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NHL Regular Season 2017-18

#941
dwm74 said:
Pens-Flames started out great...Pens up 2-0 only a few minutes in. But Calgary woke up and made a game of it rather quickly, tying it at 2 within 10 minutes. What stood out to me was the god-awful defending by the reigning Cup champions...heck, it looked like the Flames were on a power play much of the first period, but no, there were five Penguins' skaters.

With the defense non-existent for long stretches, there is no way they're going to escape the first round, let alone three-peat. Jacques Martin is supposed to be a defensive-oriented coach, but for whatever reason he can't get through to this group of blueliners. Frustrating.
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You surely noticed the fact that the front office has moved off all of the decent D men for even more offense, right? When a team guts the defense like that, this is the result. I have no idea why they thought that was a good idea in the least.
 
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#942
Rutherford got googly eyes for another center as the trade deadline approached and blew out the roster for Brassard.
Yes, Rutherford has proven to be masterful in the past as the trade deadline, but not this year.
When you have three of the premier offensive players in the NHL, I think it's ok that you don't have a top notch fourth center. Especially when the cost of acquiring one comes at what he had to give up.
I miss Cole, but dang throwing Reaves away was the stupidest thing he's done.

-Mike
 
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#943
Selta said:
You surely noticed the fact that the front office has moved off all of the decent D men for even more offense, right? When a team guts the defense like that, this is the result. I have no idea why they thought that was a good idea in the least.
Click to expand...
Yep, still scratching my head over why they felt the need to move Ian Cole. I know he's UFA but geez, he's a core member of your team, and a leader on a defense that was very weak to begin with. Maybe Brassard will make a difference like Bonino and Cullen but he's pretty much offense only so I'm not holding my breath.

I won't even mention the head-scratching signing of Hunwick during the off-season. Couldn't they find any other 30-something d-men? Mark Streit wasn't available? Hal Gill? Right now both of those would be an improvement.
 
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#944
MJ5150 said:
Rutherford got googly eyes for another center as the trade deadline approached and blew out the roster for Brassard.
Yes, Rutherford has proven to be masterful in the past as the trade deadline, but not this year.
When you have three of the premier offensive players in the NHL, I think it's ok that you don't have a top notch fourth center. Especially when the cost of acquiring one comes at what he had to give up.
I miss Cole, but dang throwing Reaves away was the stupidest thing he's done.

-Mike
Click to expand...
Missing Reaves' prescence even more after these past couple of games against Boston and Calgary. Pens have no team toughness...who fights back? Oleksiak can but he's not out there enough minutes to protect the superstars. What will they look like against the Flyers or Columbus in the first round? I don't wanna watch.
 
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#946
Bruins are a really fun team right now. If they can tighten up their game a bit and stay healthy it should be an exciting Spring. I like what I have seen from Nash so far, especially his influence on Krejci's game, and the depth trades are looking like smart moves.
 
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#950
Backes gets 3 game suspension for his high hit last night...put the guy out of the game. Backes has a clean record - no prior suspensions or fines for dirty hits. I'm not surprised by the suspension, but 3 games is pretty aggressive for a first timer IMO. Just goes to show that the NHL isn't taking head hits lightly.

Anyway, that was another ugly win last night vs. Detroit. Entertaining, but it seemed like neither team was interested in playing clean in their own end, or featured stellar goaltending. Bruins had 2 goal leads at 3 different points in the game but let Detroit hang around, and eventually they tied the game. But so many of the goals for both teams were due to god-awful defensive play, and sloppy turnovers. The OT winner was just dreadful coverage.

Marchand is heating up again, and just in time. They need him to catch fire with the absence of Bergeron, and now without Backes for 3 games. This will be a tough stretch.
 
#952
Very ouch.

The Flyers started ok but everyone became blind or something. You can't expect to chase the cup if you can't play with the big boys. Feckin hell they need to figure out what to do on power plays. The wheels fall off when they have the "advantage" It's maddening.
 
#953
Funky Ghost said:
Very ouch.

The Flyers started ok but everyone became blind or something. You can't expect to chase the cup if you can't play with the big boys. Feckin hell they need to figure out what to do on power plays. The wheels fall off when they have the "advantage" It's maddening.
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Very frustrating. And they're at Boston tonight, so the slide is likely to continue...
 
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#955
I was mildly surprised by the Pens. They managed to play keepaway for the last couple of minutes of the game and held on without conceding a goal after Philly went up 2-1. I guess that's one way to play 'defense'. The game was not as physical as I'd expected, either.

As much as I hate the Flyers, I gotta throw some respect out for Konecny. That kid is going to cause problems for us Pens fans for years, I'm afraid.

But the final score is all that matters, and despite coming down with a cold, I went to bed happy. :sleep:
 
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