Simon might be the worst call up I’ve ever seen. Craig Adams could come out of retirement tomorrow, take a stick in the eye in practice and still help a team in the playoffs more than him.

they did have large swaths of this game they played very well with, but as has been said before, its largely perimeter that has no chance of producing quality chances. those kinds of shifts are well and good when you have quality defense and goaltending, but when youre giving up three plus goals a game with regularity you cant have 70 percent of the team have absolutematical possibility of scoring.
- stayinthefnnet

Lot of injuries on this team...and they have nothing to prove. They r two time champs...defending. But mistakes were made in the offseason. Not retaining kunitz is huge. We will be watching him compete for a 5th cup btw. Murray was never the man...ever. our first cup run I could have won playing net...that team was pure dominant. Last year we don't even sniff a cup without maf. Losing guys like Kunitz and maf killed this team. And there was no reason for it. We proved we could win without letang...finding a way to move on from him and keep maf would have been best.

OMGOMOGMOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMGOMGLKGMGKGAWFKHAWDK:OAWC
- ghostibator

Getting past the second round is exciting. I guess beating the Pens in a playoff series is as good as winning the Cup for a Caps fan, seeing how the Penguins have owned that franchise. Caps are gonna get wrecked in tgje next round, as are the Pens if they miraculously advance.

they did have large swaths of this game they played very well with, but as has been said before, its largely perimeter that has no chance of producing quality chances. those kinds of shifts are well and good when you have quality defense and goaltending, but when youre giving up three plus goals a game with regularity you cant have 70 percent of the team have absolutematical possibility of scoring.
- stayinthefnnet

This is where we're missing players like Cullen, Kunitz, Bones, even Daley. Guys that don't shrink in big moments.

Sullivan butchered that game too with Simon on Sid's wing. Put somebody with talent on the only line that's producing. Stupid.

Edit... Certainly missing MAF.

Letang and Olli are straight dog poop.

Lot of injuries on this team...and they have nothing to prove. They r two time champs...defending. But mistakes were made in the offseason. Not retaining kunitz is huge. We will be watching him compete for a 5th cup btw. Murray was never the man...ever. our first cup run I could have won playing net...that team was pure dominant. Last year we don't even sniff a cup without maf. Losing guys like Kunitz and maf killed this team. And there was no reason for it. We proved we could win without letang...finding a way to move on from him and keep maf would have been best.
- taleisyreXIII

the MAF thing i dont know, its hard to look at that as oh you (frank)ed up and kept the wrong guy because that wasnt purely a personnel this or that decision. you cant ignore the cap implications here.

i get complacency sitting in, and i have no issue criticizing crosby when its warranted, but he is still busting his balls out there. malkins effort is largely fine. phil doesnt look like a care issue either. he just has such a glaring lack of competence that i dont know what to even say.

and you know what if they made it to tampa and they lost a well fought series then it just is what it is. you cant win every year.

but they (frank)ing had this. dont get me wrong, washington is a good team and its not as though they arent deserving victories. but this team is just finding ways to lose.

you have maybe three or four guys making a positive difference, three or four guys absolutely losing games, and the rest are simply there. its devastating and you cant win that way, especially when your goalie and 1D are in that second clustercuck.
- stayinthefnnet

the simon penalty and resulting score, along with the entire 3rd period (breakdowns) are exactly how a team loses a game/ series this time of year. Sub-par save % doenst help any. Simply not good enough

I thought they played one of their better games all post season and the few gaffes they did make ended up being fatal.

This isnt over. They've been down 3-2 before.

Phil should sit. Its clear something is really wrong .

Somebody should be called up. Best case the player exceeds, worst case he plays just as bad as Phil.

the MAF thing i dont know, its hard to look at that as oh you (frank)ed up and kept the wrong guy because that wasnt purely a personnel this or that decision. you cant ignore the cap implications here.

i get complacency sitting in, and i have no issue criticizing crosby when its warranted, but he is still busting his balls out there. malkins effort is largely fine. phil doesnt look like a care issue either. he just has such a glaring lack of competence that i dont know what to even say.
- stayinthefnnet

Hardly issue with the cap keeping maf. Esp when everyone walked. I was never ever one that wanted to retain sheary and give him that money.... I was very much on record last year saying not to give up maf and not to keep sheary.

This is where we're missing players like Cullen, Kunitz, Bones, even Daley. Guys that don't shrink in big moments.

Sullivan butchered that game too with Simon on Sid's wing. Put somebody with talent on the only line that's producing. Stupid.

Edit... Certainly missing MAF.
- madmike71

i dont get it with brassard. hes had playoff success before.

i know you cant win all of the time. i usually only get this heated when its an effort thing. but thats not what this is to me. they might not have that insane hunger as they did the first of the runs, but they arent straight apathetic.

theyre either just comically bad or irrelevant. like with brassard, i wont sit here and say oh man he just clearly doesnt want it. im sure he does. but its inexplicable how irrelevant he is.

Lot of injuries on this team...and they have nothing to prove. They r two time champs...defending. But mistakes were made in the offseason. Not retaining kunitz is huge. We will be watching him compete for a 5th cup btw. Murray was never the man...ever. our first cup run I could have won playing net...that team was pure dominant. Last year we don't even sniff a cup without maf. Losing guys like Kunitz and maf killed this team. And there was no reason for it. We proved we could win without letang...finding a way to move on from him and keep maf would have been best.
- taleisyreXIII

You're forgetting big playoff performers in Bonino, Daly, Cullen and Cole too. This team has been stripped of the players who did the little things so when it counted well but got little of the glory.

Hardly issue with the cap keeping maf. Esp when everyone walked. I was never ever one that wanted to retain sheary and give him that money.... I was very much on record last year saying not to give up maf and not to keep sheary.
- taleisyreXIII

you were. i give you credit for consistency.

i didnt hate the decision. i never thought murray was THAT good as he was when he was hot, but i never would have thought hed be THIS bad. personally i dont like dumping a lot of money into the goalie position, so i wont hold hindsight against them with all of this.

this is obviously only my opinion, but this is much more on the players to me than roster construction.

You're forgetting big playoff performers in Bonino, Daly, Cullen and Cole too. This team has been stripped of the players who did the little things so when it counted well but got little of the glory.
- NJPensfan

Daley was meh...same as hainsey for me. Cole (frank)ed sullys wife or something..i don't get moving him. Cullen wanted out..cant help that. CAN control maf...kunitz...sheary situations.

i dont get it with brassard. hes had playoff success before.

i know you cant win all of the time. i usually only get this heated when its an effort thing. but thats not what this is to me. they might not have that insane hunger as they did the first of the runs, but they arent straight apathetic.

theyre either just comically bad or irrelevant. like with brassard, i wont sit here and say oh man he just clearly doesnt want it. im sure he does. but its inexplicable how irrelevant he is.
- stayinthefnnet

He a secret Sens plant to ensure we fail.

Anyway...go Vegas. Til Monday.

Daley was meh...same as hainsey for me. Cole (frank)ed sullys wife or something..i don't get moving him. Cullen wanted out..cant help that. CAN control maf...kunitz...sheary situations.
- taleisyreXIII

Didn't say we could keep them, just saying what's different about this team versus last years. That and Letang came back..yeaaayyy!

BTW.. somebody (maybe) actually listened to RW. " Washington could have replaced that spot with Jakub Vrana and been much better for it."

bahahaha.

Positives from the game. Kuhn daddy looked good in a bigger role. When he gets a chance with his second team to come off the fourth line it will be good for him. In Pittsburgh scoring line wingers have to be 5 ft 156 lbs.

and you know what if they made it to tampa and they lost a well fought series then it just is what it is. you cant win every year.

but they (frank)ing had this. dont get me wrong, washington is a good team and its not as though they arent deserving victories. but this team is just finding ways to lose.

you have maybe three or four guys making a positive difference, three or four guys absolutely losing games, and the rest are simply there. its devastating and you cant win that way, especially when your goalie and 1D are in that second clustercuck.
- stayinthefnnet

Pretty much this. I actually picked the Caps to go to the finals this season but the Pens - regardless of who they lost to - have no business losing so amatuerishly bad and making so many costly mistakes. Repeating for a third in a row is crazy hard, but it should be even harder to go down playing like this...looking like they haven't even been there before and handing another team wins. Simply no excuse for it.

I still think they can still win. It just seems like the Pens can't win a series at home for some reason.

Those 2 goals in 30 seconds (1st period), really set the Pens back a whole lot considering they were going well.

Man! Reading the last two - three pages of this board is just ridiculous. You guys have become spoiled beyond recognition. This is a very good pens team playing a great series against a very good, and motivated, Caps team. Relax and enjoy the ride.

That was a very frustrating game. They looked really good in the first period and then Simon, who for some dumb reason is still on the first line, takes a dumb ass penalty to give them life and the convert and get some momentum at the end of the first period.

Then they played a terrific second period taking the lead. Remember when the Pens use to hold onto leads heading into the third period?

The longer the Pens could have kept the Caps off the board in the third the more pressure the Caps would have. But have no fear Letang decides he's a left defenseman or something and completely blows it. I don't care what his excuse was. Just a pathetic boneheaded play on his part. Then for the fourth goal Murray plays it bad and Letang once again decides not to play defense and just watch. Still a chance with the empty net until Kessel decides to hand the puck right to Washington.

Very frustrating because for the most part I liked how they played. I thought they were doing some nice things.

Still, the series isn't over. Take care of business at home on Monday.

After many years it is finally the caps time. Time for pens to sell again also. Oh and kick Sullivan too cuz if he don't win the cup he has no buisness being pens coach. Oh and kick Murray out of town.

Sounds like I picked a decent game to miss all but the first five minutes of I guess...