mjd1001

Dahlin is just not himself. Quinn is practically invisible. At least they aren't HURTING you.....Cozens, he is.

VERY small sample size, but Peterka is scoring about 4 goals per 60. League leaders average about 1.5 Of course he won't keep it up, but he LOOKS like he could keep it up.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with Clifton. Honestly, I don't have a major problem with the Defense in general. Dahlin isn't playing at a 'high' level, and there have been a handful of bad mistakes, but 90% of the time the whole unit is where they should be, including Clifton.

Quinn with just over 12 minutes of ice time. Benson only 10.5 minutes. Cozens didn't play much the last 10-12 minutes of the game. Thompson, Peterka, Tuch, and Greenway led all with over 18 minutes among forwards. As far as Defense, everyone got their shifts. Clifton was at the bottom of the ice time sheet, but still had over 17.5 minutes.

Special teams, well we know they are the worst on the Power play in the league (A few other teams at 0% but with less chances/less games played). After tonight, they are probably in the bottom 5-7 also in the penalty kill.

Cozens only had a 2, maybe 3 shifts in the 2nd half of the 3rd and into overtime. Dahlin. He didn't play BAD, but wow, he seems like a shadow of what he was the last 2 years. He just doesn't look like a difference maker. Almost 25 minutes of ice time but he looks like just a 'slightly above average' 2nd pair guy right now.

I haven't seen the replay other than the quick ones on TV, but I think I wanted Zucker to take the goal scorer there.

I think he has played slightly above average. Its hard to rate his game. Not like he let in 4 bad goals, but he hasn't stood on his head.

Right before they scored, I was going to type...I'm not rooting for a Pitt goal, but the way this game is going, this is the EXACT time I would expect one. Just a crazy game.

Jokiharju...I haven't really noticed him but... So far... 1 assist, +3, 20 minute of ice time so far, 26 shifts (more than anyone but Dahlin) , a blocked shot and a takeaway.

Yeah, I agree with that, but this is going to a national audience....Do you think the fans, and casual fans that might be watching this want to hear about Crosby, Letang, and Malkin (scoring his 500th)? Or about Thompson, Cozens, and Dahlin? If I were the producers at TNT, I'd be yelling if they didn't talk about the Penguins players at least 75% of the time.

Benson isn't making mistakes that I can see, but he does seem to be a half-step behind the play (he wasn't playing that way earlier). Its almost like something injury related is still bothering him slightly. Right now he looks like the talented guy who isn't quite ready for the speed of the NHL. We know thats not true, but that is how he is playing now. Maybe? MAYBE??

I don't want the Sabres on the PK. I don't want them on the PP. Best chance to win this game is go even strength the rest of the way, sadly.

Lack of a sniper on this team.. MAYBE Peterka? Of the top 50 goal scorers the last season-and-a-half, 23 of the 50 have a shooting percentage over 15%. Matthews 18%. Reinhart almost 25% Brayden Point 21%. Boeser 20%. JT Miller 18.8%. Seth Jarvis 19%. Lucas Raymond 18.2%. But yeah, its not uncommon for stars (not even even SUPERSTARS, but stars) to shoot 15-20% or more for entire seasons. Who is the Sabres Sniper since the start of last season until now? Thompson is at 12%, Peterka at 12.2% Quinn was at 15% but that is with limited Sample size and its dropping fast. Tuch 11.9%. Cozens 8.2% I'm not sure where you get a 'sniper', but this team needs one, maybe more than they need anything else. Gotta hope its Thompson and JJ at this point.

Dahlin should be worth his deal, and he played that way for the most part the last 2 years, but something is up. He is not an impact player at all in any of the games this year. Thompson is giving you what a $7m forward should be giving you. He's not a $12m forward though. Cozens, $7M? Really? And you have cap space that could/should be filled with another quality player.

Yeah, I mean, they shouldn't be out of this. They are facing a guy in net who was supposed to start in the AHL. Pittsburgh wasn't a playoff team last year and they are one year older and one year slower. Sabres had a couple days off so they are well rested. No reason they should be down by 1 now...but also no reason they can't come back.

Ok, THAT was a 20-30 second shift by Cozens that was good. -He didn't get out of position in the defensive zone. As a matter of fact, when the D went to the boards, Cozens did a great job of sliding over slightly to cover the D-mans' zone without leaving his zone totally. -As soon as the puck came off the boards, he didn't chase the puck, he went right back to where his spot on the ice was. -By doing that, he ended up high near the blue line, chasing the puck out and got his chance. See what happens when you do what you are supposed to do?

Please don't put Cozens out on the PK. Last thing I need now is to see them playing positionally sound on the PK, then Cozens goes out there and wanders around and allows pitt a good chance.

yeah, isn't goalie interference a penalty?

The thing with Cozens is, what are the coaches seeing we aren't seeing? Is he an all-star in practice all the time? Do they see the speeds/aggressiveness and think THEY will be the one to 'unlock' his game. He is a disaster, he is literally the definition of a one man penalty killing disaster. He makes mistakes all over the ice. For the last calendar year he is shooting like 7.5% and that is with 200 shots. We all can see him with turnovers multiple times per game. We can see he is the ONLY one out of position on the PK and his mistakes cause goals against. And its not one time things, he does this over, and over, and over....yet he keeps getting put out there. Why? Only 4 forwards on this team have over 11 minutes of ice time through the first 2 periods..and he is one of them.

Ok, on the last Pittburgh goal...hustling back into the zone wasn't going to stop that goal, but you can see how is and who isn't hustling back. Look at the screenshots of the goal simulation below. When the turnover happens in the Pitt zone, Cozens, Benson, and Clifton are all in the same area. Clifton is already coming back so he almost gets back. Benson hustles back and was in position for a rebound, if there was one. Cozens? Lollygagging back, hes the last one back and WAY behind the play. Now, part of it is, once the puck was turned over he was trying to make a hit which took him out of the play (dumb hockey positionally). Even worse, he should have been called for a penalty. He led with the fore-arm on his hit, and following through almost as if he was throwing a punch. That is Risto-level hockey. There are times to make hits, and times to not make hits. Again, he followed through with the forearm/punch so it should have been a penalty on him. But lets say it wasn't, he took himself out of the play defensively if there was a turnover, and if the pens didn't get the puck, he was giving up a prime spot in front of the net, giving up offensive positioning to make a hit a second after the puck was gone. Hes just playing dumb hockey.

He always has been bad in his own zone. People have called him a '2 way center' but that was usually mistaking 'aggressive' hockey for 'smart' hockey. He doesn't think the game wall, doesn't anticipate at all. BUT..if he is scoring, that makes up for it. Problem is since the Philly games early last year, he is shooting in the 7.5% range. He needs to shoot at least 12%-14% to make up for how bad he is as a positional hockey player. Right now, of course, he's shooting zero percent. The worrisome part is. maybe he IS a 7-8% shooting guy. Hi half season rookie year he shot 6.5. 2nd year (full year) he shot 8.5. Last year 9.0. This year 0.0. It was only his 3rd year he shot 14.7. Every other point in his career he is close to half of that.

yeah. They should have a 'shot clock' on the replay. If they can't figure it out in 60 seconds...play stands, drop the puck.

I'm rooting for him too...He HAS a 30 goal season in his career. Its just right now, its not even overstating it..he is bad. Like hurting this team bad in all 3 zones. So far this year, the team is much better with a replacement level player.

I'm really close to wanting Cozens to sit some games. Not helping you. For sure hurting you...in the defensive zone, on the PP, shorthanded. Its not that he's not producing. He's just...bad.