Ryan Wilson: Philadelphia pyre Philadelphia pyre

Well at least so far our 3rd line issues seem resolved if they can can up some points while playing lights out. Zar-blueg-the missing piece to have a solid bottom 6 I think. Should be an easier piece to acquire then anything on a line above.

Oh joy...here we go again.

i thought both teams looked pretty sharp for game 1 with no exhibition games

it was a much tighter game than the final score suggests and i think the other 7 games this year should bring some great battles

cheers to a fun (and healthy) 2021 season!

EDIT: F/D on both teams looked sharp, goalies not so much

Well at least so far our 3rd line issues seem resolved if they can can up some points while playing lights out. Zar-blueg-the missing piece to have a solid bottom 6 I think. Should be an easier piece to acquire then anything on a line above.
- 10inchTerror

Yea I think Rod will go to the fourth line. See what happens. Scevior is trash and Rod shouldn't be above line 4

That Sidney Crosby kid is a halfway decent hockey player.

So Dumo and Matheson let JVR be waayy to comfortable in front of our net on the PP. I'd like to see that change Friday.

Now that I have had a chance to think about what I viewed last night, I'm not really that displeased with their overall play. I haven't looked at NST yet but to my eyes they strung together some to pretty decent stretches of play. Things that stood out to me in a bad way are the PP, the 2nd forward line and those two defensemen obviously...and I really hope the untimely goal against habit from last season hasnt carried forward to this one...

Well at least so far our 3rd line issues seem resolved if they can can up some points while playing lights out. Zar-blueg-the missing piece to have a solid bottom 6 I think. Should be an easier piece to acquire then anything on a line above.
- 10inchTerror

Yeah that's big positive. We already knew McCann and Tanev were 3rd line capable, but if that's what we get from Jankowski they'll be fine.

I don't like losing that 4th line, but Blueger and ZAR on it will still make it better than most 4ths, and you can always go back to it later or when you want to protect a lead.

That was a really good blog. The thing I'd say about Sid and Malkin not getting as many touches as Rust is of course. He needs to prove himself as a threat over their to keep teams from shading towards Malkin.

Was poking around on capfriendly and found out they are pro-rating the waivers this year. Why that is important is that Lafferty only needs to play in 4 more games before he loses his waiver exemption. We'll probably always have someone on IR, but they would be at 24 if ZAR returns without someone else getting hurt.

Also consider that a reason the Pens saved a little cap space so they can carry an extra player or two without using LTIR. (Yes they could just waive Sceviour or someone else, but I don't think that's how they're thinking.

i thought both teams looked pretty sharp for game 1 with no exhibition games

it was a much tighter game than the final score suggests and i think the other 7 games this year should bring some great battles

cheers to a fun (and healthy) 2021 season!

EDIT: F/D on both teams looked sharp, goalies not so much
- Coburns_Nose

I thought the game was played at a very fast pace. I understand not playing the game in such a long time and the players were hyped up but it was still a high tempo game. These are two good teams.

I only was able to catch parts of the first two periods and none of the third, but man, what a sloppy game and from the parts I watched the Pens once again failed to really get in close to the goalie and the Pens did a terrible job of keeping bodies away from Jarry.

While I agree with RW and J.Boyd they should pair Matheson/Ceci and shelter them, but I just bought that will happen, so I'd keep these pairs together.

I only was able to catch parts of the first two periods and none of the third, but man, what a sloppy game and from the parts I watched the Pens once again failed to really get in close to the goalie and the Pens did a terrible job of keeping bodies away from Jarry.

While I agree with RW and J.Boyd they should pair Matheson/Ceci and shelter them, but I just bought that will happen, so I'd keep these pairs together.
- Rinosaur

I watched pretty much the whole thing, my attention was elsewhere a few times for a minute or two, but I was surprised with how cohesive both teams looked given all the circumstances. The Pens werent as bad as the score looks, not at all.

I watched pretty much the whole thing, my attention was elsewhere a few times for a minute or two, but I was surprised with how cohesive both teams looked given all the circumstances. The Pens werent as bad as the score looks, not at all.
- MattStrat

I just can't get passed why they can't get in close to goalies. I don't know if it's just not part of their game plan or if players are unwilling.

Wilson your kind of cherry picking to fit your narrative. Matheson was bad on the first goal on the PP, I mean push the guy out of there. Don't stand in front of your goalie and screen him.

But the other two, not his fault at all. On the second Jared McCann has a gastly turnover when the clear is available, turning the puck over attempting to skate it out. That sends the flyers back on a rush. The third Marino flat out falls on a pretty harmless two on two. Matheson angles the free man and cuts him off successfully but since Guentzel is dogging it back he is not able to cover up for Matheson.

Matheson was not the big issue on the night.

To me there are three major factors that have hindered the Pens' success the last two seasons and these are independent of injuries to their team:

1) Defense over-committing with no support, which leads to odd-man rushes the other way.

2) The Pens not getting into the faces of the opposing team's goalie.

3) The Pens not curbing how often teams get bodies in front of their crease.

It sounds like #1 didn't happen too often last night, but did lead to a goal on Matheson.

From the little I saw and look at the heat map, it's clear #2 and #3 are tracking as usual.

I only was able to catch parts of the first two periods and none of the third, but man, what a sloppy game and from the parts I watched the Pens once again failed to really get in close to the goalie and the Pens did a terrible job of keeping bodies away from Jarry.

While I agree with RW and J.Boyd they should pair Matheson/Ceci and shelter them, but I just bought that will happen, so I'd keep these pairs together.
- Rinosaur

This is the crux of the biggest problem, IMO. Unfortunately, JR keeps getting rid of tough crease players while acquiring soft perimeter players and Sully's game plan appears to completely disregard this fundamental aspect of hockey. I think they think they are way more clever than they actually are. I'm actually looking forward to the post JR/Sully era so we can get back to some real hockey.

This has been going on for a long time now and I don't see much hope, frankly. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer (and no, it's not just a reaction to one game), but I actually think the players are starting to look dejected and lifeless. Either play with passion and try to control the crease areas or don't bother lacing them up, IMO.

#FreeRikkRude

So Dumo and Matheson let JVR be waayy to comfortable in front of our net on the PP. I'd like to see that change Friday.
- 668710

JvR has always been one of the best tipping/deflection guys in the league.

I only was able to catch parts of the first two periods and none of the third, but man, what a sloppy game and from the parts I watched the Pens once again failed to really get in close to the goalie and the Pens did a terrible job of keeping bodies away from Jarry.

While I agree with RW and J.Boyd they should pair Matheson/Ceci and shelter them, but I just bought that will happen, so I'd keep these pairs together.
- Rinosaur

They should scratch Ceci for Ruh and do Math/Ruh

JvR has always been one of the best tipping/deflection guys in the league.
- j.boyd919

I understand he's good at it, but don't just give him free range. Fight it out at least. Can't get mad if they are trying, but neither did.

#FreeRikkRude
- MattStrat

See I'm trying to be realistic with what would actually happen. Ceci I think will eventually get the boot but Matheson's leash is at least a season and a half long lol

See I'm trying to be realistic with what would actually happen. Ceci I think will eventually get the boot but Matheson's leash is at least a season and a half long lol
- 668710

I agree that this is more realistic, no question, and Id be totally fine with trying it. To my eyes though, Matheson was worse than Ceci last night. Rikk and Rud are are both better defensively than those two. I wont keep beating this dead horse all season, promise....but heads up I will be using #FreeRikkRude often if this sh!t keeps up hahaha

Just hauled this from the Flyers blog

Mike Sullivan (Penguins Head Coach)

Would you agree that you carried the play on five-on-five for most of the first two periods? Where do you think this game got away from your team?

I thought there was a lot to like about our game tonight. I thought we had periods of the game where we carried the play. The types of breakdowns that we had resulted in some high-quality scoring chances against. We’ve got to do a better job that we minimize some of those catastrophic-type scenarios. As I said, I thought there was a lot of good things in the game, too. We generated some pretty high-quality chances ourselves. We didn’t convert on as many as we would have liked. I don’t think the score of the game is an indication of how it was played.

What is your assessment of Mike Matheson’s night, both good and bad?

He skates really well. I think that’s evident when you look at his mobility. His ability to get back to pucks and his gaps because he’s such a mobile guy. He’s trying to get used to the type of game that we play. We’re going to work with him here, through this beginning part of the season to try to help him simplify his game in certain areas of the rink. To Mike’s defense, he’s trying to learn some of the concepts and the way we’re trying to play here. I don’t think Mike got the benefit of any puck luck tonight as well. That certainly didn’t help him.

You mentioned the breakdowns. How much can you lump that up to the fact that you had a very short training camp? Do you think some of the things we saw tonight could get ironed out with time?

Yeah, I do. I think we will get better. No, I know we will get better. We just have to make sure we learn through each experience. There were those types of plays on both sides tonight. We didn’t take advantage of as many as we needed to. Philly’s a good team. We give them a lot of credit. They are a hard team to play against. We had our chances as well. We just got to take the good things and build on them. We got to learn through our mistakes and make sure we get better through this experience.

How do you keep a guy like Matheson, joining a new team, keep his spirits up and not get too down on himself after he has a tough game like this?

Well we’ll certainly encourage him. It’s a game of mistakes out there. It’s not always going to go our way. We just got to make sure we learn through the experiences. Our coaching staff is committed to helping Mike through some of these processes. This game is not an easy game. It’s not for the faint of heart. You’ve got to make sure you dust yourself off and get back in the fight. That’s the nature of the game we play. That’s the nature of this league. We’ll certainly encourage Mike and support Mike through this process.

How would you assess how Tristan Jarry performed tonight?

I think there were a few that Tristan could have been sharper on. That’s probably an indication that we can say about all of us. I’m not going to over-assess any one player in the aspect of his game. We all need to be better if we’re going to have the success we need to have. I thought Tristan made some good saves early. Even a good save on the breakaway. Those are the types of saves that you need to win in this league. We just all need to be sharper.