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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    Pittsburgh Penguins

    jedi17
    jedi17
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     Pittsburgh Penguins Empty Pittsburgh Penguins

    Post by jedi17 Sun 05 Feb 2017, 4:01 pm

    Sidney Crosby hits all the right notes in St. Louis
    February 5, 2017, 11:42 AM ET [34 Comments]
    Ryan Wilson
     Pittsburgh Penguins Pit Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
    St. Louis was one of the few places where Sidney Crosby hadn't scored a goal. Last night he not only scored a goal, but he showed off to the Blues faithful why he's the best at what he does.

    Crosby finished the night with two goals and an assist after only scoring twice in the month of January.

    The first goal could only be described as a player that not only has the coordination, but the creativity to contort his body in order to finish off the play like he did.





    It wasn't enough to just tip the puck in he caught the puck clean enough to put it in the upper part of the net on his backhand. Not a bad pass from a fourth liner either.

    He wasn't done. He may have the most goals in the NHL, but don't sleep on his ability to create for others.





    This goal was even-strength although it looked like a power play setup. Crosby sold the fake shot to freeze the goaltending and he also made sure to pull the puck further to his forehand side before passing so Shattenkirk couldn't get his stick on it. The timing of the pass couldn't have been any better. Justin Schultz showed great awareness after the scissor play to continue down low and become and offensive threat. It is tough to defend a well timed play that has a player coming from around the net. Using the net as a pick is a clever way to get open.  

    With those three points Sidney Crosby now sits at 997 for his career. The Penguins host the Calgary Flames on Tuesday and with another big game he could register his 1,000th point in front of the home crowd. He'll need those three points if he wants to do it at home because the following two games are on the road and the likelihood of him going three games without three points is incredibly low.

    Marc-Andre Fleury had a successful return to the ice. He stopped 22 out of the 23 shots he faced. The next back to back situation for the Penguins is February 16th and 17th. My guess is that Fleury will get the start in Winnipeg on the 16th and Murray will get the Blue Jackets at home the following day.

    Carl Hagelin got hit early in the game and had to leave. He did not return. There has not been an update on his condition. Conor Sheary is already out for a number of weeks and if Hagelin misses time the Penguins will be down two of the three top nine wingers. That said, the Penguins are better equipped to handle that loss than most teams. Even with both of those players out the team can still throw Kunitz, Guentzel, Wilson, and Kuhnhackl out there. That is functional things could be worse for the team.

    Kris Letang was dinged up in the game and eventually returned to action. It's always nerve racking to see him take a big hit, miss a few shifts, and then return because we know that doesn't mean he's going to avoid the IR.

    Letang was part of an amusing sequence where the Penguins saw two of their defnsemen earn breakaways coming out of hte penalty box. The Ian Cole breakaway looked like a defenseman taking a breakaway. Kris Letang's looked like a forward taking it.




    Carter Rowney earned his first ever NHL point on the assist.

    Not everything was great in St. Louis. The Daley-Maatta pairing continues to struggle mightily. Last night Olli Maatta was a 29.17% possession player at even-strength and Trevor Daley was 27.59%. This is playing out like a contest to see who can make Derrick Pouliot relevant in the NHL again.

    Olli Maatta's most recent positive stretch of play was with Brian Dumoulin or Chad Ruhwedel. You can see the results after being switched back to Daley

     Pittsburgh Penguins JDhHiPu

    I think Maatta is capable of better play. He has shown that in the past. However, the ceiling that everybody thought he was going to hit after his 2013-14 season was severely elevated by his role and quality of teammate. The injuries have been a legitimate deterrent for him, but playing in a bottom pairing role with a top four defenseman like Matt Niskanen wasn't going to last forever and it didn't. The odds of him getting to see sheltered minutes with a bonafide top four defenseman again on the Penguins are very low. They are paying him to be the bonafide top four defenseman.

    Lastly, it appears that no matter what NHL broadcast we tune into we will be subjected to a three hour public service announcement about how the slimmer goalie pants are going to help the NHL with their scoring problem. Just stop it. It isn't going to make any meaningful difference. The only way to legitimately improve both scoring and the entertainment product is to do what they've done before. Calling penalties

      Current date/time is Mon 09 Dec 2024, 6:23 am