GG man, you guys just played better

Still gotta get malkin going. He hasn’t been great this year.

they were flying, both sides. One fast game to watch.

What happened to ERod? he wasn't out on the ice.

Collusion and went down the tunnel.

Ikr

On the other hand Sid's unreal. His pass on the Rust goal was filthy

yeah I saw that but I didn't hear anything after that. Is he out....could it be we are lucky enough to get OConnor on the 4th line now and they will stop slowing Crosby down with ERod on his wing.
I mean hell it's bad enough I have to hear Ceci's name being called on the ice slowing him down.

Ceci played better than his standards tonight actually.

that maybe true but when NY was desperate he's the guy back there when they are pinned on their own end. They really struggled to get that puck out, Jarry standing on his head.

I'll give this team a lot of credit though. They are finding ways to win. Clawing back. Being hard to play against. Lot of speed on this team.
I really want to see them play Maniscalco. If he's a gamer it's over. That defense is smoking. POJ is learning to play in his game and not shoot. He's sliding that puck over and Chad letting it rip.
The less he has to do the better he's gonna look back there. If we can get the same out of Maniscalco if not a little better the defense will be lock down with Jarry being as good as he can be.
The forwards playing fast. They got a real chance.

Maniscalco won't get a shot this year. He was the worst defenseman at camp (didn't play bad but just didnt stick out). Czuczman and Cam Lee are ahead of him despite Maniscalco having the best chance to make the team next year.

What’d you guys think of Lafreniere so far? I looked at his play driving analytics & they’re solid but man it seems like the game is moving too quickly for him.

they got to at least try the kid. The 3RD situation is not good. Ceci and Chad are not legitimate answers there. They can play that kid a few games and see what they get. He can do no worse.
He's a guy everyone over looked which is why he didn't get drafted. But come game day, it's just a different beast.
He stiffens up and plays hard. This team won 2 cups playing the youth. They got to keep at it and push the envelope of what they can be. Especially when they got injuries.
Play OConnor, play Maniscalco. See what you got. Right now POJ is making it hard to return Matheson to the ice.
They should run these kids. They are hungry. They will push this team.

If ERod is injured, I put O'Connor in for him. Other than that, I think thats what Sullivan does. I rather Sid with Zucker and Kap and Malkin with Jake and Rust. I know Sid's line was solid but Sid will pop off with anyone and we need Geno (and Zucker TBH) to get going. Ceci had a bad game, and POJ seemed to be playing a bigger role near the end of the game, so I am all for giving him that top 4 role for a game and putting Marino on his comfortable side. I think we need to pick up a LHD who could possibly play top 4 mins if need be.

It's harder to play off the puck than with it. I think that's the issue for him. Stutzle in OTT ain't got that problem. They want him to have the puck on his stick and to create.
NY doesn't do that. He's riding passenger while other guys drive the play.
Kakko has sort of the same issue. He's got 13 minutes a night in his first 4 games. He got 15 tonight. But you don't play a number 2 over all 13 minutes a night.
I think the way they use him is also skeptical. He gets more starts in the Dzone than Ozone. You got an offensive playmaker 1OA and you start him as a rookie in the Dzone.....wtf is that.
He should be getting 60% of those starts where he can use his skill and make an impact.
He's not a guy use to starting in the Dzone.

Not related to this post but good for pens future is that Legare’s junior team acquired Poulin and now will be playing on the same line in juniors. But these lines look solid. Would change Zucker and Guentzel though to try and get Zucker and Malkin going.

Ruhwedel has actually been our best defenseman statistically to this point. I like him best as a #7D but he is not hurting the team right now. I'd like to upgrade him by the deadline but until then he is fine.

I don't care what the stats say, he's not our best dman. He's a fill in guy.