Pens vs Coyotes 1-12-20

[fractalsteel]

There were rumors that Crosby might play tonight but now it looks like he will sit another game.

Penguins projected lineup
Dominik Kahun -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust

Dominik Simon -- Jared McCann -- Patric Hornqvist

Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev

Alex Galchenyuk -- Andrew Agozzino -- Sam Lafferty

Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino

Juuso Riikola -- Chad Ruhwedel

Tristan Jarry

Matt Murray

Scratched: Joseph Blandisi, Kevin Czuczman

Injured: Nick Bjugstad (core muscle surgery), Sidney Crosby (core muscle surgery), Brian Dumoulin (ankle surgery), Jake Guentzel (shoulder surgery), Justin Schultz (lower body)

[Orangesteel]

I love this fucking team.

[fractalsteel]

Jarry had what, 5 straight saves in the shootout?

The top line had trouble with Hall line-just too quick and Kahun isn't much of a defender.
Loved the tenacity of the team the last 7 minutes and Tanev has been a great acquisition.

Too bad the refs were in Coyotes pocket last night. That was as bad a one sided called game as I have seen in a long while.

[Louis Lipps Service]

Absolutely love this team. So much heart. So little quit. Depth up and down the lineup. Young and fresh blood getting thrown into opportunities and taking full advantage of it.

You look at the previous two cup teams, and one thing that is consistent is that there were young guys coming up from Wilkes-Barre and making impacts, or at least putting out some solid minutes to keep the team afloat.

In 2015-16, you had Rust, Sheary, Sprong, Dumoulin, Sundvist, even Kuhnackl. Then of course, Hagelin, Kessel, Bonino, and Daley all came in and infused an element of speed and skill into the lineup. (and re-reading that last sentence, dear god, Rutherford should have made the hall of fame on those moves, alone).

Then in 2016-17, you had the rise of Jake Guentzal and Matt Murray coming in and making huge impacts. You also had Ruhwedel and Scott Wilson seeing significant time and holding their own.

This year we have Marino making a huge impact and looking like one our best defensemen, with Blueger and Lafferty also making impacts. And then Tanev, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Rutherford acquisitions. That guy never stops skating and has the skill to match it. I think I complained a little about his salary when we first got him. And I would like to say right here and now, that I was horribly horribly wrong about that criticisim.

Hockey is a long, grueling season. I think it's almost to your benefit if you can have some of your big guys miss some time, but still be able to keep afloat while you can get some young guys some experience and familiarity. Except, this team hasn't just kept afloat, they've been excelling against all odds. That entire team has to be riding really high right now. And sometime in the very near future, those same players are going to skate out onto the ice for warmups and see the best player in the world, 100% and well rested, out there with them. And I feel like that's going to be one of those times when they're just going to kind of look at each other and laugh out loud. Like being millionaires who just found out they won the lottery.

Back when I used to play high school sports, I used to tell my teammates that when you line up for your first snap, tip-off, face-off/whatever, the best thing to do is to look over at the best player they have, wink at him, and let out a good laugh. Make him believe you know something he doesn't. That you KNOW you're going to beat, he just doesn't know how yet.

I believe that's the mentality this team is going to have once Sid comes back. They're going to know they're going to win games, they're just haven't told you how, yet. And that's going to be terrifying to other teams.

[Pabst]

Ran across this today. Great visual showing how well the Pens have played and how out of control the injuries have been:
https://twitter.com/NHLInjuryViz/status ... 7681753089

Also shows how healthy teams like Washington and Carolina have been.

[Orangesteel]

Absolutely love this team. So much heart. So little quit. Depth up and down the lineup. Young and fresh blood getting thrown into opportunities and taking full advantage of it.

You look at the previous two cup teams, and one thing that is consistent is that there were young guys coming up from Wilkes-Barre and making impacts, or at least putting out some solid minutes to keep the team afloat.

In 2015-16, you had Rust, Sheary, Sprong, Dumoulin, Sundvist, even Kuhnackl. Then of course, Hagelin, Kessel, Bonino, and Daley all came in and infused an element of speed and skill into the lineup. (and re-reading that last sentence, dear god, Rutherford should have made the hall of fame on those moves, alone).

Then in 2016-17, you had the rise of Jake Guentzal and Matt Murray coming in and making huge impacts. You also had Ruhwedel and Scott Wilson seeing significant time and holding their own.

This year we have Marino making a huge impact and looking like one our best defensemen, with Blueger and Lafferty also making impacts. And then Tanev, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Rutherford acquisitions. That guy never stops skating and has the skill to match it. I think I complained a little about his salary when we first got him. And I would like to say right here and now, that I was horribly horribly wrong about that criticisim.

Hockey is a long, grueling season. I think it's almost to your benefit if you can have some of your big guys miss some time, but still be able to keep afloat while you can get some young guys some experience and familiarity. Except, this team hasn't just kept afloat, they've been excelling against all odds. That entire team has to be riding really high right now. And sometime in the very near future, those same players are going to skate out onto the ice for warmups and see the best player in the world, 100% and well rested, out there with them. And I feel like that's going to be one of those times when they're just going to kind of look at each other and laugh out loud. Like being millionaires who just found out they won the lottery.

Back when I used to play high school sports, I used to tell my teammates that when you line up for your first snap, tip-off, face-off/whatever, the best thing to do is to look over at the best player they have, wink at him, and let out a good laugh. Make him believe you know something he doesn't. That you KNOW you're going to beat, he just doesn't know how yet.

I believe that's the mentality this team is going to have once Sid comes back. They're going to know they're going to win games, they're just haven't told you how, yet. And that's going to be terrifying to other teams.

Good poast. Totally agree. Haven’t seen you on here in a while. Hope all is well.

[fractalsteel]

With the team doing so well you have to wonder how Sully is going to adjust the lines once Sid comes back. There was no need to rush the captain back before he was ready or even close because the rest of the team carried the day.
Maybe, the idea was to give Crosby time to work his way back to the ice and on practice days see what combos' worked out. Remember, he was on pace to return about ten days ago but with the success recently, it might have given the staff time to workout what the flow could be and not push his return.

This team is so fluid.

[Pabst]

With the team doing so well you have to wonder how Sully is going to adjust the lines once Sid comes back

You absolutely have to keep the ZAR - Blueger - Tanev line together.
I'm thinking they keep the Kahun - Malkin - Rust line as well. When Sid gets back, do they keep McCann at C or move him to the LW spot next to Sid? Maybe the do something like this?
Simon - Crosby - Hornqvist
Kahun - Malkin - Rust
Galchenyuk - McCann - Lafferty
ZAR - Blueger - Tanev

I think McCann definitely moves to that LW spot when Bjugstad is healthy. I think they lines end up looking like this in a few weeks:
McCann - Crosby - Simon
Kahun - Malkin - Rust
Galchenyuk - Bjugstad - Hornqvist
ZAR - Blueger - Tanev

Just thinking out loud.

[Orangesteel]

Good stuff Pabst.

McCann-Crosby-Simon really intrigues me. Yes, gotta keep the ZBT line together.

All of a sudden this team looks deep as fuck and we don’t even have Guentzel.

I also think you have to keep Malkin and Rust together. They have something nasty brewing.

[Ice]

Anything that messes with either Malkin or Blueger's lines, I'm not a huge fan of. At all.