2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Armourboy]

Well not even the end of the 1st and the Refs are a two goal swing and Crosby already getting away with a flying elbow.

Gotta love the NHL

[Slirith]

Paid off refs by Penguins imo. Hometown refs shouldn't be a thing but meh.

[Armourboy]

Well we tried, Rinne just too cold after 37 minutes without a shot. Hard to beat the Pens and the Refs in the same night.

[Armourboy]

Gotten outplayed maybe 10 minutes in this series, really frustrating.

[Henx]

Haven't had the chance to watch the games, only seen some goal highlights. What I understood Penguins wasn't at all that good but how was it in the second game?

[Armourboy]

Haven't had the chance to watch the games, only seen some goal highlights. What I understood Penguins wasn't at all that good but how was it in the second game?

Second game was just like the first except the goal's all happened in the 3rd instead of the first.

Honestly think we are going to need to change the strategy up and go more defensive, but I'm not sure it will work. The two teams have two different standards of play. They can pretty much do whatever they want, we try and get a bit more physical and we end up in the penalty box. Think the guys are getting pretty frustrated by it.

[Puupi]

Honestly think we are going to need to change the strategy up and go more defensive, but I'm not sure it will work. The two teams have two different standards of play. They can pretty much do whatever they want, we try and get a bit more physical and we end up in the penalty box. Think the guys are getting pretty frustrated by it.

We don't play the trap so I'm not sure why it would.

Because you don't play trap is the reason you are 0-2 behind in the finals. Just an overall notion.

[Armourboy]

Because you don't play trap is the reason you are 0-2 behind in the finals. Just an overall notion.

Nah that's not really it tbh. Rinne has been awful, and frankly we knew it was a matter of time before bad Rinne showed back up. He's done it all season long, play lights out for about a month and then fall off the cliff almost instantly.

The other reason is we aren't doing anything with our chances. We've had several chances where the net is essentially empty and don't put it in. When you have chances like that you have to put them in.

Out of 120 minutes we've dominated play in 110 of them with very little to show for it. The problem is guys like Fiala and Joey that can make you pay, heck even Wilson for that matter, are out. I'm also pretty sure Arvy is just beat to a pulp at this point from the previous series. All season long he has thrived on running down flipped pucks and putting them in the net, he just doesn't seem to be able to catch up to them now.

We've also got some personnel out there that doesn't make a ton of sense in this series. Fiddler and McLeod we're ok against bigger grinding teams like St. Louis and Anaheim, but they are too slow, and the way they are calling the series their style actually causes problems.

At this point we gotta change something though, and I'm not against going to a more trapping style if for no other reason than to try and get Rinne's head on straight. He's never won a game he started against Pittsburgh ever, and that's gotta be in his head at this point. Mentally the rest of the team isn't all there either, which is one reason they have given up goals in bunches.

My last point is Kunitz, he should be suspended after ramming his stick into the back of PK's neck while he was defenseless on the ice. I can bet you if we pulled that with Crosby or Malkin someone would be sitting at home and NBC would be going nuts.

[Zeoni]

the good thing is the series is not over until you lose at home

[draynay]

the good thing is the series is not over until you lose at home

They can change the venue but they're still stuck with Rinne.

[Henx]

I know Rinne has been bad in the finals but hasn't the defence left him quite alone at times?

[Armourboy]

I know Rinne has been bad in the finals but hasn't the defence left him quite alone at times?

Not really, probably only 2 goals or so I would really put on the D. 2 were dumb play by other players ( Eks and Fiddler driving back to their own net with zero reason to do so and putting the puck in). Most of the rest are shots he could clearly see and just didn't stop the Malkin and Guetzl goals in Game 1 are prime examples. When he is playing poorly he squashes his frame from 6'7" down to like 5 feet ( once again the game winner by Guetzl is a prime example).

I'm fairly unapologetic to him at this point. The goalies job is to stop breakdowns. If the D has to play perfectly not to have the puck in the back of the net, he's not doing his job.

[stuffandthings]

Rinne has never won a single game against the Penguins in the playoffs, seems like they get into his head.

[Armourboy]

It's not just the playoffs, he's never won a game against them period in which he started. This is the first time we've faced Pittsburgh in the playoffs, can't really do that very often because they are in the East

Rinne has always been his own worst enemy, it's truly been his one down fall.

[Puupi]

I find it rather amusing that everyone is bashing Rinne. Yeah, he has had two bad games in a row, yet he is the #1 reason the team is in the Stanley Cup finals in the first place.

People forget so quickly.

[Nazrark]

Rinne has never won a single game against the Penguins in the playoffs, seems like they get into his head.

Afaik, this is the only series he has played them.

[Zeoni]

I find it rather amusing that everyone is bashing Rinne. Yeah, he has had two bad games in a row, yet he is the #1 reason the team is in the Stanley Cup finals in the first place.

People forget so quickly.

it's just classic fan over reaction but he did not play well in those games. He may have been a big part of why they are where they are but he is also a big reason why they are down 2-1 in the series now.

[draynay]

I find it rather amusing that everyone is bashing Rinne. Yeah, he has had two bad games in a row, yet he is the #1 reason the team is in the Stanley Cup finals in the first place.

People forget so quickly.

He's streaky, I saw two regular season Predator games this year, in one he was spectacular and the other he was horrendous. He lives life to the EXTREME!
Hopefully there's more good than bad the rest of the way.

[KCguy]

it's just classic fan over reaction but he did not play well in those games. He may have been a big part of why they are where they are but he is also a big reason why they are down 2-1 in the series now.

very true. in all honesty, nashville has been the better team in all 3 games. If rinne was even just average in the first 2 games, they def win the first one where the Pens only put up 12 shots. IMO it should be at least 2-1 Preds.

[Armourboy]

it's just classic fan over reaction but he did not play well in those games. He may have been a big part of why they are where they are but he is also a big reason why they are down 2-1 in the series now.

It's not an overreaction, I've watched the guy play since he's been in the league. These weren't his only two stinkers, he had a couple in the Anaheim series, plus one in the St. Louis series, and his performance has gotten worse in each series. His biggest problem, outside of that issue with his hip, has always been between the ears. He gets to fighting the puck and he makes himself small, and he starts letting in shots from further and further out. What gets really frustrating with him is that when he is struggling he will often stop the stuff that should be almost impossible to stop, and then let some unscreened lazy wrister in from the blue line. It will drive you up the wall at times.

Anyways he played really well tonight, got the monkey off his back, so hopefully it will continue. Of course the first real blow out win we've had since the Chicago series, and I'm at work.