GDT #21: Pens @ Preds

[King Colby]

Whenever corey perry pulls out of bedards mom he's available to take up some space in front

[shoeshine boy]

Whenever corey perry pulls out of bedards mom he's available to take up some space in front

you forgot to add, "just kidding!"

[Gaucho]

Another scoring winger (preferably two of them - two Tomas Tatars, please) was probably on GMKD's to-do list even before Rakell went down, mainly with a view to the playoffs, but I think he figured we should be ok thanks to our lethal power play (welp). The good news is Dubas isn't known for sitting on his arse playing Solitaire while his team's season is slipping away. It feels like this team is always on the verge of going on a serious winning streak, but if they can't fix the PP (or get more depth scoring, but I don't see where it's supposed to come from), it could very well go the other way and I don't think they can afford to go into the new year 6 to 10 points out of a playoff spot. They'd probably have 6 to 10 points more by now with a working PP.

[Gaucho]

@mikey, just from watching the PP, do you think they need more structure or maybe less of it? Is Geno carrying the puck this much by design? I don't know, I figured EK would be more of a presence on the PP. In fact, I thought he'd be THE MAN on the PP. To me it looks like none of these guys is sure of what exactly their role is or where they're supposed to be. It looks more like short track skating than a PP tbh.

[Gaucho]

sorry, I'm bored

[King Colby]

10 more points? They're 5 converted power plays away from being middle of the pack. That's a lot, but 10 more points literally means each one of those 5 conversions resulted in turning a game that we lost into a game that we won..

You think going from 12% to 21% on the PP turns this team from 10-10-1 to 15-5-1 ?

[Gaucho]

6 to 10. It's not just the goals, it's also about not killing momentum, taking pressure off every single line 5 on 5, confidence ... hypothetical, of course, but if Rakell buries just one of his glorious chances early on, the PP and him individually may very well in a very different place by now (just an example, not trying to make him a scapegoat). The PP is literally killing them right now.

[MR25]

To Gaucho's point, a 3-goal lead is much easier to defend than a 2-goal lead.

[Gaucho]

Ironically, they lost one of the games in which they scored 2 of their 7 PP goals (Anaheim, 3-4).

[mikey]

mikey, just from watching the PP, do you think they need more structure or maybe less of it? Is Geno carrying the puck this much by design? I don't know, I figured EK would be more of a presence on the PP. In fact, I thought he'd be THE MAN on the PP. To me it looks like none of these guys is sure of what exactly their role is or where they're supposed to be. It looks more like short track skating than a PP tbh.

Yeah, it's a really good question. And it's tricky, right? Because there is so much talent.

Entries aren't a problem, so we can just wash that out in my view. It's all in the zone stuff.

The fact that you have as many as three "the man" caliber players on the power play is an advantage if they're utilized effectively.

So right now, we sit in this umbrella deal and it's not a fit for this team...



There's not much avenue for deception here because everyone is stationary and we're just kind of moving it and sometimes shooting it. But there's no rules. I've run stationary power plays before. I run them from behind the net because it turns all the eyes away from the scoring area, right? My PP QB worked below the goal line on either side of the net and facilitated from down there. That can occupy as many as two defenders and as many as eight eyes. It's some of the best value on the board in my opinion. But we don't do that...we're stationary and there's no real deception to it. And even though 65 and 71 can really shoot, they aren't put in great situations to really shoot off the pass...and we aren't really great at retrieving it because look at where one of our better retrievers is - 17 is way up high in the zone. Gonna be tough...

But if we're committed to this, it's gotta be really schematic in my opinion...which I'm not gonna do, but just to give an idea what it might look like...



Don't walk down the wall with the puck unless there's a plan. That's the ice they want us to have...the whole "take what they give you" bull**** from coaches that coach the power play is rubbish, in my opinion. Take what you want - that's the message to my PP.

I slid EK65 back - crudely - here. Make the pass to Rust now. Immediate reaction has to occur because the puck is in the slot. So, immediately here, we have the PK in a situation where they have to react. They don't get wait and see and slide down with us because you know that Karlsson won't shoot from there, right?

"Oh ****! Puck is in the middle!" That's the PK red alert.

Now, Rust has it...I'm using Rust as a decoy. Give n' go with Karlsson continuing down the wall. But I got commitment to Rust. Up ice commitment. Now, I need a down ice play. Now, it's divide and conquer.

Who is the Predator facing away from us is that NSH47 the RHS? The give n' go cancels him right out. Next!

I'd prefer the outlet down near the goal line to be Crosby because he has better vision than anyone else. Who reacted to Rust? Someone between the LHS at the bottom of the right circle and the LHS in the slot, someone (maybe both) reacted to Rust. Who was it? Because you're next.

If it's slot/hash mark guy...the play is from Crosby diagonally out to the far wing to what should be Malkin for a shot right off the pass. We still have Karlsson on the right wall if he misses, naturally retrieval. Rust backs him up on the wall as a safety valve.

If it's the low guy that reacts...we have two potential options. A. A bang bang play near the net, where the net front guy (maybe Guentzel, maybe Smith) rolls off to the far post...cross crease play. With the roll it's a mini-crash and a regular crash, as we'll have Malkin come down from the weak side to support the bang bang nature of that play...double crease crash on the far post, gotta love it. Rust slides to the left wall to protect. Karlsson slides middle high to be safety valve for Rust.

If we don't like that, the net front guy steps out in front of the low d-man and boxes him IN. Leaving Crosby an extra second to either look back door to Malkin who tries to get open or Rust sliding down from the slot because you probably can't cover both of them (ignoring that Crosby can jam play at the near side post if he's really stuck).

And that's just one way I'd look at this in the current formation to try to salvage it. If you have the puck, you're not the shooter. And that third pass better lead to a shot. That's just simple philosophy, simple rules, to just get this going in the right direction...and then you can build wrinkles and complexity from there as PKs adjust to you.

[Gaucho]

good stuff, mikey

It's funny that you posted that still as it's the exact moment I was yelling at the tv.

[mikey]

Yup. There's not much worse for me than watching something that I know won't work and then I still have to sit through the time and frustration of it failing...

"divide and concur" is probably a great way to describe our power plays' interactions with the opponent penalty kills...Freudian, charitably...

[Rx6687]

How much would adding a shooter improve the current power play? I know it's hard to weigh such things, and players like that can be a premium. I just don't see a path forward with this current roster unless they acquire one.

[King Colby]

good stuff, mikey

It's funny that you posted that still as it's the exact moment I was yelling at the tv.

I freaked the **** out last night at this...

Someone passed the puck to sid on the left wing half wall but essentially passed him into a trap. He was flat footed and tight to the boards. The winger took away the middle of the ice and forced him to move the puck. He had no option but to try and rim it around. It got picked off and cleared easily.

-it was a bad play to put him in that position
-nobody moved without the puck to give him an outlet
-he shouldn't have been flat footed 30 feet from the net on his forehand side to begin with
-essentially negated Karlsson completely as he had to stay behind the puck but with sid so close to the blue line there was no lane to give it to him

These are the mindless plays that serve no purpose that are tanking the PP

[mikey]

How much would adding a shooter improve the current power play? I know it's hard to weigh such things, and players like that can be a premium. I just don't see a path forward with this current roster unless they acquire one.

This - unfortunately - is what a lot of people's "dream" power play looks like...stand around and shoot. It's umbrella, it's simple, it's "shoooooooottt" friendly. It stinks, especially with this group.

The Penguins are almost at the top of the league in shots on goal and shot attempts per minute of power play time in the league this year...

So, yeah, in theory...adding a shooter, adding a one time threat...yeah, that's the only way to really improve yesterday's power play.

I believe we need a shooter somewhere down the lineup anyhow...so I endorse it, but I'd also change the power play...

[Rx6687]

You're absolutely correct that it's twofold. It's not the number of shots or shooting attempts as much as it is the quality of shots and shot selection. They just lack a guy who can shoot the puck past the goalie, in general. I was under the impression that adding EK would significantly improve the power play because he would add a different element to it. But it hasn't had that kind impact for the reasons you described. Phil Kessel averaged about 40 power play points each season when he was here IIRC. EK is currently on pace for 15.

[Rx6687]

I think, too, that those power play units with Kessel were so successful because of the Hornqvist factor.

Another question I have is, how much of the disconnect is coming because the players actually want to run the power play this way and they believe it will actually start to work if they stick with it? Or, are they frustrated and want the configuration to change? Trottier mentioned last week that the current power play setup is not putting any of the players on it in the best position for them to succeed. With regard to Mikey's post above, I think Trots may have been alluding to the exact same thing. That guy made a living on the power play, and he can see it.

[meow]

phil kessel can shoot

[nocera]

[mikey]

I think, too, that those power play units with Kessel were so successful because of the Hornqvist factor.

Another question I have is, how much of the disconnect is coming because the players actually want to run the power play this way and they believe it will actually start to work if they stick with it? Or, are they frustrated and want the configuration to change? Trottier mentioned last week that the current power play setup is not putting any of the players on it in the best position for them to succeed. With regard to Mikey's post above, I think Trots may have been alluding to the exact same thing. That guy made a living on the power play, and he can see it.

I don't think the players want this. I'm sure someone who reads/listens to postgame quotes can point to some of their comments...

[willeyeam]

10 more points? They're 5 converted power plays away from being middle of the pack. That's a lot, but 10 more points literally means each one of those 5 conversions resulted in turning a game that we lost into a game that we won..

You think going from 12% to 21% on the PP turns this team from 10-10-1 to 15-5-1 ?

maybe not 10, but a PPG last night is one more point, and one at the end of that stupid Ducks game is 2 more points. So I'm sure there are a couple other one goal games where a PPG makes a difference

[Gaucho]

2 against the Sabres, 1 or 2 against the Rangers, 2 instead of 1 against the Predators, 1 or 2 against the Canes ... and that's just the 4 losses in the last 6 games. You're obviously not going to win every single "winnable" game, but the points are/were there.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

yeah, we’re actually fourth in goals against so our defense/goaltending has been well above average. But the PP is actively losing us games