Smith in for Johnson. Blackwell in for Lemieux. Igor in goal. I like the Smith move as Johnson is not good, and has been guilty of leaving players open in his own end a few times already on the young season. Plus Smith played reasonably well in his 2 games in the lineup. Get the win and off to Buffalo.
He didn't play badly Friday but I'd like to see Shest have a dominant type of game to get him going. Maybe Blackwell can be a better filler player than Rooney. A matter of time until we see Barron perhaps.
Good first period. Don’t know what ice time was but every time I looked up Miller seemed to be on the ice. Miller did nice job in his matchups with Crosby more than holding his own. Kid is a STUD!! Laf is cursed on that goal scoring attempt on the goalie who didn’t have a stick!
The 2nd period was maybe their worst period since the 1st period against the Isles in game 1. Now an early 3rd period goal for Pitt, and we are back to even. Need to win this period and get 2 points.
Another game they grab defeat from the jaws of victory. Love our coaches strategic decision on PP with 12 left in a tie game and putting the 2nd PP out there for the entire 2 minutes. FIRE QUINN!!
I'm more concerned about the goaltending than the D. 2 goals tonight should have been stopped. The D is crazy young, mistakes will happen. And say what you want 3 goals against tonight, with 2 being bad goals, is not on the D. Something else that is really pissing me off is the over passing. It is a joke now. Every 2 on 1 it is an automatic pass. The dman is literally on top of the pass and we still pass. It has to stop. Right now we are the worst team in the NHL points wise. If that continues positives - we will be sellers at the deadline to add more picks, and we'll get another top 5 pick.
A couple of games back you were complaining about Kakko and Chytil and Lafreniere not being on the PP, now you are complaining because Kakko and Lafreniere are out there? That's funny man. We need our goalies to be better, we need our young D to gain experience, we need our players to stop over passing, and we need our best players to show up since most of them haven't done a darn thing so far.
7 points for the top line after 5 games says it all, the defense has no system. Hold Pitt to 19 shots and even win the faceoff battle but again the goaltending lets them down because Quinn wears silly ties. Oh no, playoff hopes are slipping away, Fire somebody! I agree with dropping CK down and as a perpetual CK booster he's the guy I'm most concerned with, Zibad and his 2 points are close behind. Statistically the 2 should break out sooner than later, even Strome finally notched a point today ! Way too much overpassing, guys 15 feet from the goal with an open shot opt for the impossible odds pass.