The Pens Thread

Although they probably never should have been in that spot to begin with.

Worst game of the season. Panthers are a bad team and have $22.4M in salary on the shelf. And the next game is in Carolina, which is a house of horrors for the Pens. And then Montreal, which is another house of horrors.

Frustrating loss tonight to start this 3 game trip for sure. You wanted to grab this one tonight with two tough games coming up against Carolina and Montreal later in the week. You simply cant take 7 penalties like the Penguins did tonight and expect to beat anybody. Vokoun once again tonight wasnt very good and really puts the Pens in a hole early on. Not a good loss but hopefully they come back and use it as motivation going into Carolina Thursday night and Montreal over the weekend. Gotta win at least one of these next two games not going to be easy...

I really do hate our defense sometimes

This team has a personality disorder. I would love to see the Pens win a game 1 - 0 but it will never happen. I think a major problem comes with leadership. I'd love to see them bring in a wiley vet a la Gary Roberts. There is no consistency night in and night out.

Well to defend them just a little they are still getting used to haveing all the lines being shuffled though you cant ues that excuse forever. Is it just me or does the officiating suck. The Pens as usual can blame themselves for undisciplined/lazy penalties but it seems there are a ton of 5 on 3's this year. Way to many cheesey calls IMO.

Well to defend them just a little they are still getting used to haveing all the lines being shuffled though you cant ues that excuse forever.

I don't think you can use that excuse at all for last night. If they weren't clicking on offense, that is one thing, but you can't use the lines being shuffled as an excuse for the penalties they took. It was just lazy, undisciplined play yet again.
 
Is it just me or does the officiating suck.
  
The call on Orpik was bogus. You used to have to mug a guy on the PK for the refs to put you down 5-on-3 and Orpik didn't do anything wrong IMO. The rest of the calls were the right calls though. At least the ones against the Pens. How the Pens got a PP after Adams cross checked that guy is the worst example of officiating I have seen this year. The guy clearly got cross checked, Voukon threw a few punches, Letang threw a few punches, and I didn't see any of the Panthers do much. Yet, the Pens end up on the PP.

I know Jeffrey's goal last night was lucky, but the guy has produced more in the last few games than TK has this year. When/if Geno comes back, I pray the third line is Cooke/Bennett-Sutter-Jeffrey.

I just had a feeling the Pens would lay an egg last night.  All the stats - 9-2 vs. Panthers last 11 games, Panthers 1-5 in last 6 home games, Pens 8-2 on the road.  You just knew the hidden vigorice would show up. All teams have bad games - except the Blackhawks and Bruins.

Yes, the call on Orpik was just a bad call ... they happen.  Unfortunately that bad call put the Pens down two men and resulted in goal against.  Although one could suggest that the Pens may not have been able to have killed off a single minor at that point.  The other six calls were just more undisciplined play by the Pens.  Kennedy finishing a check on an icing ... automatic call.  Glass being careless with his stick and hitting a guy in the head ... automatic call.  Neal reaching out and hooking a guy from behind in the offensive zone ... automatic call.  And so on.  

Unfortunately, I think Kennedy is glued to the 3rd line no matter how poorly he plays.  I say this because he can't play any worse than he has this season, and aside from being benched for the 2nd period the other night, he hasn't missed a shift. 

Last nights game was just another indication that the Pens do not have what it takes to get back to the cup and it kills me to say it. I have seen about 2 dozen games and they do not have the killer instinct they had back in 09. They knew how to hold leads, how to stave off the other teams, even when things are bad. And as good as Sid and Geno are/were playing, they try to get too cute with the puck. This tends to translate to others who think they can do the same and winds up with undisciplined hockey, guys caught out of position and 2,3 on 1 breakaways happen. Until they start running their set plays on offense, playing good disciplined defense and making sound decisions with the puck, they will be out in the first round again.

The pens have won 10 of 14, with 2 of those losses being horrible games by vokoun. Yes, the discipline and defensive accountability are still issues, but they have played very well at times too. the pens are tops in the Atlantic and second in the east...maybe it's a bit soon to be writing them off?

completely agree with playing Jeffrey over tk... I've never been a tk basher, but he has been noticeably worse than his previously average self. 

And as good as Sid and Geno are/were playing, they try to get too cute with the puck. This tends to translate to others who think they can do the same and winds up with undisciplined hockey,

Exactly. The east west stuff is pretty when it works but more times than not it gets them in trouble. 

My turn? I'm going to blame Vokoun and all of the penalties for this loss. Some of the penalties had to do with the ref's. Jay Caufield was really upset with the penalty Pete brought up on Orpik. He couldn't believe it. Vokoun was terrrible, as he was last year with the Caps, and another team the year before I think. I think Vokoun's days are numbered. He's just older and not as quick and is a shell of his former self. I followed him last year a bit with the Caps and he was terrible then also. He's definately overpaid because I would be surprised to even see him signed by any team next year. But honestly, nothing some of these teams do shocks me, so maybe he will be signed by some team. Which would be good for the Pens when he's in goal for that team. 

Btw, Malkin laced them up this morning and took to the ice for the 1st time since his injury......

CUP4PENS     

igloo, Voukon signed for 2 years. So he most likely is going to be on the Pens next year. I don't know how to feel about that. He was awful last night and he wasn't very good against the Flyers. He didn't get much help against the Flyers, but he wasn't very good either. However, he was very good at the begining of the year. Even had some people thinking Voukon should be the #1 goalie *cough*Crow*cough*. Maybe Bylsma let him rest for too long? He's used to playing a lot of games, so maybe he needs to play more regularly? Or maybe he's just not made to be a backup? Or maybe he's over the hill? I don't know.

Great news about Malkin. The play looked really nasty and it is definitely understandable he's going to miss a decent chunk, but there wasn't really any contact directly to the head. I know they say a concussion can be caused by whiplash, but it seems to me that a blow to the head would be harder to recover from. So I was hopeful from the begining he wasn't going to miss too much time and he seems to be on that path since he's skating already. Still need to take their time and I hope they looked at his neck, but maybe he won't be out too long.

Malkin skated today for about a half hour in Pittsburgh

Vokoun was not terrible last year ... GAA was 2.51 with a save % of .916.  His save % since the lockout of 2004 have been .916, .922, .925, .926, .919, .920 and .919 ... all putting him among the best in the league.  His GAA has been 2.51, 2.55, 2.55, 2.49, 2.68, 2.40 and 2.67.  And much of that was playing on some awful Panthers' teams that gave up a lot of shots against and didn't score many goals.  It's not like he all of a sudden can't play anymore.  The guy has been as consistent as any goalie in the league for years.

He's had two bad games, really bad games.  The Flyers game he was terrible.  This past game he was bad, but he got zero help.  But this is just a complete overreaction to two bad performances.  Prior to the Flyer's game, his first six games this season he was very good ... his stats were even better than those of Fleury.  

Pete does raise a valid concern though ... Vokoun has never been a backup goalie, and he is used to playing consistently.  Being a backup is as much of an art as being a #1 goalie.  Guys like Hedberg are good at sitting on the end of the bench eating nachos for two weeks, and then going out once every 10 games and playing well.  And then Brodeur gets injured and Hedberg has to play a bunch of consecutive games, and he looks like ... well ... a backup goalie.

At the beginning of the season, Bylsma essentially had Fleury and Vokoun alternating games, so Vokoun was playing twice a week ... especially with the condensed schedule.  Lately, Fleury has taken over the lion share of the workload, and Vokoun has been used more like a backup goalie.  And truthfully, he has not played well in that role.  And that does seem like a valid concern.

But the only solution is for Vokoun to simply play better when called upon.  Fleury is playing well and should continue to get the bulk of the games, so Vokoun is just going to have to become a better backup goalie.  Hopefully he can.

Even had some people thinking Voukon should be the #1 goalie *cough*Crow*cough*.

BTW, many comments I make during games when my blood is boiling should pretty much be disregarded.  In fact, I probably shouldn't even post during games, but at least it is entertaining.  

Vokoun was not terrible last year...

I have to disagree with that Crow, even though I loved Vokoun with the Panthers also. But I thought he was bad last year with the Caps. This is an exert in WIKI on Tomas Vokoun on his play last year with the Caps. And I have to agree with it because I followed alot of games he played that the Caps lost. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but I completely disagree. And obviously WIKI does also. You can't believe everything you read in WIKI but I agree with them on this one....

Vokoun had a rough 2011–12 NHL season with the Washington Capitals, plagued by injury and inconsistent performance. On June 4, 2012, Vokoun was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 7th round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and was subsequently signed to a two-year, $4 million dollar contract.

CUP4PENS

Shero needs to grow a pair and fire Bylsma. This team is average. Glass is horrible, TK is awful. Bylsma is a joke and Shero is a bitch

another pathetic performance by the Penguins.  Its the same old story.  They score the first goal or two then give up 3-4 unanswered goals.  They give up goals late and early in periods.


Why isn't Despres playing?