Penguins/NHL
Penguins – Flyers Fallout
The Penguins finally looked like a team Sunday night vs the Flyers that has hit a wall due to the injuries. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead and +11 advantage in shot attempts in the first six minutes of the game, Pittsburgh was overwhelmed in all facets.
For one of the rare times this season, the Penguins appeared to be a slow, tired hockey club.
And the injuries for at least one night caught up to the Penguins.
With a tough stretch looming against Chicago, New York Rangers, Carolina, and Columbus over the next four games, things don’t get easier for the injury ravished Penguins.
The issue for the Penguins in Sunday night’s game was how they weren’t able to hide their bottom tier players and I thought the bottom-6 lacked an energy game that is often needed when the top-6 is not controlling play offensively.
At even strength, Oskar Sundqvist on the ice for three goals against, was also -11 in shot attempts differential (3/14). Tom Kuhnhackl (5/15, 21 CF%), Scott Wilson (4/15, 21 CF%), were also on the ice for two 5 v 5 goals against.
David Warsofsky was on the ice for a team-high 25 shot attempts against and that was major trouble for the Penguins defensively.
The injury situation has also started to show some cracks in Justin Schultz game defensively in how he’s now being over-extended into a top-pairing role. Schultz was on the ice for 3 even strength goals against and was hemmed in his own end for much of the night, on the ice for 11 shot attempts, 20 against.
— Mike Sullivan like many NHL coaches is wired where every point matters. “We’ve solidified a playoff spot, but we’d like to be in the best possible position,” Sullivan said. “Given the players we have available to us, we’re trying to put the best lineup together that we think is going to win on a given night.”
For a team that looked slow last night, the Penguins also missed Josh Archibald’s speed and energy. He was a healthy scratch.
NHL coaches are showing no signs of adopting the NBA’s philosophy and resting players, notably star players, but even with the injury situation, the Penguins would be smart to give some players a game or two off over the final seven games and decide where they finish is where finish.
This team has played a ton of hockey over the last year.
Injuries now have 40 year old Matt Cullen playing over 18 minutes a night in three of the last four games, nearly five minutes more than he was playing prior to the Malkin injury. He’s a prime candidate who should get a couple games off spread over the final week to 10 days. Chris Kunitz at age 37 is another obvious candidate. That said, until the Penguins playoff spot is officially locked in, don’t count on anybody sitting for rest.
— Are Phil Kessel’s days as 30+ goal a year winger over? He’ll be 30 years old in October and projects to score under 30 goals for the third straight season.
Goal Production last 3 years
2014-2015: 25 Goals in 82 Games
2015-2016: 26 Goals in 82 Games
2016-2017: 22 Goals in 75 Games
— My thoughts on the Penguins goaltending situation following a poor outing from Matt Murray.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Murray can go out and give up 5 goals a game in the remaining regular season starts he makes and he’ll still be the Penguins’ starting goaltender for Game 1 of the playoffs and have a very long leash.
Nothing Murray or Fleury does the rest of the way over these final seven games is going to change anything. No matter how hard the Fleury crowd among the fan base and local media try to drive up talk that a goaltending controversy is brewing, it’s just not.To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
In instances like this, where it’s so clear that Murray has been pedestrian (and that’s generous) over the last month, it really hammers home what a jaded ex lover yoda is, and how hurt he was by Fleury breaking it off post-coitus. Sad!
Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup Champion
The same year Hillary was a candidate for president
Your mom is gangbang champion she best stains mom by 2 guys last year
For someone that survives off of his mom’s trick money, it’s kind of an off base comment coming from you, chubwick
Pretty solid chance that yoda continues to defend Murray because he was turned on while Murray had a puck slide under him while he was crawling around on all four’s the other night?
it wouldn’t be a bad thing if all of these injuries caused the pens to fall to 7th and face the atlantic in the playoffs
They would pretty much need to lose every game down the stretch… guess we are advocating to give Murray the remaining starts. Based on how he has looked as of late it might help 😉
murray’s GAA has been 2.33 over the past 3 games. that is very acceptable
LOL
http://www.mymajors.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/yoda.gif
Still need 4 to win… unless you don’t realize that you can’t score 3.33 a night
You must be praying about it
Fleury starting and performing well in the playoffs would be awesome. Real fans get to enjoy seeing him play one more time, he gets a chance to solidify his legacy, and the Pens reap the benefits of his significantly increased trade value in the offseason. Then Murray can come back next season with some fire after playing like poo.
murray is in the upper 3rd in stats and st.bleury is in the lower 3rd. it’s bizzare how all logic goes out the window when it comes to st.bleury. #cultofstbleury, #logicoutthewindow, #allhailthesaintofclowns
Not all logic, just relevant logic. For example, over the past month Murray has a .910 save percentage compared to Fleury’s .944 save percentage. Also, for anyone who has watched the two play in that span, e.g. Mike Sullivan, will tell you who has played demonstrably better.
yeah, lets judge the two over their previous 5 games. lets throw the rest of the seasons results out the window and lets just mind wipe the st.bleury playoff meltdowns over his career. #cultist
Why would what happened in November matter now, Power Bottom?
Coming from the dip shit that continually ignores his strong play in 14 and 15 while using his meltdown in 2012 and 13 as evidence to support his case on the regular? Laughable! Besides its been roughly 10 that we have seen spotty play from one with strong play from the other. End of the day Murray has to work his shit out over the next six because he is supposed to remain the starter and if all things remain equal between now and game one and we still see him looking spotty while MAF looks sharp I don’t see… Read more »
i think murray has been a top 10 goalie all year. how could you not like that? st.pokecheck has been in the lower half all year. st.bleury wasn’t strong in 14 and 15. he was outplayed by the other goalie every fuckintime.
Not over the last month he hasn’t. Over the last month, it’s been like you’ve been the one on top.
Yoda must have stopped watching games 2 months ago when Murray could still stop a beach ball. Apparently he’s been too busy trolling for more cock now that Fleury won’t return his calls to watch actual games. That’s our yogurt!!! #Tear #It #Down
#cultofstbleury
Cult of 1, no? The only one that shared love with him. The only one that’s obsessed with him. #Tear #It #Down
hypothetical… Murrays game and thereby his stats continue to drop over the next 10 while MAF continues to show he is more on top of his game and climbs statistically? What do you do game one?
Rachel Dolezal hahahahah
Joe from Blawnox is a more credible source than TBJ’s buddy Depaoli
Pirates play in Montreal this week? Didnt MLB learn years ago that nothing can be successful in that shlthole?
You apparently have never been to Montreal’s nudie bars.
Did Jaydog take you?
supersex closed down, they aren’t what they use to be.
Scratching Archibald is a head scratcher.
Murray just let in another one.
Glove side?
That or underneath him whilst crawling along on all fours.
Dusty is probably one of those guys that calls into a talk show and starts with “Well, when I played on my school’s JV team as a senior…..”
We have two good goalies that have won a cup. We are very lucky. The Pens have won a cup before using both goalies. This is a luxury.
Exactly, Murray is clearly the starter and outside some bs here and on less than credible pages I don’t think anyone is seriously considering otherwise. MAF gives insurance which based on Murrays last while has been concerning!
D you can also clarify Kessel last 3 years goals how many of them is 5v5 how many of them are on pp and how many of them he scored as a top liner vs top lines and not vs college pairing of defense
Make sure zero tool is aware of it
Since he has a thing for that chubby
LOL, 20 of his 73 goals the past 3 years were on the PP. Crosby had 33 powerplay goals in that same span. Crosbys % of goals on the PP vs 5v5 was 31% while Kessel scored 27% of his goals on the PP. You fucken retard…
As for the breakdown, if you really feel like that somehow diminishes his contribution that is all on you. Guy was the true MVP of last years playoffs despite who you think he should have been scoring against.
Are his days as a 30 goal man over? Probably… the same way Ov struggles for 50 or it’s unlikely Stamkos gets back there. When goal scoring league wide has tapered off you’re likely to see several names struggle to get back to these milestone type marks. Let’s not forget Kessel hasn’t lived with the shoot first mindset here either, unlike Toronto he has options and that factors.
You are a fuckinn idiot. Ovi had one off year when last few he was doing okay and Stamkos was doing good before injury this year
Your love with chubby is unreal
You and dusty need to get together.
I love it when sam attempts to counter an argument but then gets his ass handed to him and goes silent… minus the thumbs downs from his trey accounts…
You mean except the point we seen OV go into these exact kind of slumps in the past? The guy was a lock for flirting with 60, he slumps for a bit then just hits 50 the last couple years. A mark most do not achieve so no… again you are the fucken idiot you dumb cuntt!
Stamkos hasn’t come close really in the last two full years either you mother fucken retard!
One bad year… 2 consecutive seasons under 40 in near 80 games lol. Not to mention that the 2010 season he got very iffy late in the year which is why he hit 50 and stopped. Take your fucken socks off if you need help counting beyond one you stupid fuckk
D very disappointed from you. Where is the sv% of Murray first 23 shots and last 10 shots
You did it for fleury. You certainly can for Murray too
No one cares what you think.
#HockeyStartsInApril
It’s funny how you randomly make stuff up and just go with it. What’s funny is your hockey ends in April. Keep rooting for those useless frogs up there.
Thanks for the clarification on our goaltending situation. Some on here can’t grasp it, since 10 game sample sizes in the middle of the season are more important than getting lit up like a Christmas tree in the playoffs for the better part of a decade.
Hahahahahahahahaha, D is who you use to validate yourself. Good one. I’m sure the players will allow the season to go down the shitter if Murray doesn’t get it together soon. Trust me, leadership on th team and Mario won’t sit back and let Murray blow it…assuming he doesn’t turn it around.
The post validates itself. And the season will be down the shitter of Fleury starts, the way it has been since 2010.
Sam is the only one on here that agrees with you. That should tell you something.
Pay attention. Call shows are already getting flooded with calls saying Murray is in a slump, play Fleury, Fleury should get game 1 etc. But you keep thinking it’s just me and Sam. Murray’s holes are being exposed and he is showing fatigue. Seeing who plays next Tuesday will tell us where Sullivan’s head is for game 1. I expect it to be Murray….let’s see how he does.
Well if people calling into call shows say it, it must be right….
Yeah, he’s using the morons that call into the Fan as an example. It’s nothing but 35-50 year old yinzers that only watch hockey after football season is over.
Beerman! Tell me how to feel!