Penguins/NHL
Game 5 Lead Up
Matt Murray outplayed Pekka Rinne in Games 1 and 2.
Pekka Rinne outplayed Matt Murray in games 3 and 4.
The Stanley Cup Final is now a best-of-3.
Did the Penguins actually have a goalie controversy (50-50 decision on who would start) heading into tonight’s Game 5 or was it strictly driven by the pro Marc Andre Fleury media crowd?
More likely the latter.
Indications are Penguin coaches never really wavered making a goaltending change and as expected Mike Sullivan confirmed this morning that Matt Murray will start Game 5.
When you’re at this point, you are almost always going to stick with your No. 1, even with a quality goaltender like Marc Andre Fleury behind him.
“I know our guys understand the importance of the short-term focus and staying in the moment,” said Sullivan. “I think it’s arguably the most important for the goaltending position and because of it the importance of that position. So that’s where our focus needs to be. I know Matt’s excited to play tonight and he’s certainly had success at home and we hope we have our best game in front of him.”
The Penguins are involved in a 2-2 series in the Stanley Cup Final and some of the fan base right now makes it feel like the Penguins are down 0-3 and facing elimination tonight.
— The Penguins in Game 4 believe they attacked the middle of the ice better than they have all series. Nashville’s d-men play wide and Pittsburgh was able to find those middle seams at a higher rate.
Whether it’s sustainable remains to be seen because of how badly the Pittsburgh’s blueline struggles in moving the puck right now against the Predators aggressive forecheck.
For Pittsburgh the blueprint is pretty clear to winning two of three.
Bury their grade-A chances and get good to great goaltending.
There’s no evidence the Penguins are going to be able to come out and fire 35+ shots in a game against this Predators defense.
As great as Pekka Rinne was in Game 4, Pittsburgh was still limited to 24 shots and had just 2 high danger chances in the third period when trailing by two goals.
When they get a surge tonight, they have to convert.
Lineup Decisions
Nick Bonino has been kept off the ice the last couple days and is officially a game-time decision. Patric Hornqvist will play.
Josh Archibald is expected to be a healthy scratch regardless of whether Bonino plays or not.
The pressing lineup decision for Game 5 was going to be more about the defense than goaltending.
Are the coaches so stubborn they won’t make a change?
Ron Hainsey is failing the eye test and everything else after that. Some are saying he’s entering Rob Scuderi territory in how poor he is moving the puck and that’s not an outrageous assertion.
11 Forwards/7D?
The talk going around this morning is the Penguins may dress Chad Ruhwedel To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Listen to Lange tonight use DVR to sink with game anyways. Does Lange bitch that much anymore I mean if he doesn’t like NHL hockey he can leave. He’s reached the top.
Group hug except Sam cuz he’s a Canadiens fan and a piece of shitt till at least Sunday… cuz it’s worked a few times now
Team wins in a big way, sends a message, Sam complains… Fakeass pens fan in such a major way.
Murray was sensational.
Gonna miss Kunitz
And Hainsey
#3 star of the game
Weird parallel universe.
Eddie O is insufferable
Great night. Pens up huge and I taught Sam that “winning” has 2 N’s in it.
Pens need to sign tk as their water boy. Specially after that incident with sid and the water bottle
The should sign you as the water boy, you can wear Bobby Bouchers helmet lol
I can’t defend that
Sheary moved back to line one… most dominant performance of the finals… coincidence?
TK actually did a clinic for kids at the local rink this past Monday-
Sullivan should have started Fleury
Pens can play empty net all game a still win the game this game looks like a practice session for the pens. According to Yoda pens winning because of Murray
Well either way it’s got nothing to do with MAF lol
Laviolette should have sat Subban… right sammich
Hey zeroTOOL. How did subban looked on that goal? And how is he doing in this series?
Looked better than that sentence
You mean in the finals? 2 wins from a cup? Vs the defending champs? I dunno… how far did Montreal get! Subtract that from where the Preds are now and Subbans the winner. And I don’t have to jump ship from one to the other to point out why you’re a fucken idiot, especially considering how hard you pretended to ride his dick to support anti Penguin sentiment the last two games. Give it up sammich. You’re brain don’t work hard enough for this debate
Fuck Ron Hainsey
Officially has more finals goals than Ovechkin lol
F’in A
Hainsey!
Yoda is right. This game is boring.
Crazy you two are associated lol…. didn’t you ride the blow it up train with him most of last year too?
Rhetorical question the answer is yes, you absolutely did lol
All good though, I forgive you, its hug it out time till at least Sunday lol. Cherry gives it to the winner tonight
Yup. All the way up to game 6 of the finals.
I respect your honesty
Despite yodas crying earlier the FACT that sam hasn’t seen how good Sheary has played since G7 in Ottawa that has translated into some solid hockey back on SIDS line, finally, tonight is proof he closes his TV for various reasons at weird times. Fuck you bandwagon-bitch
Kessel and Malkin suck… So does Sheary! I hate this team, I hope they lose…. Fuck “sully”
Oh wait chubby finally shows up when game is out of hand quick zeroTool start drooling over him now. You box score
He’s helped try to put this game out of reach you dumb fuckingcunt and unless the Pens collapse hard they will win 31 of 32 possible wins in the playoffs since he arrived you stupid fucken retarded dumb fucken bandwagon cuntt
I think I was at peak whiskey right here HAHAHA
Hey Yoda pens winning because of Murray tonight. Sid has been a ghost tonight Murray carrying the team just like Npl’s mom carrying aids
You know you live in Montreal when you cant spell “winning”
I wonder if sid showed up tonight wish stain had his TV on tonight he could’ve gave us his opinion about sid
You are aware all pens fans like Sid right? No one discriminates against Canadian players like you do against any other nationality…your not “sticking it” to anyone you fat retard
Sheary sucks… asknthe sammich
Yes box score. How was he doing when he was not on sid line lately? Thank you
Guys been awesome since game 7 in Ottawa without the box score you fucken moron hahahahahahaha…. who is reading box scores now? What a fucken poser
Potential 30 goal scorer
Agreed only when he plays with the best player in the world
Jake Guentzel is having a great year, but im not ready to call him the best player in the world.
I wonder why Jake is having a great year. You have to be more specific and have more details why he is doing. Oh forgot your hockey stops half way the box score results . Good job fatso
Here you Go again not giving credit where it’s due, if Guentzel was from Laval you’d be sending him dick picks you fucken cuntt
Pens in 7
You guys saw Darth Vader at the game he is looking for Yoda. To tell him pens wining because of Murray
#SBAT
PPG
Lets go Pens
Group hug gentleman… it’s time to bring it in
Squeeze
Sounds dirty
Sam sucks. Go Pens.
Murray injured yet?
i think the game will be fixed tonight for the pens to win. they are going to fix it for nashville to win in game 6, and then the league will give each team one power play each for game 7 and it will be boring AF because it will be a trap and interference fest. #garageleague, #makeitlikewrestling, #clogtheneutralzone
then dont watch
He doesn’t know what he’s looking at anyway.
Idiot. I wish they could permanently fix how stupid you are.
You’re not just a shitty Pens fan but you’re a horrible hockey fan…
#fixisin you continually surprise, if your brain worked any less you’d be in a coma requiring life support for autonomic function.
Where’s Jiri Slegr when you need him.
He sits down by the glass at the games.
Convinced now more than ever that DePaoli and Yoda are one in the same.
deapaoli i am not
We did have some great chances – but our GT was outplayed for the 2nd game in a row – PR handled his situations more effectively
7 D sounds good to me.
I’ll bet, especially if you could clone MAF haha
Won’t matter since Murray is Jim Abbott
HAHAHAHAHA…. In fairness I think Abbots glove was better
Now that was funny.
brilliant stanchion
Let me break this pens left season
Pens win tonight they go game 7
Pens lose tonight pens season ends at game 6 in Nashville
So if pens lose tonight .For some bandwagons here no need to watch game 6 and see you next April. This goes for Npl, stain tbj and mstartari
What?
Translation – “I hope the Pens lose, I love the Montreal Canadiens and I project all the silly things I do onto others when I am called out”
I wonder what you have to have upstairs in order for the first line of sam the virginal bandwagon man’s post to make sense.
Head on collision… through the windshield head 1st… hit the pavement head first… ambulance gets caught in traffic and is about and hour late arriving
“Let me break this English into smaller pieces” -Sam the virginal bandwagon man
what kind of hot water will Sullivan be if Murray loses the next 2 in a row. Benches the Conn Smythe favorite in favor of his “#1” and never goes back to the previous hot goalie even after struggling. A complete 180 from how he coached last year.
Only comment out here that I can kind of agree with. While the decision to change seemed to payoff in Ottawa it is starting to look a little more questionable. Granted 1 goal support from the team does the tender no favours either but Murray is getting beat in a manner we all know MAF thrives on so questions will come up. That said, Sullivan is in ZERO hot water in any way shape or form. Team has earned 30 of 32 possible playoff wins in 2 years since Sullivan took the reigns. Only an idiot would expect that Sullivan… Read more »
You realize that all it takes if for 1 of Sid or Geno to become frustrated with the finals loss and thinking that a goalie change may have been the difference. Then carry into next year the team grows tired of laying their body in front of 30 shots a game and then all of a sudden you have a team that no longer wants to play for a coach and you force the GM’s hand. Not saying I like the idea of the players running the team, but that’s how it goes in hockey. When you win cups, blocking… Read more »
No, it doesnt at least not now and not for this reason (goalie). Especially considering the obvious respect we see from those two related to the coaching staff vs what we have seen on the past
For a team that at times looks like they need a lift, a change certainly wouldn’t be a negative thing with the core and leaders of this group.
What? I mean I am not gonna object to the idea of improving the team in some areas. The defence could definitely use an upgrade but this is a team that won a cup in 2016 and sits 2 away from a second one and all we can talk about is changing the core and leaders? This is a conversation the LA Kings could have… one that Washington should have but I am at a loss to understand how a team sits 2 wins from a B2B cup but we need a “lift” or some sort of overhaul of the… Read more »
I was referring to these last 3 games, not next season-the core has been altered already without 58 this season. We have been spoiled for decades.
My bad, we have seen a lot of real reactionary comments as a fan base. My apologies to you sir
No worries-Im pretty concerned this series, although every series has made me and I am sure others feel that way. MM has been good and the preds seemed have used the glove side to our detriment, which has me comsidering would MAF be a good option in this situation? His stick is more active and he was playing more aggressive in his crease than MM.
He’ll get flack from the media and some of the fan base but nothing from the organization or the players. He’s earned enough and there are enough built in excuses that 1 mistake(if it ends up being a mistake) won’t even be discussed by management. I didn’t agree with the change just as I didn’t agree when he did it last year in the TB and I wouldn’t support a change now either. At some point you just need to stick with a guy win/lose.
He won’t be in any. He made the right decision, which is why they are going into game 5 of the finals. We wouldn’t have gotten out of the Ottawa series with him, and fabricating grudges our players may hold its pretty comical.
lol ya, because they haven’t done this before to previous coaches… hahahahah
When did the pens fire a coach because of how he handled the goaltending? Please explain.
How he has handled personnel and also team strategy. The new strategy is always a great one….until it doesn’t work. Having a system that requires all players to block a large amount of shots is step 1. Sticking with your bff as a goalie and benching the hot hand will be step 2. Not catoring to a superstar like Sid or Geno will be his last straw next year if things don’t turn out roses this year. He better pray Murray finds a glove in these last 3 games.
They won it with Murray last year and he’s the better goalie. It’s not my fault you don’t know the game well enough to understand that. As far as the strategy goes, they won last year and are 2-2 in the Stanley Cup finals this year, coming off the second best record in the nhl. I thin he’s ok there. And defensively, the fact that they made it this far with the jokers they have playing defense is a testament to him, the polar opposite of putting him on the hot seat. As far as the hotseat goes, MAFs is… Read more »
If you think murray is the better goalie this playoff, then you’re off your rocker. Not only was Fleury the best goalie on the team this playoffs, he was the best overall player on any team. He disposed of 2 of the top 5 teams in the NHL. Murray is struggling with the #16 seed. Sullivan deserves tons of questions and heat for his goaltending decision if they lose.
Which is why he got pulled and they went on to win the series. Sullivan will have zero questions, because they will win the cup with Murray, again.
Sorry but there’s absolutely no way to quantify that they wouldn’t have beat Ottawa without Murray.
i can’t wait for this playoff season to be over. i’m sick of watching hockey in june and i’m sick of seeing non entertaining games. the good thing is the saint will probably be moved within a few weeks here so yoda can finally get killed off and never be seen or heard from again around here. you all do realize i’ve been trying to kill yoda off for several years but it can’t happen until the saint is out of here
LOL, “wahhhhh I’m sick of watching hockey in June”… you clearly dont watch it September through to now anyway. It’s amazing how easy it is to spot the bandwagon fans
i’m no bandwagon fan. i’m a season ticket holder. just saying, the hockey has been garbage and hockey in june is silly.
Then don’t watch you idiot. It’s pretty simple. And how about pretend you’re not a bitch for one post and quit crying.
Quiet bandwagon froyo
Spoken like a true fan. Excited to see them lose.
whoever said i want them to lose? i’m just saying the entertainment value of this series has hit a new low
Do what Sam does and change tge channel or turn your TV off.