After watching that game, there is no excuse; we can beat these guys.
- nbartley9

Have to win that next game.

All I want is if you're taking a penalty make it count. The one on Downie I thought was soft for a playoff game. That happens constantly throughout a game

40 seemed more effective than 87 tonight. Loved the play in front on the goal and he sweetened it by getting Hank to whine to the refs.
- jjaxxon

That's exactly how Lapierre should be playing every shift. He needs the other team to want to murder him.

And the Rangers basically decided to double-team Crosby. They put 2 men on him and kept him to the outside and basically dared him to give the puck to one of his wingers. He's gonna have to find a way to beat that.

My frustration is boiling over with 87/71 and I defend Crosby tooth and nail. The play when brassard scored lovejoy and 87 went to Nash leaving brassard to go to the net alone. I look around the league toews and kane showed up getzalf and perry showed up where are my stars?

One thing I noticed last night was that MAF looked really good with one problem: rebound control. Not even counting the first goal (which was blown coverage heading to the net), there were a lot of shots where the rebounds weren't being directed and just kicked out to the slot. The defense did a generally good job of cleaning up, but he's gotta handle them more cleanly.

And what the hell was Perron thinking with that slash last night. That was about as dumb as they come.

All I want is if you're taking a penalty make it count. The one on Downie I thought was soft for a playoff game. That happens constantly throughout a game
- dbell646

Laying on another player and cross checking them in the head even softly is generally a penalty even in the playoffs

This is comical. The lightning endured bad years until last season. 2010 was a surprise that probably shouldn't have been. The lightning are good now because they were bad for some time. They were not a team continually making the playoffs. And their scouts have done am adamant job scouting talent in the middle and late rounds. BUT I still do not think they are a team builthe for the Playoffs. They play a cute style of hockey and that poop doesn't cut it. They had 40 something shots on goal bit a majority of them were from the outside and they had no one in the slot to pick up the garbage. Until they further flesh out their roster with playoff type players.. I don't see them going far And I enjoy watching them play.. but they don't have those players that really dig in and play that playoff style of hockey in my opinion. I would not trade the penguins roster for the lightnings, ever. people who think the penguins are far from a Stanley Cup honestly blow my mind. They are not nearly as far they make them out to be. Sid and Geno will always give the pens a chance. It's up to the GM to wisely fill out the rest of the roster... something they've failed at recently but it is fixable.
- j.boyd919

Why is it comical? Comical is having two superstars and nothing around them. TB has one superstar on the same level as Malkin and Crosby and has a bunch of younger kids that are providing impact. You are a joke if you think Tampa's roster isn't in better shape from top to bottom. They are a better team moving forward because they have kids like Johnson (24), Kucherov (21), Palat (24), Killorn (25), Drouin (20), Namestnikov (22). We have Bennett.

People who think the Pens are close to a Cup, like you, have zero clue about much to be honest. Look at the product. This organization is a very flawed organization with its two headliners. We have zero depth on the roster and zero depth in the system. We are at the cap and have no where to run. I would trade this roster for Tampa's without question. Most normal people would. You aren't normal.

Until this organization changes direction in the way it goes about business, we are stuck with two superstars and little chance of winning a Cup. It takes more than two players to win a Cup, last time I checked.

Thoughts on the game...

1. When Laps is one of your 3 best players, you have a problem. Others were MAF and Cole.

2. For everyone who was crucifying Laps and shining Goc's tires, last night you saw why he was acquired. Been saying it since they got him. He ups his game come playoff time. Anyone who has watched him play over the years would know this. He was more noticeable after the 1st period than Goc was in any game, ever, as a Penguin. I still make that trade every time, regular season be damned.

3. MAF needs to continue that level of play for us to have any chance.

4. Paul Mart Mall Cop gets beat badly yet again for a playoff goal. Looks shaky at times in the playoffs again. For those of you who constantly shine his tires saying how great he is....don't know what to say to you. You wanted him, you got him. Enjoy watching him get his ass kicked for at least 3 more playoff games.

5. Horny isn't the problem playing with Sid. Sids the problem. He's trying to be too cute. He's playing with a guy who just goes to the net. Sid needs to keep it simple and just get pucks on goal.

6. Speaking of Horny..dude goes into the corner, he comes out with possession of the puck way more often than not. Magician using his body and stick. Too bad our superstar center has no clue how to effectively play with him.

7. 71 played decent. At least he was noticeable. 87? Calling 87?

8. I think HCMJ needs to give 71 and 87 some time together. See if you can ignite anything and get any kind of production from either of them. Agree with the poster on Toews, Getzlaf, Perry, etc.. showing up. Our stars are AWOL. At this point, I don't even expect them to do anything.

9. What's up with HCMJ's haircut? He looks like he just walked off the set of Inglorious Bastards or something.

Sticking by what I said from the get-go...Wilson/Farnham/Kapanen need to play
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Farnham sure. But I don't wanna burn ELC on Kapanen when we don't even have a full compliment of D Men. Thats the exact kind of "win now" bullpoop that has got us in trouble. We just aren't a cup team right now and theres no shame in that unless you do something stupid like burn a year of someones cheap contract.

Laying on another player and cross checking them in the head even softly is generally a penalty even in the playoffs
- Cptmjl

He knocked him down and as a result ended up over him generally players give those soft cross checks to keep a player down I've seen it go uncalled a million times I thought it was soft

Laying on another player and cross checking them in the head even softly is generally a penalty even in the playoffs
- Cptmjl

He knocked him down and as a result ended up over him generally players give those soft cross checks to keep a player down I've seen it go uncalled a million times I thought it was soft

My frustration is boiling over with 87/71 and I defend Crosby tooth and nail. The play when brassard scored lovejoy and 87 went to Nash leaving brassard to go to the net alone. I look around the league toews and kane showed up getzalf and perry showed up where are my stars?
- dbell646

Mcdonagh, Girardi, and Staal are good defensemen.

Mcdonagh, Girardi, and Staal are good defensemen.
- rangerdanger94

Anyone with a brain knows Crosby was AWOL last year in the play-offs and wasn't to be found last night. Crosby had more to do with why he was invisible than your three Dmen. Rags fans are a bit full of themselves.

Mcdonagh, Girardi, and Staal are good defensemen.

- rangerdanger94

Girardi is terrible. Everyone knows that, especially the Rags fans on SBN. I'm hoping for everyone on the Rags blue line to get injured except for him.

Girardi is terrible. Everyone knows that, especially the Rags fans on SBN. I'm hoping for everyone on the Rags blue line to get injured except for him.
- jfkst1

If you say so.

So a couple of things.

Possession numbers favoured the Rags rather than the Pens which would go against the numbers leading into the game. Their PDO stayed above 100 due to the King holding out letting in 1 goal. Rags shooting % was down.

So if we look at a couple reasons potentially why we have those results - Rags didn't score straight away & therefore held possession longer than if they did, Rags made a conscious effort to control possession which it appears they did. Those actions provide possible reasons but again with analytical data I'm just matching 'finished results' with data & trying to explain the outcomes. Now that PDO can go down the toilet if the King wobbles & if that happens with a low shooting % the Rags are in deep poop. Can they continue to block shots like today? How long before a bone is broken if they try?

For the Pens, they took 4 penalties in the first period - possession would flow with the team on PP, also shots on goal which it did resulting in 2-0 Rags. Will there be 4-0 penalty count in the next few games? From that point where all stats & 'chance' - being penalties due to the fact you cannot say when there will be penalties called, cooled for the Rags & the Pens got back in the game even without possession dominance. The Pens get that first period right & the game if played the same is theirs every time.

Base you tests on data that's been & you can identify what would have won or lost games already played. You can say or I can say with confidence using this analytical data of today, will not give you an indication of how a game 'will' be played & you can speculate without confidence.

How will Flower play how will Lundqvist play - nobody can tell. If the Rags & the Pens to a lesser extent, rely on the goalie then that's a recipe for disaster. I believe that the Pens can play much better with less than the Rags can, & with that frustration will grow then pressure which are all ingredients for defeat.

I believe that after today - which mind you if you compare the teams the Rangers are by far superior, that the Pens only need disciplined play & they will succeed if they can play as good or better than the 2nd & 3rd periods.

Not sure why you mentioned me taking a mulligan on P1. I asked a question based on current data which had the Pens with better possession numbers??
- Aussiepenguin

I don’t wholly agree or disagree with your comments. Historic data (from 14/15 season + NYR match-ups) can be used to predict future outcomes. I don’t want to turn this discussion into an analytics/ statistical tirade, so I’ll concede exogeneity in my models. It would be a nearly impossible task to incorporate ‘perfect information/ variables’ (endogenous) into a single model that can explain or predict an event. There will always be long-tail events and such. However, what I can do, within confidence levels (and certainty) is build a model with predictive accuracy. Whether we predict/ forecast sales, units sold, demand, etc… there will always be error between observed and predicted values. The overall goal is to minimize this value. By using probabilistic models, you can use distributions, rather than singular values, to represent model terms and the expected probability of an event. Take possession for example; NYR 60 – PGH 40. I can build a simple model were the probability of winning is a function of possession. Further, I can incorporate a distribution of possession numbers (e.g. binomial, Poisson, uniform) for Pgh , rather than their season average of 53.1, and determine their win probability accordingly. Using gm1 example of 40, Pgh had at most, a mere 20% probability of winning the game. There are some smart folks that have developed in-game win probabilities that are based as a function of time/ as the game unfolds. The underlying mechanics are based on historic data.

The mulligan was in reference to the 1st period (P1) – from Pgh’s perspective, ..nothing personal (not my style). NYR rode a tidal wave of emotion + energy and PGH was just trying to keep their heads above water. Bad 20mins for Pgh.

Good follow-up though…I appreciate your perspectives!

I don't perceive NYR as the superior team - maybe roster depth or health. I think their PDO covered for their sub-par possession during the reg. season, and unless the later improves consistently, it will cost them a series. Pgh (IMO) needs to be more physical and control game flow/ possession to have a chance at R2.