Just watched the game on my DVR and Good god that was a brutel call on Letang. I have been saying this hit to the head rule will lead to more bad call than good. Blake crossed the blue line with his head down! This is going to be some division.
1. We play the Flyers tonight... If Sid isn't actually injured, the one thing that will break him out of his funk is a game against our rivals.
2. Although I feel like Malkin is best utilized at center, he is doing a fine job so far as a winger. The dude is 2nd in the league in shots on goal with 24 (Behind P. Sharp with 25) but just isn't hitting the twine, despite creating great opportunities. If his shots were going in at his career shooting % rate (.131), he has three goals right now. If he had two more goals right now, I don't think the rumblings about moving him back to center would be so loud.
Pretty pathetic effort last night. Crosby looks awful for the most part. Malkin sucked too, but I get the feeling that once the Pens start winning he's gonna go on a rampage.
- Matt Cooke trying to purposely injure people seems to be his big thing now, I don't know how you guys deal with having this guy on your team.
And yes the call on the big hit was horrendous, unfortunately I must say that if I was a ref I think I would have did the same thing. People like to get on the refs case but when you don't have the ability to look at replays from a bunch of different angles, it's not hard to make a hit to the head call when you see Comeau fall the way that he did. Does that make it the right call? No, but I think it's just something unfortunate that happens in this sport from time to time.
I havent seen sooo much coasting by most of our players including sid... yeah th cooke, kennedy, talbot, etc still skate their ass off, but I cant even tell you how many times I saw sid just coasting and taking 75% of his shift off.
I really dislike the Cooke penalty for goaltender interference. Watch the tape again. He's not even looking at the goalie and he's 3 feet outside of the crease. How in the freaking world is that anything but a goaltender dive?
And I'm not even mad at Rick. He knows exactly who is coming into the area and to take a bump because he has a bad rep. That's a vet goalie doing what he has to do. I love it.
I really dislike the Cooke penalty for goaltender interference. Watch the tape again. He's not even looking at the goalie and he's 3 feet outside of the crease. How in the freaking world is that anything but a goaltender dive?
And I'm not even mad at Rick. He knows exactly who is coming into the area and to take a bump because he has a bad rep. That's a vet goalie doing what he has to do. I love it.
Yeah, but Cooke has to know his own reputation and know the refs are eagle-eyeing him whenever he's anywhere near the crease area. Cooke knows better.
- Matt Cooke trying to purposely injure people seems to be his big thing now, I don't know how you guys deal with having this guy on your team.
And yes the call on the big hit was horrendous, unfortunately I must say that if I was a ref I think I would have did the same thing. People like to get on the refs case but when you don't have the ability to look at replays from a bunch of different angles, it's not hard to make a hit to the head call when you see Comeau fall the way that he did. Does that make it the right call? No, but I think it's just something unfortunate that happens in this sport from time to time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jag68Sid87
Cooke played a good game, but yeah he's got to start being smarter around the crease area.
If you guys honestly believe that that last "interference" call on Cooke was a legit penalty, then you are pretty naive.
I actually think he's strong defending our net. He pushes people down and works hard.
He is making a ton of little plays, using the boards as his outlet, keeping it really simple, sticking to his man down low...
He is even more impressive in the other zone... does he ever have his head down? He has a knack for making the right decisions to shoot or pass - because he always sees what is going on in front of him... unlike other bluelienrs who have their head down so often.
I didn't even see anyone mention his beautiful assist to Crosby agt Toronto on Wed.. head up at the point, snapped a tape-tape saucer right on Crosby's stick as he was cutting W-E. It was textbook. A lot of players would of panicked there and just threw it on net... he has a lot of poise and waits for the play to develop... you don't see him rush the play.
Loving Lovejovy - this cat needs to get more love for the job he has been doing.
1. What happened to the two man forecheck with F3 high and the defensemen stepping up at center ice? This 1-2-2 forecheck spreads faster than the red sea and, for as much as it's supposed in theory to tighten gap, it does the opposite in practice.
2. Pet peeve play: Malkin takes a faceoff. Instead of losing it cleanly as usual, he actually ties up the Islanders faceoff man and the puck is just sitting there. The other two Islander forwards go for the puck. The two Pens out there with Malkin stand still. Ugh.
3. The Penguins powerplay gave the Islanders a point tonight. The 4 on 3 goal was a nice consolation. But, 5 on 4, the top unit is ****, as in 1 for 27 ****. You know how bad it is when you look at the 3 5 on 3's the Pens have had this season. It's one thing not to score. It's quite another not to generate significant pressure. That takes talent.
4. Three times tonight, Malkin got shots through from the right point. It was on net each time, and it generated a juicy rebound each time.
5. If Sid is so adamant about playing the right circle on the PP, then he damn well better convert one of the four or so clean look one timers he got tonight from there. Unless I'm mistaken, he missed the net with every one of them except one.
Agreed with on all points. Malkin's forechecking has been great this year but he is on an island with the 1-2-2. It would be nice to see a second forward in to take care of the opponents breakout pair.
And with the rebounds off Malkin shots, not once was was someone in position to put them in. This should be the easiest way to score goals and the reason why you continue to take shots from the point. Effort on rebounds so far this season has been lackluster.
Plus
Gogo looked good in a all facets of the game. I didn't know what to think of his position on the power play before the game but I can't disagree with it right now, he looked better than others on the PP. Cleaned up Geno's rebound when it mattered.
Johnson was solid in net. He' didn't have to be spectacular but made the stops he needed to make.
For being down as many d-men as they were, with injuries, and after Letang's match penalty, the defence did a surprisingly good job overall with the extra minutes.
Even
Malkin will be better the more he gets accustomed to playing wing and involving his line-mates. He has not been using his line-mates efficiently but has shown a ton of energy so far. It seemed last night he finally started to show some willingness to give up the puck. He is bound to explode for some points very soon.
Minus
The man advantage is still awful. There is a reason it is called the power play but the Penguins end up with too few scoring opportunities with the extra skater.
Letang being tossed for the best hit of the season so far. He looked poised for a strong game, already a +2 when he left.
Matt Cooke penalties: I would not want some joker running into our goalie like that even though DiPietro embellished the one.
