For the Penguins, this season was magical. It was late December, and many thought there would be no NHL season. People were already making plans, and even I persuaded my Dad to buy Pirates tickets instead of spending money on Hockey tickets we would never receive. Then, suddenly, it was over. I woke up one Saturday morning and hockey was back. We gleefully followed updates as various Penguins arrived at the Arena for practice. We were clamoring for Hockey; enough to fill the 18,387 seat arena for an intra-squad scrimmage. Hockey was back.
The regular season began excitingly enough, with a 3-1 handling of, guess who, the Philadelphia Flyers. The next night, a 4-1 defeat of the "Cup Favorites" New York Rangers meant the Pens meant business. The Penguins had an incredible regular season. I'm only going to share a few highlights.
We dominated the Flyers in 3 of the 4 meetings, including an overtime win thanks to this beauty by Tyler Kennedy. The Flyers, much to any Penguins fan's joy, had a dismal season. They finished last in the Atlantic Division. They weren't around in the playoffs to bother the Penguins. It's always fun when the Flyers suck.
Then came the month of March. I'll put it simply: In the month of March, the Pens had 15 wins, and 0 losses. It was a fun time to be a Pens fan. The Penguins were not only scoring like there was no tomorrow, they weren't allowing many goals either (see: 3 consecutive shutouts). The streak included wins against powerful wins such as Montreal (2), New York (Islanders), Boston (2), and Washington. Make no mistake, Pens captain Sidney Crosby was the man behind all of this. This is his team.
Next on our trip down memory lane: the Trade Deadline. We went into this always-exciting time of year not expecting anything huge. Maybe a depth winger or a 3rd line defenseman. General Manager Ray Shero had other ideas. The raid of the NHL began with the acquisition of winger Brenden Morrow from Dallas. At the time, it was common thinking that he'd be a good tough guy to play alongside Evgeni Malkin. We would have been content if Shero had stopped there.
Then came defenseman Douglas Murray, or "crankshaft". We hadn't seen much of him (he played in San Jose), but we would soon find out that he was one of the better hitters in the NHL.
Next came the big prize. It was the evening of March 27th. It was pretty much agreed upon that star winger Jarome Iginla would be traded to Boston. There was a deal "in place". However, Iginla had a No-Trade Clause, meaning he could approve or reject any trade offers. So, late at night, when all the Pens fans had gone to sleep, the Pens put in an offer. It was inferior to that of Boston, but that was beside the point. Iginla wanted to come to Pittsburgh. It's the benefit of having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. People want to play here. It was a Christmas-Morning scenario: Pittsburghers everywhere woke up to the news that Ray Shero had robbed Boston of Jarome Iginla.
And now, the Playoffs. The first round was kind of a mess. It featured a dominant win in game one, then a hard fought loss in game two. An overtime win in game three preempted a disgustingly sloppy loss in game four, allowing the Islanders to tie the series at two. Marc Andre Fleury played awful, and that would be his last start of the playoffs, and possibly as a Penguin. Vokoun entered the crease for the Pens, and they blew out New York in game five, and won a thrilling game six off a Brooks Orpik overtime goal.
Round two was a fun time for all. We solidly took a 2-0 on home ice against the Ottawa Senators. Game three was all Pens, but Craig Anderson robbed the Pens of the W. Game four looked to be headed the same way, until the Pens broke Anderson and put in five goals in the third period. Game five was a blowout, dispatching the Sens quickly.
Nobody wants to talk about the third round against Boston. We all know what went wrong. We couldn't score. Yes, Bruin Goaltender Tuukka Rask was great. However, we would have had a lot more goals if Penguins simply went to the net to provide screens and collet rebounds. They didn't do that at all. That's why we lost game three 2-1 and game four 1-0. That's all I have to say about that series.
Overall, it was an incredible season. I don't think Dan Bylsma should be fired, and I don't think he will be. I'll be right here when training camp opens in September.
