GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Calgary Flames - 9:30PM EST, Thursday, March 11, 2010

Either way you look at it, if the PP doesnt start to come around, especially on the road, Ottawa is going to have a tough time wiining games.

The only good thing is all the best goalies are our West. Might be their saving grace come playoff time.

Gohan wrote:

Big Ev wrote:PP's are very weird. You'd think Spezza and Alfie and Kovalev would be PP specialists this year. Same goes for Pittsburgh. Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar on the same PP unit, you'd think they would score every time, yet their PP has not been that great either.

Actually the Pens PP is fine when Gonchar is healthy. It's without him that they struggle to enter the zone... just like us, all the time...

I know you hate Kuba but he runs a good PP man. They struggle without him.

Gonchar has been healthy for basically the whole year and their PP is 21st in the league. St.Louis also has a terrible PP, I thought they would be much better than 25th.

My wife and son went to the game, so when they got home I asked my wife how Karlsson looked. She's like "Umm, fine" So, I thanked her for her excellent analysis and she's like "The whole team sucked, I didn't really notice anyone stand out".

Pretty much sums it up I guess.

N4L wrote:

Gohan wrote:

Big Ev wrote:PP's are very weird. You'd think Spezza and Alfie and Kovalev would be PP specialists this year. Same goes for Pittsburgh. Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar on the same PP unit, you'd think they would score every time, yet their PP has not been that great either.

Actually the Pens PP is fine when Gonchar is healthy. It's without him that they struggle to enter the zone... just like us, all the time...

I know you hate Kuba but he runs a good PP man. They struggle without him.

Yeah I'm starting to see the value in having him around. I just can't handle his lack of physicality. If he would throw a hit even every 2 or 3 games, I would find him easier to justify...

Gohan wrote:

N4L wrote:

Gohan wrote:

Big Ev wrote:PP's are very weird. You'd think Spezza and Alfie and Kovalev would be PP specialists this year. Same goes for Pittsburgh. Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar on the same PP unit, you'd think they would score every time, yet their PP has not been that great either.

Actually the Pens PP is fine when Gonchar is healthy. It's without him that they struggle to enter the zone... just like us, all the time...

I know you hate Kuba but he runs a good PP man. They struggle without him.

Yeah I'm starting to see the value in having him around. I just can't handle his lack of physicality. If he would throw a hit even every 2 or 3 games, I would find him easier to justify...

Meh, he is what he is. Lindstrom isnt physical either but is still one of the best to ever play. Def not comparing the two but I think Kuba is a better D man then A Train and he is more then physical.

Anyways, the team struggles without Kuba for extended periods, their PP is awful without him.

Big Ev wrote:Gonchar has been healthy for basically the whole year and their PP is 21st in the league. St.Louis also has a terrible PP, I thought they would be much better than 25th.

Gonchar has played in 51 games and has 25 points on the powerplay. Crosby also has 25 points, but has played in 66 games...

Honeslty, I don't think it's too big of an issue that our PP is struggling. Teams who rely on their PP too much rarely have a lot of success in the playoffs (Washington Capitals I'm looking at you)

N4L wrote:Meh, he is what he is. Lindstrom isnt physical either but is still one of the best to ever play. Def not comparing the two but I think Kuba is a better D man then A Train and he is more then physical.

Anyways, the team struggles without Kuba for extended periods, their PP is awful without him.

Come on, man...the PP has looked awful plenty when he is in the lineup...

Big Ev wrote:Honeslty, I don't think it's too big of an issue that our PP is struggling. Teams who rely on their PP too much rarely have a lot of success in the playoffs (Washington Capitals I'm looking at you)

Teams who can't score on the PP rarely have a lot of success either. You need two things to win the Cup: world class goaltending and balanced, reliable scoring (where "balanced" means both throughout the lineup and in all situations).

The offence is dead right now. Throw out the Edmonton game, and the Sens have 3 goals in 4 games since the Olympic break.

Yes but in the postseason, you won't see these teams getting as many PP chances as they get in the regular season, so they may not socre as many goals as they normally do. Obviously it's still good to be one of the top PP teams, but it's not the end all be all.

Gohan wrote:

N4L wrote:Meh, he is what he is. Lindstrom isnt physical either but is still one of the best to ever play. Def not comparing the two but I think Kuba is a better D man then A Train and he is more then physical.

Anyways, the team struggles without Kuba for extended periods, their PP is awful without him.

Come on, man...the PP has looked awful plenty when he is in the lineup...

It has, no doubt, but Kuba defently brings a lot of stability and creativity to the PP, not to mention expierence. Im not saying Kuba is going to solve all the problems but he is defently a guy that helps get things done on that PP.

Big Ev wrote:Honeslty, I don't think it's too big of an issue that our PP is struggling. Teams who rely on their PP too much rarely have a lot of success in the playoffs (Washington Capitals I'm looking at you)

Teams who rely on their powerplay to win often don't do very well in the playoffs. However, if you suck on the powerplays the opposition is willing to take more chances with "borderline" play -- either hooking/holding/etc. or just roughing it up. The roughing part, especially, can be crucial in a 7 game series, when you're playing the same team repeatedly in a short period of time.

Meh, the personnel is not a problem. I think the coaching staff has to change the style of the PP. MTL has one if not the best PP system I've seen and it's Diddling simple. Even when Markov was out they struggled early and adjusted quickly. Don't tell me MA Diddling Bergeron is a difference maker because we have EK.
Moving feets would be a start.

marakh wrote:Meh, the personnel is not a problem. I think the coaching staff has to change the style of the PP. MTL has one if not the best PP system I've seen and it's Diddling simple. Even when Markov was out they struggled early and adjusted quickly. Don't tell me MA Diddling Bergeron is a difference maker because we have EK.
Moving feets would be a start.

Excillent point/

Biggest problem I've seen with our PP is we're utterly incapable of pulling off a simple one timer.

Everyone always hesitates a second or two before shooting, which leads to a blocked shot or easy save.

I think we're good down low, but if a team collapses down low effectively like the Flames did and leaves us to the point then we suck.

Cullen's goal against the Oilers is the type of goal we should see more regularly from the point.

I also don't put too much on EK's shoulders he's only 19 and he's still learning (at an amazing pace though).

The other guys like Phillips or Kuba have no excuse... get those shots off once you have a shooting lane ... FAST.