Game Thread: Penguins GDT/GNT's week 22 (Mar 9 - Mar 15)

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Monday, March 9th: @ San Jose Sharks

Thursday, March 12th: vs Edmonton Oilers

Saturday, March 14th: vs Boston Bruins

Sunday, March 15th: vs Detroit Red Wings

 

[Burghfan]

Great, the Bruins and the Wings back to back. That does not look good for the black and gold.

 

[thedddd]

Good PK for the Pens. So far a pretty uneventful game.

 

[thedddd]

Oh well defense lapse near the end of the first after the Pens had most of the control, hopefully they get it back in the second.

 

[element1286]

At least they playing hockey tonight, not that garbage the Kings like to play.

 

[element1286]

I like what MJ did with the bottom six, creates two third lines almost.

And my god is Kris Letang unreal. Same with Poliout, better than I would ever have thought at this stage of hsi career.

 

[element1286]

My god that release by Pouliot off the pipe.

 

[scoutyjones2]

tough loss but another great game all around...gotta love the spirit and tenacity with which the Pens played. Gives me hope and lots of smiles! Pouliot is good, very good.

 

[evolver115]

Found this chart on thepensblog site.

That is pretty damning evidence about what is being allowed to occur in the NHL ever since the last full season lockout of 2004-05. At 3.11 powerplay opportunities per game, they have now dipped considerably lower on average than even the dead puck era of the late nineties/early 2000's. And a perfect recent example of this graph showing itself in practice is the game the Pens played against the Kings last weekend. That game was just ugly. Muck and grind, clutch and grab at its finest.

 

[element1286]

That graph really makes me sad to be a hockey fan. No end in sight to this garbage.

 

[evolver115]

That graph really makes me sad to be a hockey fan. No end in sight to this garbage.

Pretty much.

I just wonder what the cause of the decline is in calling obvious interference in the NHL. Are league officials telling NHL referee's to let more stuff go? Or is it just the refs themselves who are doing this on their own? And obviously, why is the league allowing this to happen?

Maybe it is in hopes of preventing more concussions because they are slowing down the speed of the game by allowing holding and interference to occur. If that is the intention, the byproduct of it is an obvious decline in the quality of the game. Some nights, like the Kings game on Saturday, it becomes almost unwatchable. I mean, it was no score at the end of sixty minutes with some of the best hockey players in the world on both benches.

 

[element1286]

Publicize that chart, first time I've seen that, and it's striking the difference.

I have no idea what is causing it, or why anyone would want the game like it is.

 

[scoutyjones2]

So basically one less PP per game...over 10 years

 

[evolver115]

So basically one less PP per game...over 10 years

It's two powerplays per game (5.85 to 3.11) and change since 2005-06. That's actually quite a bit, because this is taking an average over that period. So in actuality, you're looking at a possible 3-5 powerplays less if you think about it from a game to game perspective. The average in the 05-06 season was close to six per game, to now it being just a tick over 3 per game. That's a substantial change.

The other thing that the graph shows is they are now calling less penalties per game now than they did during the height of the dead puck era 20 years ago.

 

[element1286]

1 more PP per game, per team. Assuming a 18% conversion rate (current league median), that's an extra .35 goals per game.

Add that current league median goal per game is 2.75, that would be a 13% bump in scoring.

Jon Tavares is on pace for 87 points, add 13% to that total, and he is on pace for about 100. Seems like a significant difference.

 

[mtm166]

That graph really makes me sad to be a hockey fan. No end in sight to this garbage.

Exactly. NHL hockey is becoming increasingly more difficult for me to stomach each time I watch. Talk about an absolutely bassakwards way to market your product. Why watch top end talent produce and showcase their skill when we can highlight borderline AHLers tackle people on skates. Total garage league. Mario said it best.

 

[thedddd]

Yeah it is kind of sad what is going on in the NHL.

NHL League Averages | Hockey-Reference.com

Heck even in 01-02 and 03-04 (arguably the two worst years for scoring in modern times) the league still averaged over 1 more PP per game.

 

[element1286]

Yeah it is kind of sad what is going on in the NHL.

NHL League Averages | Hockey-Reference.com

Heck even in 01-02 and 03-04 (arguably the two worst years for scoring in modern times) the league still averaged over 1 more PP per game.

6 straight years over .910 sv %, only happened one time in the previous 13 years.

 

[thedddd]

^ Sad isn't it....Look at the correlation to the amount of PP goals and opportunities at that same time. Both started to drop noticeably.

 

[evolver115]

Obviously glad they came back and won, but blowing a 4-0 lead against possibly the worst team in the league is not good. I kinda give them a mulligan because they had just returned from the longest road trip of the season, and it's always said that the first game back after a long trip is always tough, especially as the game goes along and fatigue sets in. They took care of business in the end, but Boston and Detroit this weekend will not be near as forgiving.