Faceoff Factor

Comments

1. DaBich

   Dec 11, 11:36 PM

   I see I missed a doozy! Hopefully coming home Thursday will turn things around again.

2. Dave

   Dec 12, 01:06 AM

   I was at the game tonight in Philly…brutal is a good word that comes to mind…first of all, if you think for a moment Danny Sabourin is any type of answer in net for a long stretch, you are sadly mistaken…he let in several WEAK goals….secondly, although the Pens battled with their fists throughout the game, they did little with their skates and sticks…the Flyers were barely touched as they effortlessly skated up and down the ice….third of all…I’m TICKED OFF at MT for throwing out Laraque and Ruutu in the third period on regular shifts…in all honesty, we played only about 5 minutes tops at even strength that period….twice we had to fight off 4 minute penalties and our guys resulted to cheap shots and general thuggary….I don’t mind fighting…in fact I thought the Roberts fight with Eager was well warranted…but for the rest of the period, it looked like we tried to hurt guys with cheap shots instead of playing hockey…even Malkin and of all people Ryan Whitney got into scraps on the ice….a few things need to happen for us to be serious contenders….#1 BETTER GOALTENDING....#2 STRONGER DEFENSE.....#3 MORE SCORING (The only thing Sykora did in the third was sit in the penalty box for Laraque)....#4 A TOUGHER, NOT CHEAPER, ATTITUDE...we were pushed around out there tonight and when things got tough, we got cheap….not good hockey that’s for sure…like I said…it was a brutal night all around….

   Glad I made it out of there alive tonight!

   GO PENS!

3. Jim

   Dec 12, 09:25 AM

   MT did what he thought should be done to preserve any team pride and self-respect that the Pens have. The Flyers are our rivals, a good team, but a rough and often dirty one. It became clear as the game progressed that sure, they were outplaying us, and Sabourin wasn’t holding up in net, but the officiating made it incredibly difficult to keep the game close and stifled any hope of getting back into the game. The Flyers had the #3 Power Play before that game and it seems as though the referees knew that. I’d much rather get beat 8 to 2 and go down guns blazing then get beat 5 to 2 and go home with our tails between our legs to face the steel Senators.

   The refs tried to keep the game in control by calling the game close, but only on the Penguins side. 0 penalty minutes for Ben Eager’s elbow to Laraque’s head other than the 4 minutes for fighting with Roberts? That’s what really made this game a mess. I commend MT for putting his bangers out there to let the Flyers and the rest of his team know that he’s not going to lay down.

4. Matt Bodenschatz

   Dec 12, 11:16 AM

   Dave and Jim, good points all around, though I tend to side with Jim on this. We’re talking about the Flyers, a team known for their bullying, their goonery, and their cheapshots. Was it out of character for the Penguins? Certainly. Was it poor gamesmanship? Most likely? Was it warranted? For sure. I plan on writing an in-depth look at last night’s game at some point today. In it, I’ll look at the positives and negatives of the Penguins’ actions and much much more. Keep an eye out for it.

   As always, thanks for the comments, and please keep them coming!

5. ceez

   Dec 12, 12:02 PM

   I’m not going to even get into the debate on thuggery. I loved every single second of it and think the game needs more hate in it. The problem with the Penguins isn’t the defensemen. The problem is that the forwards are way too quick to give up on plays. They are effortless in their backchecking. The Flyers played Minn last week and the main reason they won was because of how well the forwards played in the defensive zone. Eliminating passing lanes, backchecking, blocking shots, that’s how you win games. I know you can care less about the Flyers, but this is just an outsiders view. The second consecutive game the Penguin forwards have been absent in the defensive zone.

6. Matt Bodenschatz

   Dec 12, 12:20 PM

   Very good point, Ceez. This always has been an issue for the Penguins, and I think it will improve with time. Team defense has improved much over the years, but it’s still nowhere near where it should be. Until that happens, the team will struggle.

   I will disagree, however, that the defensemen aren’t part of the problem. The Penguins, by my estimation, have four specialty players on the defense: Gonchar (offense), Whitney (offense), Letang (offense), and Orpik (hitting). All of these guys focus primarily on their specialty and are suspect at best in the defensive zone. Scuderi and Eaton are the only two consistently good defenseman in their own end. Sydor is, well, I’m not really sure what he is. When on his game, he’s a good two-way guy, who plays okay in his own end, but when he’s off, he’s just as bad as the four specialty players I mentioned above.

   The key for the Penguins is, as you said, to get the offense to be more responsible and patient in the d-zone. But it also should be to bring in at least one more defensive-minded defenseman to counter all of the specialty players. Until that happens, it doesn’t much matter what the offense does, things will be shaky from time to time.

   As always, thanks for your comments, Ceez.

7. ceez

   Dec 12, 03:32 PM

   You definitely know your team better than I do. I was just pointing out my experiences from the 3 games this year against the Flyers. The Penguins last night looked like the Flyers of last year. Obviously they are a much better team, but in that one particular game, the forwards appeared to care less about playing when the opponents had the puck. That was what we watched for 82 games last year.

8. Matt Bodenschatz

   Dec 12, 03:43 PM

   Thanks for your outside view — it definitely coincides with what most Penguins fans are seeing. But, again, I believe, as a whole, the issue lies more with the defense, with some blame on the shoulders of the offense.

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