♦ OFFICIAL GDT: GAME 2 NYR @ PIT 4/16/16 - 3:00PM EDT ♦

[Gaucho]

Olli had a lousy game, but I don't think any drastic measures are needed. Yet.

[Algernon]

The level of disrespect everyone has for this Rangers team puzzles me.

They absolutely are not a bad team. They exposed the penguins' D-Corp today.

[meow]

Without getting too deep into the X's and O's, I think they should basically flip their even strength breakout and their power play breakout. The Rags low 2-1-2 forecheck is giving us fits 5on5.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

They didn't try that flip play once. With the Rangers being aggressive in the neutral zone, I thought they could have utilized that instead of getting every breakout attempt stuffed.

[shafnutz05]

Re: Maatta--I understand the calls to not overreact, but I don't think the calls for him to be benched for Schultz can really be called an overreaction. He is skating in mud and his bad decisions resulted in countless scoring chances for the Rangers today. It's a 7 game series, and Game 3 is going to be a pivot point--I'd rather have a solid skater out there that can make power play contributions than Maatta right now. We don't have the luxury of waiting to see if he gets his act together, and I say that acknowledging that there's a good chance he will be a star in a few years.

[MR25]

Maatta's play has regressed since the beginning of the year, even before his injury.

Perhaps he's not ready for the playoffs yet, considering he didn't get any game action before. If that's the case, and his legs aren't underneath him yet, he needs to sit.

[Blue Canary]

Ideally, you go 2-0 away.

We're just going to have to switch it up and come back 3-1.

I hope. Please.

[bhflyhigh]

Even before the Rangers started scoring they were getting the better chances. Zats stopped Nash on a breakaway early in the game i recall. They player better all around. All 4 of their goals were even strength while both of ours were on a power play. The teams both played hard but NY was the hungrier team by far and the Pens gave them a ton of good chances.

The 4th line had an uncharacteristically bad game. Rust was rusty and Malkin look ok, but you could tell he hadn't played in a while.
Ollie was pretty terrible as well and I didn't believe this when I looked at the stats but Daily was a -4.

The good news is that the Rangers are a two line team. Outside those top two lines I felt they didn't do much but man Miller, Brassard, and Zuccarello played great games.

[shafnutz05]

I'm also hoping they get the chemistry issues figured out quickly with Malkin's return to the lineup. His return is a good thing, but it felt like his playing style was not meshing well with the north-south game that has benefited the Pens so much and turned them into the offensive juggernaut they've become. I *really* don't like he and Sid playing together.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Zatkoff didn't make any significant mistakes, but the problem with him is hell never really win you a game (even in game 1 he still gave up 2 goals)


Getting Fleury back will be huge and will significantly push the series into our favor. Fleury is much more equipped to duel Lundqvist


Other than that, we just have to stay fundamentally sound, and this falls on Sullivan's plate. Maatta needs to play that pick better in the neutral zone, for example. We're the better team, we just need to not get rattled by the Rags forecheck

[crusherstasiak]

Man that **** today was ugly.
Somebody put up a Jersey barrier for the rapidly going backwards Ian Cole.
At least he's not Maatta. But hey, Maatta will be fine-he's got a long term extension.
He's just working stuff out. He's real good positionally n at.

[FistOfCaufield]

I'm also hoping they get the chemistry issues figured out quickly with Malkin's return to the lineup. His return is a good thing, but it felt like his playing style was not meshing well with the north-south game that has benefited the Pens so much and turned them into the offensive juggernaut they've become. I *really* don't like he and Sid playing together.

I think the Rangers forecheck had a lot more to do with the lack of any N/S game than Malkin did. I think the Malkin stuff is talk show fodder so that someone can play heal host and say "GENO GENO GENO" to anyone who disagrees.

[Tico Rick]

Re: Maatta--I understand the calls to not overreact, but I don't think the calls for him to be benched for Schultz can really be called an overreaction. He is skating in mud and his bad decisions resulted in countless scoring chances for the Rangers today. It's a 7 game series, and Game 3 is going to be a pivot point--I'd rather have a solid skater out there that can make power play contributions than Maatta right now. We don't have the luxury of waiting to see if he gets his act together, and I say that acknowledging that there's a good chance he will be a star in a few years.

I'm leaning toward this, though one could argue that Schultz should be replacing a handful of D-men. Maatta's still a young guy - watching from the press box might be beneficial for him.

[columbia]

I'm just assuming that Maatta has a nagging injury, but I have no proof to back that up.

[dodint]

That's because there's no Freedom of Information Act in the NHL playoffs.

[columbia]

True enough, but I'm definitely not in the "fans have a right to know about injuries" camp. That's just silly talk.

[dodint]

That was a dig at NBCSN if you missed it. They said it every single time they mentioned Hank or Geno's injury status.

[columbia]

I hear what they say, but I don't listen to it.

[dodint]

Lucky bastard.

[Craig]

The bad decisions are new but maatta has never been a quick, or even average skater. Its interesting to see some of the mistakes and to me its another example of a long season catching up with him. He was real ugly in the last 3rd of his rookie year as well then missed a lot of time last year. Maybe he still needs to figure out conditioning for an 80+ game season.

[dodint]

Hits in this game were 57 to 25, Rangers. At one point it was 32 to 8.

Soff.

[MR25]

Hits is a dumb stat. If you possess the puck more then the other team, they will outhit you.

[slappybrown]

Hits is a dumb stat. If you possess the puck more then the other team, they will outhit you.

True generally, but the problem is they had the puck as much if not more than we did, and they still were more physical as evidenced by the raw hits # (with our own scroekeeper running the tally).

http://war-on-ice.com/game5.html?season ... 5201630142

[dodint]

I got bored looking for the data, but slappy nailed it.

[columbia]

#pwnd