty D that has insane value for money.
To be honest, right now I don't even want Niskanen in the lineup when he is back. Not that he isn't better than some of the ones who play, but this right here should be what we are working on. Ie. to get Despres and Bortuzzo on to this team for good. They add just the qualities we've been short off (well, short of being PP QBs ), and once they iron out a few kinks, this is a naughty D that has insane value for money.
You may not want it, but he'll be back in the day he's ready.
- Me: I jumped on the "wow this team quit" bandwagon after the last Isles game, and I was dead wrong. No attacking him for things I don't like or past failures, none of that, I was flat wrong that Bylsma had lost the room. That was my biggest concern and the team has shown that they're totally engaged.
+ Fleury - Made a lot of huge saves early that made it easier to stomach the two 3rd period goals.
+ Sutter - The offense is starting to come for the kid now. He finds himself in good position to score, it's just a matter of putting it away. Oh, and he's a beast defensively.
+ Bylsma - on top of what I said - Despres had a bad game against Washington, there was talk Disco was going to play Lovejoy tonight. Despres took two penalties (one of which was highlllllly questionable), but I think Bylsma's faith in and patience with Depregassus (Starchild? Elmer? Horse Meat?) paid off.
+ Sid - thought he looked fast and dangerous and engaged. My only issue is in the dot, where I think he's really struggling to win big draws.
+The defense - Paul Martin: good at hockey. But everyone was pretty good tonight.
+ Joe Vitale - I know this is redundant, but I love Joe's game.
= Geno - Thought he had a really good 1st. Thought he sat in the 2nd. Not sure on the 3rd, because I was half watching, half doing other things.
- Officiating - Really confused by some of the calls, to say the least. That said, the Pens need to compose themselves better.
What are you talking about? Malkin killed penalties half the night. He and Neal have been doing that at ES pretty much all year given the cluster of a parade on their LW (it took Boychuk all of three games to go from maybe even better than Jeffrey to TK 2.0).
Boychuk making that pass to a trailing Bortuzzo alone makes him a more aware offensive player than TK.
+I liked Glass trying to hold McDonald accountable for the hit he put on Lovejoy, even though McDonald wasn't willing to answer the bell. That was something that was missing before. I still don't think the team is gritty enough, but it's a step in the right direction.
They add just the qualities we've been short off (well, short of being PP QBs ), and once they iron out a few kinks, this is a naughty D that has insane value for money.
If you ever refer to our D as "naughty" again, you're getting a 10 point infraction and a Game Misconduct. Watch it, pal!
Boychuk making that pass to a trailing Bortuzzo alone makes him a more aware offensive player than TK.
Yup, I have no idea why Boychuk's getting a raw deal tonight. I think the guy has good hockey instincts and is the furthest thing away from being soft.
If ever I wanted a line to just stick together, it's that one.
Did anyone else here Mike Milbury call Chris Kunitz "gutless"?, after his comments about Crosby last year, you have to consider the source.
But how ironic is it, the guy in front of a camera is calling players "a punk" or "gutless" but this same guy, in his 40's-50's, assaulted a 12 year old! DUDE, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?!
Did anyone else here Mike Milbury call Chris Kunitz "gutless"?, after his comments about Crosby last year, you have to consider the source.
But how ironic is it, the guy in front of a camera is calling players "a punk" or "gutless" but this same guy, in his 40's-50's, assaulted a 12 year old! DUDE, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?!
Didn't hear it. What was it about, the slew foot play?
Evidently there were kick ass hashi brownies at Mamma Cole's birthday tonight .
I am a notorious Geno defender.... he SUCKED tonight, Cole. Badly.
I'm surprised... I watched him and he was just making the smarter play. I didn't see crazy Geno with turnovers. I thought he used his teammates well and did some things defensively that went unnoticed.
For the first 2 periods, he was flying out there. He was looking so good.
Did anyone else here Mike Milbury call Chris Kunitz "gutless"?, after his comments about Crosby last year, you have to consider the source.
But how ironic is it, the guy in front of a camera is calling players "a punk" or "gutless" but this same guy, in his 40's-50's, assaulted a 12 year old! DUDE, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?!
- I'm starting to dig Glass. He jacked up Grabner and made him cry on the bench. He does a lot of little things right, but making Grabner cry deserves a shout.
- Letang put Grabner's face through the glass and he went to the bench and cried again.
- I'm a bad person because I found it funny Grabner kept crying on the bench.
- Orpik and Martin playing tons of stalwart minutes and no PIMs between them. Damn.
Either way, as much as I may dislike a player, I never wish ill will to them. Even when Eric Lindros got his noggin rocked by Scott Stevens, I felt bad for the guy and I used to really dislike No. 88.
I didn't watch the entire game, but I guess I will make a list of positive and negative performances from the players in the game.
Positives:
+ Marc-Andre Fleury was solid in net today, he was very good positionally in net. He wasn't overly athletic.
+ Craig Adams played well on the PK today. He did a great job breaking up passes.
+ Simon Despres was solid, but needs to play more disciplined. That shift he had where he scored the goal was amazing.
+ Tanner Glass played a terrific game, he did an amazing job on the PK (did a great job against Matt Moulson), he also played well physically. He challenged Colin McDonald for his hit from behind last game on Ben Lovejoy. However, McDonald declined and his teammate Matt Martin stepped in for him. Tanner Glass landed some good lefts in a toe-to-toe bout, I would give Tanner Glass the win, Tanner Glass did a great job playing his role.
+ Sidney Crosby had a good game, his hand-eye condition blows my mind. He's such a gifted/talented forward.
+ Kris Letang was also solid, he played well in his own zone, him and Simon Despres make a great d-pair.
+ Orpik/Martin pairing remained a terrific shutdown pairing.
+ Bortuzzo/Engelland pairing played physical.
Negatives:
- We need to reduce the amount of penalties that we took today, but our PK bailed us out.
- Evgeni Malkin needs to reduce the amount of turnovers he has been taking the last few games.
New York Islanders:
- Colin McDonald for being a ***** by declining an invitation from Tanner Glass.
Last edited by MichiganWolverines: 02-05-2013 at 11:55 PM.
), and once they iron out a few kinks, this is a naughty D that has insane value for money.
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