Pens gone in first round....

Not that it wasn't totally unexpected the way they limped down the stretch.

Hate hockey sometimes, because no matter how childish and bigoted it may seem in the football forums and in the stadiums, Hockey fans are even worse. You can truly never find an ounce of objectivity with some of these teams fan-base's.

 

Can't win if you don't score. I would have given Bylsma one more year. The team is now geared around defense and back checking but you still have arguably two of the best offensive players in the game on the roster.

 

Watching them in the playoffs I started to notice that Johnson's system which is good in the minors might not translate to the pro game well. The Rangers forecheck seemed to make the young defense nervous and they tried to get the puck out of the defensive zone in very predictable ways that led to turnovers. The other part of their game in the offensive zone changed from being a finesse team to being a tough gritty crash the net type. Thats fine but it can be negated just the way the Rangers did, solid goaltending, and having your defense park themselves in front of the net and destroy anyone who comes in close. Tough to crash the net when you are getting dropped to the ice four feet away.

I did like the chemistry that I was seeing early on but they lack some solid wingers to play on lines with Crosby and Malkin. Plenty of third and fourth line guys just not enough top six ones. I hope that they dump Downie, for a guy brought in to protect Crosby he did a piss poor job and took more penalties than he was worth.

The one thing that bugs me is not getting the two-headed monster more ice time together especially when you are playing for you playoff lives. I know they are suddenly big on analytics but it almost seemed like Johnson didn't want to be the guy that has to put Crosby and Malkin together to get offense. To heck with that dude get them out there.

Anyways it will be interesting to see what happens in the off-season, I hope Duper gets healthy and can come back, Matta was a bright spot, maybe see what some of the young guys can bring and stop dumping talent for rentals, I thought that was done when Shero was let go.

 

Duper may not be long for the team. I love the guy and when he's with Crosby, it's awesome. He's just not staying healthy long enough now. Somehow the team needs to play better as a team with Crosby and Malkin. It seems they only come together when one of them is out.

 

When will they get rid of one of these over priced
superstars? They have produced 1 cup, mean while back Chi Town. LOL. Its a cult following, now Mario and his big money partner want to get out.