Yeah, pretty much agree with everything. Spot on.

Would also like to point that McCan was amazing. Excited to see more of him with Malkin, they were dominating.

In terms of poopty D I think it goes
Dumo
Maatta
Letang
Pettersson
Schultz
Guddy
- j.boyd919

You nailed that list hahah

You nailed that list hahah
- MattStrat

Dumo had a really rough start but got better as the game went on. First game back after a prolonged absence and getting his bell rung 1st shift.

Dumo had a really rough start but got better as the game went on. First game back after a prolonged absence and getting his bell rung 1st shift.
- Thorny87

Yeah and then he went full Scuderi when he dropped to the ice to do... I’m not sure what on the Barzal rush in OT.

Yeah and then he went full Scuderi when he dropped to the ice to do... I’m not sure what on the Barzal rush in OT.
- j.boyd919

You never go full Scuderi.

He overplayed the pass and Barzal is the one guy on that team can make you look silly for it.

You never go full Scuderi.

He overplayed the pass and Barzal is the one guy on that team can make you look silly for it.
- Thorny87

Oh yeah for sure. Barzal is fun to watch.

Yeah and then he went full Scuderi when he dropped to the ice to do... I’m not sure what on the Barzal rush in OT.
- j.boyd919

Full Scuderi

That is exactly what Dumo did.

There’s another option on our breakout. Instead of hard rimming it to the winger, which really is a stressful situation for your winger and puts him in a bad spot plus your first defensemen back is probably going to get nailed and your winger might get it too PLUS he might turn the puck over... another option is that you don’t allow yourself to get to the puck first. You play the angle, protect yourself and create a mini battle and you combine that with quick puck support. By doing so you should be able to poke the puck closer to the back of the net to the center or your D partner. It’s hard for a forecheck to fly in and destroy the defending team when they have the net as a buffer. The problem with the hard rim is that it sucks for pretty much everyone. The problem with battles and puck support is that it requires a ton of communication and the higher the hockey IQ the better the execution. Well, our IQ and execution have both been lackluster

I would be fine having JJ play over Maatta. I don’t like Maatta and I never really have. Hypothetically JJ could improve but Maatta isn’t going to get faster overnight. I don’t think the forward lines were bad, but I thought they were curious. Obviously Rust coming up makes Crosby’s line better defensively but Crosby looked scared/tentative which we’ve seen before. Pretty crazy that we still could’ve won that game

Yeah and then he went full Scuderi when he dropped to the ice to do... I’m not sure what on the Barzal rush in OT.
- j.boyd919

There’s another option on our breakout. Instead of hard rimming it to the winger, which really is a stressful situation for your winger and puts him in a bad spot plus your first defensemen back is probably going to get nailed and your winger might get it too PLUS he might turn the puck over... another option is that you don’t allow yourself to get to the puck first. You play the angle, protect yourself and create a mini battle and you combine that with quick puck support. By doing so you should be able to poke the puck closer to the back of the net to the center or your D partner. It’s hard for a forecheck to fly in and destroy the defending team when they have the net as a buffer. The problem with the hard rim is that it sucks for pretty much everyone. The problem with battles and puck support is that it requires a ton of communication and the higher the hockey IQ the better the execution. Well, our IQ and execution have both been lackluster

I would be fine having JJ play over Maatta. I don’t like Maatta and I never really have. Hypothetically JJ could improve but Maatta isn’t going to get faster overnight. I don’t think the forward lines were bad, but I thought they were curious. Obviously Rust coming up makes Crosby’s line better defensively but Crosby looked scared/tentative which we’ve seen before. Pretty crazy that we still could’ve won that game
- WSCTeton17

Johnson is like 32 and has sucked for 7 years. There’s no hypothetical here. He’s not improving and we have about a month long sample size of Johnson neutering Schultz. Dumo and Maatta sucked ass last night, but despite that Shultz was still the most effective he’s been since coming back from injury. That tells me all I need to know.

Dumo had a really rough start but got better as the game went on. First game back after a prolonged absence and getting his bell rung 1st shift.
- Thorny87

I agree, Dumo did get better as game went for the most part, but unfortunately his biggest blunders were a major factor in the puck ending up in the back of the net a few times. So I'd keep him at top of that list...also because I expect so much more from him...and think we'll get more.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dumo or Guds is out for injury next game.

There’s another option on our breakout. Instead of hard rimming it to the winger, which really is a stressful situation for your winger and puts him in a bad spot plus your first defensemen back is probably going to get nailed and your winger might get it too PLUS he might turn the puck over... another option is that you don’t allow yourself to get to the puck first. You play the angle, protect yourself and create a mini battle and you combine that with quick puck support. By doing so you should be able to poke the puck closer to the back of the net to the center or your D partner. It’s hard for a forecheck to fly in and destroy the defending team when they have the net as a buffer. The problem with the hard rim is that it sucks for pretty much everyone. The problem with battles and puck support is that it requires a ton of communication and the higher the hockey IQ the better the execution. Well, our IQ and execution have both been lackluster

I would be fine having JJ play over Maatta. I don’t like Maatta and I never really have. Hypothetically JJ could improve but Maatta isn’t going to get faster overnight. I don’t think the forward lines were bad, but I thought they were curious. Obviously Rust coming up makes Crosby’s line better defensively but Crosby looked scared/tentative which we’ve seen before. Pretty crazy that we still could’ve won that game
- WSCTeton17

By improve do you mean his all around game or be an improvement over Maatta in the lineup?

By improve do you mean his all around game or be an improvement over Maatta in the lineup?
- MattStrat

Doesn’t matter what he meant. Either way it’s wrong.

Like I predicted when Johnson got scratched, people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between icing the best roster and the outcome of the game.

Doesn’t matter what he meant. Either way it’s wrong.

Like I predicted when Johnson got scratched, people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between icing the best roster and the outcome of the game.
- Victoro311

Haha I was just about to edit it with "either way, I dont think so"

Doesn’t matter what he meant. Either way it’s wrong.

Like I predicted when Johnson got scratched, people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between icing the best roster and the outcome of the game.
- Victoro311

With how poorly Maatta played... I'd humor JJ could have done better ~ for that one game ~ as a discussion.

Mostly because JJ is too slow in speed and reactions to get out of position

You never go full Scuderi.

He overplayed the pass and Barzal is the one guy on that team can make you look silly for it.
- Thorny87

Still... The root cause was Letang's mental diarrhea on that turnover trying to go through 3 guys. Just like the root cause of the 3rd goal can be layed at Olli's feet for icing the puck without pressure. I agree with RW.... Possibly the worst icing I can think of in recent years.

Good blog by the way RW.

With how poorly Maatta played... I'd humor JJ could have done better ~ for that one game ~ as a discussion.

Mostly because JJ is too slow in speed and reactions to get out of position
- Guile

This part is the key. Maatta and Dumo sucked last night. Johnson has it in him to play at that level, and maybe slightly better on a good night. That by no means means that Johnson is going to be better than Maatta on any given night. There is simply a gulf of talent and IQ between the two. Last night we saw Maatta and Dumoulin's floor, which was roughly equivalent to Johnson's average. Anyone with even a common sense knowledge of probability understand why you wouldn't draw Johnson back in given those facts.

By the way.... It sounded like everybody participated in practice. Dumo and Guddy present.

By the way.... It sounded like everybody participated in practice. Dumo and Guddy present.
- madmike71

Good. I had a feeling they'd be fine, but also have a bad feeling that Gudbranson and the staff are handwaving at a concussion. I just don't see how he could have gotten away from that tie up with Anders Lee unscathed. Hope he doesn't have any long term repercussions from toughing this one out.

Anyways, either one would be a big loss for us right now. I don't even want to think how our blue line would look if we lost any of our RDs.

By the way.... It sounded like everybody participated in practice. Dumo and Guddy present.
- madmike71

Awesome.

Good. I had a feeling they'd be fine, but also have a bad feeling that Gudbranson and the staff are handwaving at a concussion. I just don't see how he could have gotten away from that tie up with Anders Lee unscathed. Hope he doesn't have any long term repercussions from toughing this one out.

Anyways, either one would be a big loss for us right now. I don't even want to think how our blue line would look if we lost any of our RDs.
- Victoro311

I was thinking Guds injury might act up after the game was over...they could of injected him with sh!t to get him through the game.

I was thinking Guds injury might act up after the game was over...they could of injected him with sh!t to get him through the game.
- MattStrat

Sounds like he was completely fine. Doing all the drills. I thought the same thing... Whatever he hurt might swell up after the game. That seems to happen all the time.

If that’s what qualifies for criticism than this world is soft as baby shït.
- j.boyd919

Rino I’ll agree with you. The criticism was implied. I also agree that criticism is fair. Maatta was bad. JJ has been bad. I think JJ is a better player against this aggressive forecheck

Rino I’ll agree with you. The criticism was implied. I also agree that criticism is fair. Maatta was bad. JJ has been bad. I think JJ is a better player against this aggressive forecheck
- WSCTeton17

I think JJ might be a bit stronger physically but Maatta is so much smarter, he makes quicker and better decisions.

Rino I’ll agree with you. The criticism was implied. I also agree that criticism is fair. Maatta was bad. JJ has been bad. I think JJ is a better player against this aggressive forecheck
- WSCTeton17

To add to this, Daley was bad in the 2017 run but before the series started I felt that his speed was going to be a huge asset in that series. Seems like it was, wasn’t it? I don’t like JJ at all. But is it crazy to say that certain players play better in certain systems and play better against certain types of teams? No, it’s not. So I don’t see how Maatta is going to be successful against fast teams. He was garbage against the Caps last year and he’s just going to continue to get exposed