Ryan Wilson: Minnesota Tame Minnesota Tame

First!!

In response to MadMike and many Hornqvist supporters on this site. I also agree that without him in the lineup there is a difference. I think they need another player like him which is why I hoped years ago we would have traded for Evander Kane. I felt like he was another player who played that role well.

Every team needs a Hornqvist. That "pest" guy who parks in front of the opponent's net and gets on their goalie and defense's nerves. In this day and age, the goals that you win games on are those dirty ones in front of the net. Not many players can take the beating like players like Hornqvist do shift in and shift out.

JJ had another decent showing. He was out for one GA that wasn't his fault (he was boxing out perfectly on a shot from the point that didn't come from him not clearing the puck or turning it over). The MIN broadcast was AWFUL, so I didn't get a replay of his penalty, but he was adamant it was a dive and is historically not a very penalized player.

Tanev has been great. Anyone that doesn't see the value in such a fast and tenacious forechecker has not seen what the NYI did to the Pens last playoffs. He also got 1A last night, but we won't hear how he covered the point perfectly to support 58's rush that ended up with his goal. He's also a league-leader in hits.

Boudreau coaches against the Pens by running them. After the first goal, you could see that MIN's gameplan was to bully the Pens. It isn't the best strategy over one game, but it isn't the worst over an entire series. Did anyone else notice this start early in the game? It look like Letang's brains got scrambled in the third a bit, when he grabbed the one player's stick after getting ****housed in the O-zone?

Every team needs a Hornqvist. That "pest" guy who parks in front of the opponent's net and gets on their goalie and defense's nerves. In this day and age, the goals that you win games on are those dirty ones in front of the net. Not many players can take the beating like players like Hornqvist do shift in and shift out.
- chimpira

I think there's more art to it than he's given credit for too. He'll be completely tied up and angle his skate to deflect a slapshot to where he knows his teammate is at, the backdoor. The timing of his screens is near perfect.

How did Victor Rask play against us? I saw he had an assist. I would assume he is someone our scouts will watch.

Brandon Tanev has at least one strength through his first five games as a Penguin and that is drawing penalties. He now has six and has yet to take a penalty. For a team lacking scoring depth on paper right now the more cracks at the power play the better.

I think this is a compliment... and really really tame way of doing so. If a player can average a drawn penalty a game, thats pretty (frank)ing good.

The Minnesota Mild, use that next time. Sounds much better and Mild fans hate it

Horny’s goal was from Schultz not Guentzel. Jake was standing next to Horny back door. That’s how you know this dude mailed in this blog long ago. All he had to do was watch the game recap on NHL.com to see that.

JJ had another decent showing. He was out for one GA that wasn't his fault (he was boxing out perfectly on a shot from the point that didn't come from him not clearing the puck or turning it over). The MIN broadcast was AWFUL, so I didn't get a replay of his penalty, but he was adamant it was a dive and is historically not a very penalized player.

Tanev has been great. Anyone that doesn't see the value in such a fast and tenacious forechecker has not seen what the NYI did to the Pens last playoffs. He also got 1A last night, but we won't hear how he covered the point perfectly to support 58's rush that ended up with his goal. He's also a league-leader in hits.

Boudreau coaches against the Pens by running them. After the first goal, you could see that MIN's gameplan was to bully the Pens. It isn't the best strategy over one game, but it isn't the worst over an entire series. Did anyone else notice this start early in the game? It look like Letang's brains got scrambled in the third a bit, when he grabbed the one player's stick after getting ****housed in the O-zone?
- pens_4ever

Johnson's penalty was a 50/50 call. He interfered by beating his man to an area and whoever the Wild player was tried to half go around, half run up JJ's back. Tough call, seen it not called more often than called.

I agree with Tanev, he is doing things that win games. They don't always translate into fancy stats but they are what's needed for a team to be successful. Ditto Hornqvist.

The first big hit was by Adam Johnson. Both teams got their shots in, although it did look like Minnesota was more intent in this area.

Lots to like especially the contribution from the new guys. Hopefully GMJR took notice and won’t give out contracts to Kahun types that ultimately hurt the salary cap situation. Play the kids!

I haven't gotten to watch the last 2 games.

I've seen a lot of compliments about the JJ-Marino pair, but their analytics are trash an lot of sub-40% numbers. This are bad even for JJ in fact he is still a but significantly improves away from Marino. Reverse is true too because it always is with JJ.

JJ-Gudbranson as a pair was much better. It didn't generate much, but also gave up little. Small samples of both and as I said, I didn't watch, will tonight, but is it possible this being over-hyped because Marino is a new guy we like? Might still be fine replacing Gudbranson for him with another partner, but I'm not sure it helps us now. I'd probably as RW suggested experiment with Marino-Gudbranson and see how that goes.

Every team needs a Hornqvist. That "pest" guy who parks in front of the opponent's net and gets on their goalie and defense's nerves. In this day and age, the goals that you win games on are those dirty ones in front of the net. Not many players can take the beating like players like Hornqvist do shift in and shift out.
- chimpira

Agree. Also Hornqvist is basically the only consistent source of offense on this team besides Crosby, Letang, and Guentzel right now.

I think RW was spot on with Marino. It’s been so long since we’ve seen someone on D other than Letang skate head up out of the zone with the puck and not just turn it over.

He has pretty good gaps and has shown he can close and deny entries.

He looks to struggle most in his own zone. He needs to be stronger on the puck and make plays quicker. At least he is looking for other plays besides off the glass and out.

The speed of the game might be a bit much for him right now but he has the tools.

Getting 42% out of a rookie in his 3rd game playing with JJ is fantastic

I swear RW thinks we should have a Steak on every Plate. A Norris Candidate on every D pair, and the 6 players in the top 10 in League Scoring.

If I'm the opposing coach, I'm putting my top line out against the Marino/JJ pair, like Ii would any teams 3rd pairing. If they can hold the opposition to 55%, It's up to our coach and Sids line to pressure the other teams bottom pair

That's how Hockey Works

Marino is very impressive and shows all the tools that IMO remind me of Paul Martin, but he's not ready. I don't think he's far away and having his development playing next to JJ is going to do more harm than good.

If the Pens had a better d-core and a bigger commitment to team-defense I'd move Gudbranson and let Marino play because he will have the support he needs to develop at the NHL level rather than the AHL.

The JJ penalty was a complete dive imo

Very entertaining game to watch. The D look better game after game. MN had a mix of really solid chances and a lot of shots which MM handled very easily. I thought all of the D played well given their usage, even JJ. There are always going to be turnovers, but they weren’t nearly as glaring last night

The kids started out a little tentative and later really hit their stride

When looking at Corsi don’t forget to take QoT into account. As RW has said a lot Crosby sees a lot of Letang which means Marino isn’t seeing much talent

Also, I posted yesterday from Bob Grove that Malkin led the team with 26 drawn penalties last year. Tanev is certainly filling his role well, nice to see him get recognition after a summer of people roasting him. We also knew he had phenomenal penalty differentials courtesy of Micah McCurdy

Rask: he wasn’t incredibly noticeable but he was engaged for the most part. He’s a guy who does better with more puck touches and he just wasn’t getting a lot which isn’t surprising given his linemates

The Wild generated a lot of plays and other than the Crosby goal they played pretty well defensively. They’re not a terrible team, they’re just not a complete team. Dubnyk really let them down last night whereas MM played really well and made a lot of good saves. They have some ugly contracts but they also have some really solid young players, Foligno continues to improve which is nice to see

Rask: he wasn’t incredibly noticeable but he was engaged for the most part. He’s a guy who does better with more puck touches and he just wasn’t getting a lot which isn’t surprising given his linemates

The Wild generated a lot of plays and other than the Crosby goal they played pretty well defensively. They’re not a terrible team, they’re just not a complete team. Dubnyk really let them down last night whereas MM played really well and made a lot of good saves. They have some ugly contracts but they also have some really solid young players, Foligno continues to improve which is nice to see
- WSCTeton17

The wild are a very terrible hockey team.

Horny’s goal was from Schultz not Guentzel. Jake was standing next to Horny back door. That’s how you know this dude mailed in this blog long ago. All he had to do was watch the game recap on NHL.com to see that.
- j.boyd919

#suckitRW

Doesn't Tanev now have 7 drawn penalties? Didn't he have 5 going into yesterday's game and then drew 2 more (Suter and Greenway) ?

This site is a total gong show so take it for what it is but here ya go have it;

https://eyesonisles.com/2...-interest-penguins-rumor/

This site is a total gong show so take it for what it is but here ya go have it;

https://eyesonisles.com/2...-interest-penguins-rumor/
- Cptmjl

It wouldn't work out here. #66 is retired, so Ho-sang wouldn't have a number to wear....

It wouldn't work out here. #66 is retired, so Ho-sang wouldn't have a number to wear....
- TheGame316

😂

He’s wearing 26 these days. It would be pretty interesting for that reason alone none the less😂