Pens Vs Flyers Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
Jan 8, 09:24 AM | Hype this story!
The slump isn’t over
Putrid defensive play, loss
Will it ever end?
Offense: B
They certainly had their chances, and put four past the latest Flyer sieve. They ended up with 35 even-strength shots. They had pressure at times, and had lots of odd-man breaks. But one gets the feeling they could have scored a hundred in this one and the defense would have given up three more than that.
Defense: F
It’s official—the team defense is in complete meltdown mode. And let me be clear, I don’t just mean the defensemen. Yes, they were awful last night. They twice let Van Riemsdyk split the defense for breakaways. They pretty much ignored the front of the net area. They only blocked seven shots all night. But the forwards were just as inept. They are just running all over the place in their own end, trying to do each other’s jobs. And failing miserably.
Power Play: F
Totally awful once again. They had several man-advantage chances to get back in the game, and ended up giving the Flyers the best chances to score. Let’s face it, this power play is going to stink all year. You can’t be this bad for this long and hope you’re suddenly going to break out. The design sucks, and the level of effort is even worse. The next time they retrieve a loose puck while up a man might well be the first this year.
Penalty Kill: F
It’s hard to believe, but the PK was even worse than the PP. They left carter all alone for one goal, and allowed a long cross-ice pass to Carle for another. Just a horrendous job.
Goaltending: F
As they yanked Fleury, I was thinking that maybe Johnson needs to be the starter for the road trip. That’s how putrid Fleury has been lately. Ever since being named to the Olympics, he has gone about proving that he isn’t worthy of seeing even a minute of action. Last night he was off-balance and out of sorts all night long. He wasn’t seeing shots he should, and wasn’t in proper position of a couple of the goals. But Johnson wasn’t much better. So maybe it’s Curry time. Seriously, though, it’s hard to blame the goalies when the defense is so bad, but neither guy gave them any chance to win last night.
Overall: F
Just pathetic. Does anything more need be said?
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: B
Probably deserves an A, but I decided nobody is getting an A for this debacle.
Geno: D
I was stunned to see he had two assists, because he was invisible all night once again.
Alex Goligoski: F
He needs to be the highest paid player in Wilkes Barre. Yes, he is that bad right now.
Kris Letang: B
Probably his best game of the year, at least early. He, Orpik, and Cooke were the only plus players last night.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call(s) of the Game
The four penalties on the Flyers. No, seriously, the no-goal call on the Flyers’ shorthanded chance late in the second was an absolute joke. You knew the puck was in without seeing it, and that last view they showed after the call clearly proved it was over the line. How the War Garage couldn’t see that is stunning.
Monk Moment
I dunno. Any of Fleury’s 11 saves?
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
nick
Jan 8, 10:08 AM
I really thought that a game with the Flyers would get this team going again. Sadly enough it looks like thats not the case at all. What has happend to the desire of this team? It seemed to me that the first half of the season we were out to prove something, that we deserved the cup. Now it seems like they are just tring to get by. Thats not Penguins hockey, where is the punch we packed for the first 3 months of the season? Chris Borque where are you!!! haha KIDDING; we will be just fine its a long season. The power play is bringing this team down on every level of the game. The power play is 100% to blame for the way this team is playing right now. Yeo must go, its a shame but that is the only answer at this point.
Jane
Jan 8, 10:28 AM
I can’t figure out how Goligoski got awarded with 27.44 minutes of ice time – I know he got more because Skoula ended up benched, the minutes could have been spread out among the remaining defensemen. He did get more involved offensively, but with that much ice time he should have. He put up some impressive numbers at the beginning of the season, and it may have masked his defensive liabilities. His +/- went from 11 when he came back from injury to 4 now.
Ray aka WildcatRay
Jan 8, 10:52 AM
The season is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be ups and downs. (Heck, there were ups and downs in the Stanley Cup Finals series, too. Anyone remember Game 5?)
The Pens were playing at a fairly unbelievable and likely unsustainable pace the first 2 to 3 months of the season. That is why it is important for teams to focus on the more important games of the regular season. Any Flyers game is such a game because if you can beat them in enough regular season games you can help them not make the playoffs. It is not a matter of them being a juggernaut come playoff time. It is a matter of them possibly being so physical in their playoff series that you lose the series after beating them because of the wear and tear they put on you though you did beat them.
Also, specific to the Flyers, they are not likely to change their physical style unless they miss the playoffs altogether.
That being said, the Pens are obviously in a funk. It will be a key test for Byslma and his staff to figure out how to shake the players out of this. Give Therrien credit. He tried to keep things “fresh” with his changes in practice—“baseball” comes to mind.
Also, most of the players will have a break from the rigors of the regular season with the upcoming Olympics break. Sometimes you just need to get away from things to refresh both the mind and the body.
john
Jan 8, 11:02 AM
Give Go Go a break man..He will bounce back better then ever..Do ya REALLY think the rest of the team is REALLY playing all that great?? Get a clue people..Geno is without a doubt the worst player on the team for the last month..maybe he could be the highest payed player at WBS?? The only defenseman that has been playing average is Letang..the rest have all sucked overall for a few weeks..Give these guys a break..They won a damn cup for ya last year and hit a skid and the world is falling apart..FaceOff-Factor is becoming so negative it makes me sick..I live in Columbus and just wish we could get a team that works as hard as the Pens..Thank GOD (hopefully) the Pen players do not waste their time reading this crap.Wouldn’t be bad if all of you were ex pro players giving your opinions but i am willing to bet not 10 % of ya have never made a youth traveling team!! Cry me another river!!
Booby Orr
Jan 8, 11:13 AM
Amen John, Amen !! Could not agree with ya more !!I was thinking if the players DO read this site no wonder they can get down on themselves..But i really doubt they waste their time reading some of the trash on this site..Some of you people are starting to act like Flyer fans..Get a grip folks…The world is not ending yet!!Going on the road for awhile to get away from all this negative talk may be just the right recipe! Goligoski and the rest of the defense have hit a little snag but a lot of it is because of the forwards defensive coverage..They all know it..they will fix it..just take a chill pill..If not we can wear our cup hats from last year!!
nick
Jan 8, 12:11 PM
I dont know what everyone is so offended about, i didnt think anyones comments were that bad. The team is slumping, what else is there to say? The Yeo-play must be fixed thats one thing we can all agree on, right? We have the 2 best players in the world, panic mode HA i think not!
Natty Lite
Jan 8, 12:57 PM
Look, you call a spade a spade.
I’ve seen better power-plays in pee-wee, Go-go has been putrid of late, Malkin is NOT playing like the top three player that he is, Billy G. can’t hit the broad-side of a barn and Fleury has already packed his bags and left for the Olympics.
The only players deserving of praise right now are Sid, LeGame and the third line.
It’s not like any of us conjured this up. The team is NOT playing “Penguins hockey” right now. They are the defending SC Champs, there ain’t no easy games this season. Every team is out to prove they can beat the best. The problem is, the Pens aren’t even playing anywhere close to that level.
I know that may be hard to accept, but they just plain stink right now. It isn’t the end of the world, but I don’t think anyone wants to go through what they went through last spring to get into the playoffs.
...but anyways, GO PENS!
DaBich
Jan 8, 01:28 PM
To John & Boby Orr ~ this site is a great place for us fans to get together and voice our opinions. It’s also a good place for us to vent our frustrations. And right now, the way our team is playing, we are all just as frustrated as they are. Sure, we complain and moan, we rant and rave how bad this is and how much this one stinks. And ya know what? Right now they DO stink. So, we are dealing with it in one of the best blogs the internet has to offer. You don’t like that? Tough, cuz this is one Pens fan that is gonna stick around and rant. They are my team, they are OUR team. We stuck behind them last year and rooted them on to the cup, so we are entitled to b*ch a bit now if we so choose. You wanna river? Go jump in one =)
Oh and happy new year.
Natty Lite
Jan 8, 03:57 PM
Easy DABICH, we don’t need another line to form on the Clemente, the line for the Stiller fans is long enough!
L O L ! ! !
Jesse Marshall
Jan 8, 04:47 PM
John & Bobby Orr —-
Mike writes an editorial based on his gut and eliciting a response from the reader. If you think it’s garbage, it shouldn’t be hard for you to avoid.
Brad
Jan 8, 05:25 PM
Mike you forgot to grade Bylsma. To compound the problems on the ice he made some strange decisions last night. The most puzzling was when he put Malkin on the point for a power play right after he had a long shift. I told my daughter “watch Philly score a short handed goal” and sure enough they did. The refs & Toronto wouldn’t give it to them though. Should have been 8-4.
I think Shero is going to show some leadership and get things back on track. I’m not sure what he will do (If I did I would have his job) but I think he is going to do something.
We need a power play.
DaBich
Jan 11, 07:56 AM
Natty, LOL, don’t get me going! :P
Jesse, you said what I said, in a much nicer way…
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