Goligoski looked great last night

[mapletreemarty]

baumer wrote:

Well, good news bad news for Goli owners. The last two games, he has played more pp time than anyone except Malkin. This is great news. I think the points will come. It seems their pp is not clicking completely right now. This is the bad news. With 8 minutes of pp time, and no points for either him or Malkin, it is a bit bothersome, especiaslly since I started him this week as one of my two D, but Pitt does play Toronto on Saturday. If there was ever a day to break out, it will be then.

Hopefully all the Pens break out in a serious way against the Leafs on Saturday.... let\'s see... Goligoski 1G 2A on Saturday, Malkin 2G 2A Crosby 1G 3A...I wouldn\'t bet my house on it though

[baumer]

Their speed should cause Toronto to take lots of penalties and if Crosby, Goli and Msalkin are getting 6-8 minutes of pp time, they should put up decent numbers on Saturday. I\'m hoping for sure.

[baumer]

Time to bump an old thread...:laugh:

Goligoski played 28 minutes last night and he assisted on Staal\'s goal in overtime. I think this is a bit of a break out game for Goli. He has 7 points now, which is good for 30th amonst D-men and he is on pace for about 30. That would be quite nice for a rookie D. I like the direction they are going with Goli.

[ross10019]

Baumer, I agree with you, he did look good last night.

But I was even more impressed with Letang - he was out there instead of Goligoski at the end of regulation time when the Pens were scrambling to tie (although part of the time paired with Goli) and he was on the 4 on 3 PP at the beginning of OT. I thought he seemed very composed at the blueline in that madcap finish.

I think as his confidence increases, I think we\'ll also see a few goals come from him, as he does pinch in from time to time.

[baumer]

Yes, agreed...Letang looked very good also. I\'m just excited to see them give more of a confidence boost by playing him in the waning minutes of the game.

[ross10019]

Well I have to admit I didn\'t see the first period, and so have to temper my statements about Letang given this excerpt from Sean Leahy\'s report on the game (article on PuckDaddy today):

\"Rookie blue-liner Alex Goligoski continued to impress by playing calmly and controlling the puck; the 23-year-old played with an air of confidence.

On the other hand, fellow defenseman Kris Letang had a rough night. His failure to knock the puck to the boards and instead to the slot led to Darren McCarty\'s goal, and Mikael Samuelsson\'s ability to draw Letang away from his mark allowed Jiri Hudler to slip in and set up Detroit\'s third goal by Johan Franzen.\"

Have to defer to Leahy of course as he follows the team and every game very closely. But I\'d be interested in hearing his thoughts on Letang\'s performance in the 3rd period and OT, because I thought he did very well.

Perhaps others who saw the game can comment.

[baumer]

I guess I\'m a bit biased because i drafted him, but this 28 minutes is a helluva long way from sitting him in the first game in favour of Sydor and then pulling a Stamkos/Melrose and play him just 13 minutes a game. This is a nice progression.

[Legoldenseal]

Goligoski is getting better, sure.

But yesterday Scuderi played only 6:42 and didn\'t play after 5:00 in the second...maybe some injurie. So playing with 5 D-man for 35 minutes, need goals because Pens were trailing in the score and going OT, all this show you that you may not expect 28 minutes of Ice time for Gologoski every night!

But these under 15 minutes games belonged to past now

[Legoldenseal]

Legoldenseal wrote:

Goligoski is getting better, sure.

But yesterday Scuderi played only 6:42 and didn\'t play after 5:00 in the second...maybe some injurie (left ankle). So playing with 5 D-man for 35 minutes, need goals because Pens were trailing in the score and going OT, all this show you that you may not expect 28 minutes of Ice time for Gologoski every night!

But these under 15 minutes games belonged to past now

[baumer]

I don\'t think anyone thinks he is going to play 28 minutes a game, but the coach is getting more comfortable with him out there. That is a great sign.