Pens At Sabres Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
Dec 30, 11:24 AM | Hype this story!
Buffalo gag job
Fleury wilts as Lalime shines
Sabres shock Penguins
Offense: C
They did a lot of good things. They pressured Buffalo and hemmed the Sabres in at times. They just couldn’t beat Patrick Lucklime. However, they did lots of bad things as well. Once the game was tied, they stopped forechecking entirely. They were just aimlessly dumping the puck in.
Defense: F
The defense was simply awful. Nobody would even dare touch any Sabre that went in front of the net.
Yeo Play: C
Unproductive, but at least they got some style points. They were shooting the puck, but it just wouldn’t get past Lucklime.
Penalty Kill: D
The PK had been great until they left Pomminville all alone in front for the winner.
Goaltending: D
The supposed goaltending matchup between Fleury and Ryan Miller never materialized. Miller got the hook after allowing all the Pens’ goals. Fleury might as well have gotten a hook, too. He was terrible. He was swimming all over the ice looking for the puck, as he did on the play that caused the penalty shot that turned the game around.
Overall: D
The first half of the game might have been the best the Pens played all year. But once Buffalo scored, they lost all the momentum and it just went downhill. At the start of the third, they seemed like they weren’t even trying to score. Only after the Sabres took the lead did they get aggressive.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: C
Nice drop pass on the Kunitz goal, but otherwise a blah game.
Geno: D
Once again, nothing doing. It sure was nice that he got that hat trick what seems like a month ago now.
Krisex Golitang: F
Both these guys are just terrible right now. Goligoski is lost in his own end, and Letang has zero confidence offensively.
Coach B.: F
Why on earth do you play Eric Godard against Buffalo? He can’t skate. He ended up taking two penalties because of it.
Tyler Kennedy: B
His best effort in a long time.
Patrick Lucklime: A
Versus the Pens: 0.59 GAA, .980 save percentage
Versus everyone else: 3.41 GAA, .894 save percentage
The guy is simply not an NHL goalie unless he’s facing the Pens. Don’t ask me why.
Lindy Ruff: A
I like the guy. Oh, sometimes he grates with his whining, but he’s a damn good coach. He sure knew what buttons to push with Drew Stafford. We can only hope Coach B.‘s scratching of Fedotenko has the same impact.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game
I got squat.
Free Candy
Tim Connolly.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
Pens1967
Dec 30, 12:42 PM
The boarding penalty on Adams that lead to Buff’s winning goal was real borderline. Adams was going for the puck and barely touched the Sabre player.
Don’t know why Bylsma decided to changed the defense pairings, but they were all disasters, especially Goligoski and Gonchar.
I agree that Goligoski should sit out a few games, he’s been awful since he came back from the “lower body” injury.
Brad
Dec 30, 02:07 PM
The Pens record against the better teams in the league.
NA = teams the Pens have not played yet.
Rank__Team___Record__GF__GA
1_____NJ______0-3-0___2____12
2_____Ch______0-0-1___1____2
3_____SJ______0-1-0____0___5
4_____Wash____NA
5_____Pens
6_____Phoenix__0-1-0___0____3
7_____Buf_____1-1-0____5____5
8_____Col_____1-0-0____4____1
9_____Nash_____NA
10____Cal______NA
11____LA______0-1-0___2____5
12____Van_____NA
13____Bos_____1-1-0____6_____8
14____Dal______NA
15____Ott______2-1-0___14____9
Record against the top 15 teams 5-9-1
Record against the top 5 teams 0-4-1
The Pens have played 40 games so far but only 15 games against teams in the top half of the league standings.
Notice the goals for and goals against as the competition gets better.
Playing the better teams is where any short comings in defensive play, goal tending & special teams are exposed. The Pens have some work to do if they want to make a run deep into the playoffs.
Matt Bodenschatz
Dec 30, 02:30 PM
@Brad, very nice visualization there. Let’s hope they can put things together against some of the stiffer competition.
DaBich
Dec 30, 02:41 PM
“Miller got the hook after allowing all the Pens’ goals. Fleury might as well have gotten a hook, too. He was terrible.”
I totally agree. I was pretty much screaming at the TV for Bylsma to yank Flower after the 3rd goal. He totally lost his concentration.
Rick
Dec 30, 03:43 PM
Letang played the worst game I have seen him play in a couple years. Zero confidence in both ends
Natty Lite
Dec 30, 05:35 PM
Just plain garbage!
Ray aka WildcatRay
Dec 31, 03:23 PM
I could accept the call on Adams if, IF the refs then proceeded to call Buffalo for the very similar “hits” on Pens, but they did not. All we can ask for is consistency, but we never seem to get it.
The calendar now flips over to a new year. The Pens need to do the same. Learn from their mistakes as well as keep doing what they’ve done well.
Let’s go, Pens!
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