DK's Daily Shot of Penguins: 'The B and C game'

Time to ditch some details of 'the B and C game'.

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Hear award-winning columnist Dejan Kovacevic's three Daily Shot podcasts -- one each on Steelers, Penguins, Pirates -- every weekday morning, plus the all-new DOUBLE SHOT show that follows up at 4 p.m. Eastern!

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[fletchersapp]

Absolutely electric in the stands. Pittsburgh fans are unmatched.

[christianrussell]

What a performance from Sid. The fake slap was awesome

[WhiteSpiderInc]

Energy players … Can we get the Hanson Brothers? 😂

[TheBearGuyCanada]

It was a huge win but the oddman breaks were horrible. Three goals off them, one for Karlsson, two for Letang returned to that guy that takes chances regardless of the score. Thank god we had Sid, and Jarry deserves some credit, he stopped quite a few high danger shots that he was letting in earlier in the season, but I'll never have confidence when he's in net. The only thing you can say about two irresponsible teams, they give the fans an exciting show, with that said Nashville has some amazing talent. A big win though!

[fcktrouba]

I feel like you were defending Jarry all last year.. I remember saying the exact same thing as you're saying now when everyone was just defending Jarry

[militant_daisies]

ABSOLUTELY right. This team is a mess with Jarry in net. get him out of town, he has kneecapped this team for years and it needs to end

[pittsburghfan]

I think, I THINK I saw Graves have the FIRST HIT, of his career

[PensFan]

Man, can we go ahead and trade Jarry to the Oilers yet? 🙃

Bring in Joel Blomqvist

[ourlittleadventures]

Good morning DK, I thought that the line we had in preseason with Pulliarvi and company was that 3rd/4th line of nothing short of energy, pressing with their hair on fire, banging and crashing, you know...the type of line that completely drains your opponent?!? Where is Pulliarvi for the love of God!!!! (Yes, I spelled his name wrong everyone, thank you)
Anyways DK, if there's no messages next Monday or Tuesday, you have a very Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones 🙏 ✝️

[MichaelNaydeck]

Not the greatest of games. But for this particular team....it was a great show of finding a way out of bad habits with timely goals and stars showing up when they need to.

[kristopherkurelis]

I agree … not my favorite game by them … Nashville wins atleast 80 times out of 100 … but it was exciting & the fact that they came back 3 times excites me … no way in hell this team would’ve done that in the recent past …
what I’m most worried about is - they’ve been so great in OT lately … but it might be their downfall …
we all know towards the end of the season - when they’re closing in on a playoff spot - they usually have the upper hand because they’ve been so bad in OT in the past … but what happens this season when this awesome run dies down & we’re inching towards a spot but don’t have the Regulation Wins against someone who’s close or tied in the standing ?
haha I always half heartedly joke with my buddy that I’d rather lose in OT (atleast you get the point) than win in OT (yeah you get the 2 pts but lose an RW in the standings) & save that WIN for one that’s done in 60 min 🤣
we all know this year’s Eastern Conference Wild Card is going to be a dirty one …

[jakedasnake]

I’m not gonna lie. 2 of the goals Jarry gave up the first one shouldn’t even have counted the puck hit the net but it was literally unreviewable for some reason and then the one other goal was a 3v1 sure maybe he could have moved over slightly faster but it was still a perfectly located shot. I feel ya DK but I don’t think he was THAT BAD last night.

[warlok]

They are moving in the right direction. Jarry seems fine now. They have proven they can win games with him. They still need to be more physical. Hitting is sparse. Man I miss players like Kasparaitis. They need more scoring from lines 2 and 3. Drew O’Connor is not the answer to anything related to scoring. His ship has sailed. Might as well trade him so he can become a top six for another team.

[joshmichel]

HeyDK why are we so awful against NJ? It’s been for a while that we look mired down and extra lethargic against them. Also why is jarry starting?

[austinl]

DK, I couldn’t agree with you more about Jarry. He is truly BAD. He moves poorly, he tracks pucks poorly, he has horrific hand placement and he has zero clutch gene in his body. The problem is, is that every other team knows how bad he is and coupled with that contract…. Nobody is taking him in a trade. 3.62 GAA and an .883 save percentage is what we’re stuck with. I can’t wait until they are forced to buy out this guy. It actually angers me when I see him starting.

[SiimViisut]

Its true, you can't play hockey without energy.
It was good line of energy Poulin-O Connor-Puljujärvi.
The men were playing and their eyes were burning, something was happening all the time. The team overall wasn't doing well but there was a spark in the game. At least seams to me. Now O Connor disappeared to somewhere.
At the moment team doing well, if we looking standing. They now somehow on the line and get the necessary points. But will this lineup be in playoffs, time will tell.

[planetmirror]

Softest group of defensemen I've ever seen. When do they start scratching O'Connor? Puljujärvi has only played in 1 game this month

[mikecrow]

The Pens were playing with swagger in front of Blomqvist? Huh? Joel Blomqvist was 3-5 with a 3.60 GAA and a .903 sv% ... yeah, the Pens were really playing great hockey in front of him. I get that fans and the media hate Jarry, but at least attempt some objective analysis. So here's a question. Igor Shesterkin is 2-8 over his last 10 starts with a GAA of 3.21 and a sv% of .903 ... did he suddenly forget how to play in net? Or maybe ... just maybe ... he's facing an incredible number of scoring chances against? Because you know who the two worst teams in the league are at giving up scoring chances? The Pens and the Rangers. Of course Jarry isn't all that good. But anyone who thinks that the Pens can just continue to give up the chances they are giving and all they need to do is get another goalie is doing nothing but scapegoating. They could trade for Shesterkin or Sorokin or pick your Russian/European goalie of choice, and they would still give up 3-4 goals a game. Well, maybe not if they had Hasek in his prime.

[irk]

Blomqvist wasn't that good tbh he only looked decent t because our other 2 goalies were playing like pigeons

[blutomindpretzel]

Jarry stinks. A team is only as strong as your goalie and he's weak