Yeah its truly f'n pathetic for that to be the game winner in such an important game...what makes it even worse is Ive seen him scored on like this before.
- MattStrat

Murray is a positional goalie, who is constantly out of position. I don’t know how the goalie coach hasn’t been able to calm his lateral movements, he pushes way too hard on his east west movement and he’s always finding himself too far away to make a follow up save.
Look at the third goal last night:
He’s off his angle on the original shot, if he was set properly he would have been able to kick that puck out to the face off for and the Pens would be in transition. He then overreacted sliding to his right and was so far out of position for the wrap around that he couldn’t get his pad back to the post.
He did absolutely nothing right on that goal.

Montreal’s game plan seems to be gain the zone and throw the puck on net because Murray’s rebound control is causing all kinds chaos.

I don’t know what happened to Murray, he used to be so damn good, his angles were damn near perfect that he would absorb shots, zero rebound. What a shame.

Tossing a little positivity in this fire...they play Friday. They SHOULD be able to win two straight games against the Habs. This series is not over...yet.

Murray is a positional goalie, who is constantly out of position. I don’t know how the goalie coach hasn’t been able to calm his lateral movements, he pushes way too hard on his east west movement and he’s always finding himself too far away to make a follow up save.
Look at the third goal last night:
He’s off his angle on the original shot, if he was set properly he would have been able to kick that puck out to the face off for and the Pens would be in transition. He then overreacted sliding to his right and was so far out of position for the wrap around that he couldn’t get his pad back to the post.
He did absolutely nothing right on that goal.

Montreal’s game plan seems to be gain the zone and throw the puck on net because Murray’s rebound control is causing all kinds chaos.

I don’t know what happened to Murray, he used to be so damn good, his angles were damn near perfect that he would absorb shots, zero rebound. What a shame.
- stackthepads

The goalie position is just so damn volatile. There are very few goalies that maintain a high level of elite status for a sustained amount of time. Mostly, goalies either preform or don’t on a year To year basis and you can never tell when they’re going to have a good season or an off one. Even the Fleury’s and Ben Bishops of the world who have had a lot of staying power as goalies who you can usually count on to have good seasons more often than bad ones are few and far between.

There was a while there during our cups where it looked like Murray may be in the Gibson/Vasi tier of long term stud, but that past three years have made it pretty obvious he’s just your typical on again off again goalie who’s just as capable of brilliance as he is trash.

Tossing a little positivity in this fire...they play Friday. They SHOULD be able to win two straight games against the Habs. This series is not over...yet.
- Doogs

No I agree with you. If Sullivan is interested in making some changes I’m still sort of optimistic. My issue is I can see us sitting on our hands, or worse still, punishing the wrong players, at which point the series is lost.

I'm sorry, but Sheary has been good this series. You guys are just hating on him for no reason.
- Rinosaur

Hornqvist was having a great 5v5 season. No reason he shouldn’t be put in a situation to use his abilities. Marleau can’t do poop on his own and Hornqvist can’t really either. I’d rather have Sheary playing with McCann and Father Time. At least they are all similar players.

No I agree with you. If Sullivan is interested in making some changes I’m still sort of optimistic. My issue is I can see us sitting on our hands, or worse still, punishing the wrong players, at which point the series is lost.
- Victoro311

I'm pretty optimistic about Friday's game too, especially when it so happens to fall on Sid's birthday. Aside from that I'm hoping that Sully makes some positive changes too. However if there's one thing this team is good at doing, it's getting ourselves in a comfortable lead and then blowing it.

Its a good point but nothing Malkin has done has zapped the life and momentum right out of the Pens. He's had a bunch of chances he hasn't buried and is responsible for setting up other chances that just weren't converted.

I dont like to look at sample sizes that reach over multiple playoffs against different teams in different season. For me its just these 3 games this year...and 3 games is a very small sample size.
- MattStrat

I mean if it's Malkin v JJ or Murray for who is the bigger problem, it's not Malkin. His play needs to pick up though if they want to be Cup contenders because even if they bench JJ and Murray, they simply aren't with Malkin playing at this level.

Fair enough if that's how you feel about the past 3 years. Many aren't taking this year by itself. If they lose and we're evaluating why we've fallen short since the last Cup, Malkin's play is on my list somewhere. Shame to because I thought they did a lot to improve the players around him and he did a great job getting in shape, but in this weird year it hasn't carried over.

Any words from the postgame to indicate whether sully might make a change or not?

Murray is a positional goalie, who is constantly out of position. I don’t know how the goalie coach hasn’t been able to calm his lateral movements, he pushes way too hard on his east west movement and he’s always finding himself too far away to make a follow up save.
Look at the third goal last night:
He’s off his angle on the original shot, if he was set properly he would have been able to kick that puck out to the face off for and the Pens would be in transition. He then overreacted sliding to his right and was so far out of position for the wrap around that he couldn’t get his pad back to the post.
He did absolutely nothing right on that goal.

Montreal’s game plan seems to be gain the zone and throw the puck on net because Murray’s rebound control is causing all kinds chaos.

I don’t know what happened to Murray, he used to be so damn good, his angles were damn near perfect that he would absorb shots, zero rebound. What a shame.
- stackthepads

Maybe they kept the wrong goalie coach.

Hornqvist was having a great 5v5 season. No reason he shouldn’t be put in a situation to use his abilities. Marleau can’t do poop on his own and Hornqvist can’t really either. I’d rather have Sheary playing with McCann and Father Time. At least they are all similar players.
- Grinder47

If McCann isn’t put on Sid’s wing, that’s probably the change up id make.

Zucker-Crosby-Hornqvist
Guentzel-Malkin-Rust
3rd line
Marleu-McCann-Sheary

Any words from the postgame to indicate whether sully might make a change or not?
- 10inchTerror

LOTS of platitudes. Sullivan didn’t even look that mad.

Murray is a positional goalie, who is constantly out of position. I don’t know how the goalie coach hasn’t been able to calm his lateral movements, he pushes way too hard on his east west movement and he’s always finding himself too far away to make a follow up save.
Look at the third goal last night:
He’s off his angle on the original shot, if he was set properly he would have been able to kick that puck out to the face off for and the Pens would be in transition. He then overreacted sliding to his right and was so far out of position for the wrap around that he couldn’t get his pad back to the post.
He did absolutely nothing right on that goal.

Montreal’s game plan seems to be gain the zone and throw the puck on net because Murray’s rebound control is causing all kinds chaos.

I don’t know what happened to Murray, he used to be so damn good, his angles were damn near perfect that he would absorb shots, zero rebound. What a shame.
- stackthepads

He hasn’t been the same since his father died imo.

He hasn’t been the same since his father died imo.
- j.boyd919

Well that’s the difference between him and simba. Sim a became strong and took over. That’s why Disney will never make an MM movie.

Well that’s the difference between him and simba. Sim a became strong and took over. That’s why Disney will never make an MM movie.
- 10inchTerror

Not the content I was expecting, but much appreciated.

Far from a game breaker but I actually thought E-Rod was one of their better players before the season got shut down.

Even though the Blueger line has been a staple, I dont think ZAR deserves a jersey right now.

Marleau is tempting to keep in the bottom 6 because he theoretically has a better chance to add secondary scoring but hes just been brutal. I think I'd go with:

Zucker-Sid-Sheary
Jake-Malkin-Rust
Tanev-Blueger-Hornqvist
McCann-Rodrigues-Lafferty

Dumo-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Riikola-Ruhwedel

Jarry

Far from a game breaker but I actually thought E-Rod was one of their better players before the season got shut down.

Even though the Blueger line has been a staple, I dont think ZAR deserves a jersey right now.

Marleau is tempting to keep in the bottom 6 because he theoretically has a better chance to add secondary scoring but hes just been brutal. I think I'd go with:

Zucker-Sid-Sheary
Jake-Malkin-Rust
Tanev-Blueger-Hornqvist
McCann-Rodrigues-Lafferty

Dumo-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Riikola-Ruhwedel

Jarry
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Lol your distante for ZAR has jumped the shark if that’s the forward you’re looking to scratch. Lafferty was ass last night and that Blueger unit is like the one thing that’s playing to it’s potential right now and hasn’t seen a drop off from the regular season.

I dont get it. Is it more important for him to be right than to actually look at legit data? no changes between game 1 to game 2. they win game 2 and he can say "see, i was right". not having the last change, he iced the same team (except the guy who hasnt scored in 24 games) and then is surprised by the results? They just signed him to a 4 yr extension but it looks like he has disco dan fever. maybe craig adams and tanner glass are available.

Lol your distante for ZAR has jumped the shark if that’s the forward you’re looking to scratch. Lafferty was ass last night and that Blueger unit is like the one thing that’s playing to it’s potential right now and hasn’t seen a drop off from the regular season.
- Victoro311

I'm always defending ZAR haha. But he's not doing anything in this series and that bad penalty was the last straw.

Agree Lafferty was crap.

I definitely want E-Rod in there.

And then get hit with the shocked Pikachu face by the coaching staff that Chad playing his off side with an under preforming Schultz ended up being a bad pairing, justifying giving Johnson his spot back next season.
- Victoro311

Par for the course. That's how they drove Guds out of town over JJ. Not that I think Guds was very good, but he was more effective than JJ when playing his natural side.

I mean if it's Malkin v JJ or Murray for who is the bigger problem, it's not Malkin. His play needs to pick up though if they want to be Cup contenders because even if they bench JJ and Murray, they simply aren't with Malkin playing at this level.

Fair enough if that's how you feel about the past 3 years. Many aren't taking this year by itself. If they lose and we're evaluating why we've fallen short since the last Cup, Malkin's play is on my list somewhere. Shame to because I thought they did a lot to improve the players around him and he did a great job getting in shape, but in this weird year it hasn't carried over.
- Tojo.

They did. This is a better team than the last two years IMO. Doesn't matter though because the weakest links are still there and the weakest links are what breaks the solid chain and brings out the stinks.

I didnt like Sully after his choices and strategies last playoffs. Would of been fine with him getting the axe. The playoffs before last I gave him, and the team, the benefit of the doubt because the players had played so much f'n hockey the two years before winning B2B's. This regular season instilled some confidence for me with Sullivan again. He had the team playing a great brand of hockey despite missing a F-load of important regular lineup players in the first half. If he doesn't make changes to the lineup tomorrow, and especially if he doesnt and they lose, I'm going to be disgusted if he's still the coach when the next season starts up....whenever that may be...

Far from a game breaker but I actually thought E-Rod was one of their better players before the season got shut down.

Even though the Blueger line has been a staple, I dont think ZAR deserves a jersey right now.

Marleau is tempting to keep in the bottom 6 because he theoretically has a better chance to add secondary scoring but hes just been brutal. I think I'd go with:

Zucker-Sid-Sheary
Jake-Malkin-Rust
Tanev-Blueger-Hornqvist
McCann-Rodrigues-Lafferty

Dumo-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Riikola-Ruhwedel

Jarry
- YouMeAndDupuis9

The 4th line is the only one I dont want see any tinkering with right now. They're playing solid and reliable...even chipped in offence yesterday. Thats the D pairing I want. Does Sully have the balls in an elimination game? I have my doubts.

For me the forwards should be:

Zucker-Sid-Horny
Jake-Malkin-Rust
Sheary-McCann-Rod (or perhaps Rod at C and McCann and Sheary switched)
Tanev-Blueger-ZAR

Let Patty Marls sit a game...again, does Sully have the balls to do this?...

I mean all the coaches have to F'n do is watch that game again last night...in detail...or not...to see that the 3rd pairing, and to a somewhat lesser degree Murray, was the stink link in the Pens gold chain.

I dont subscribe to these guys anymore but every now and then their Pens stories show up in my news feed as an ad due to my algorithms and sh!t...anyways I can usually read most or all of the story. Not sure if it'll work for you guys. It breaks down the goals against and what not...


https://www.dkpittsburghs...z5RHgtg6fy9HpYOjzvv_YWxWk

Well that’s the difference between him and simba. Sim a became strong and took over. That’s why Disney will never make an MM movie.
- 10inchTerror

Hahahahah touché. On a side note, Tom Hanks is going to star in a movie about taking little boys to an island. Creepy huh?

Hahahahah touché. On a side note, Tom Hanks is going to star in a movie about taking little boys to an island. Creepy huh?
- j.boyd919

Epstein's island?