One Down, Three To Go

The Penguins will advance to the second round of the playoffs.  The will advance past the first round for the first time since 2010, which is a ridiculous slump when you consider the talent this team has had.  But, that's all behind us.  The Penguins took care of business against the Islanders, who were trying to force a game 7 on Sunday in Pittsburgh.  Nobody wanted that.  Not even the lucky fans who bought tickets for it.  Nobody wants to see a game 7.  It's too unpredictable.  If there were a game 7 today, the fear would be real.  But that's behind us.  Let's forget about that, and celebrate the Pens' 4-3 overtime win, and 4-2 series win.

Now, let's take a look forward at the next challenge.  The Pens will face the Ottawa Senators.

I don't think the next series will be as frustrating as this one was.  I don't think we will come out of games wondering "how in the world did we play that poorly?".  I think we will see a better team performance by the Pens.

I think the pressure got the them in the first round.  After a series of trades by GM Ray Shero, the Penguins were the mega-favorite to win the Stanley Cup.  That, combined with the fact that they hadn't won a playoff series since 2010, combined for some serious pressure.  That's why the Islanders were able to give the Pens a run for their money.

Another thing is that the Islanders, over the past few years, have had a knack for giving the Pens trouble.  Every so often, the Isles would deal the Pens a disturbing loss on home ice, or something of that nature.  Even when the Islanders were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, they would find ways to beat the Penguins.  That's why I'm not surprised that this series went six games.  I had a feeling in the back of my mind that they would give us trouble.

The Senators, I think, won't be as worrying.  Over the past several years, the Penguins have gotten them figured out.  Since 2008, we've met them in the Playoffs twice.  In the first one, the Pens coasted to a sweep.  Then, in 2010, the Pens won in 6.  Since then, the Pens have owned them in the regular season.

I think that the fact that the Pens have vanquished all those pressures of the first round, and the fact that we could write a book on how to beat the Senators combine to make an easier ride for round two.  It won't be an easy series, by any means.  But you won't be seeing any of the total nonsense we saw against the Isles.  There'll be fewer sloppy plays.  Tighter defense.  And the Pens getting back to their style of dumping the puck into the offensive zone, skating in, forechecking the opponent into the ground.  If they can do that well, and play some defense, they will take the series.

Why The Pens Will Pull It Out

Penguins 2, Islanders 2.  In the aftermath of a disappointing game 4, I sit here writing this.  A game 4 that saw the Penguins take a 3-2 lead, and later a 4-3 lead.  The final score was 6-4, Islanders.  What happened?

First, the Pens continued to play stupid.  The Islanders tied it at 4 in the third period off of a silly turnover by Evgeni Malkin.  The game was filled with other similar mistakes.  But in this one, all eyes are on Marc Andre Fleury.  I am somebody who is usually the biggest Fleury defender.

Not tonight.

Three of the Islanders' six goals were inexcusable.  One was scored from behind the net, banking off of Fleury's leg.  Another was scored in the final two minutes of play, sliding past him so slow you could read the label on the puck.

So, the series is tied at two, with the Pens heading home to play game 5 on Thursday at Consol Energy Center.  I seriously think that the Pens pull this one out.  And not because I'm a homer, or a fan (I am both of those things, but they didn't have any influence over this post).  Here's why.

The Pens are a flat out better team.  When they play smart, they kill the Islanders.  The problem so far is that they haven't been playing smart.  I feel that the Penguins are better equipped to lock in for an impressive game 5/6 than the Islanders.  This is because the Islanders are so inexperienced.  Their star players, John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Kyle Okposo, have never been in the playoffs before.  They don't know the intensity of a game 5, or game 6.  The Penguins have people like Crosby, Malkin, and Letang who have been in deep playoff runs.  They know what it's like, they know what it takes.

That's why I think the Pens will take this one.  If, AND ONLY IF, the Pens can reach down, and focus.  If they can go into a mindset of 2008 or 2009.  If they can regain their Cup winning mentality, they can take two of the next three.  The Pens are by far the better team.  It's all mental.

The same goes for Marc Andre Fleury.  If he can't do that, I'm all for giving Tomas Vokoun the start for game 5.

Clean It Up, Pens

The first three games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are in the books.  On paper, the Penguins appear to be in good shape.  You see a 5-0 blowout win in game one, a tight 4-3 loss in game two, and a 5-4 overtime win in the third game.  On paper, it appears that we not only took a series lead, but demoralized the Islanders.  They fought back so hard towards the end of the game to force overtime.  After all that, Crosby set up Kunitz for the winner in OT, making it look easy.  All in front of a wild crowd at the ancient Nassau Coliseum, a building that hadn't seen a playoff game in six years.

Sure, the Penguins are in a good position going forward in the series.  But if they hope to get close to a Stanley Cup, or even to get out of this series, things need to change.  The Pens are stocked with talent, we all know that.  The trouble is putting it to good use.  The Penguins need to play smart.  In Sunday's 5-4 win, there were two players who played smart:  Sidney Crosby and Douglas Murray.  Everybody else astounded with their dumb decisions.  Matt Niskanen had two turnovers, both of them costing the Pens a goal. Letang turned the puck over uncharacteristically.  Countless others did the same.  The bottom line is that none of the players need to play as well as Crosby, but they all need to play as smart is him.

They need to stop making blind passes.  They need to stop forcing passes to star players.  They need to stop slinging the puck 80 feet up ice, hoping it will connect with someone (this almost always ends up being a turnover).  They need to stop trying to outskill the Islanders' defense.  Instead of trying to walk right into the offensive zone, try dumping it in and using that fore-checking thing that worked so well in game one.

The Pens had a 15 game win streak this season.  They didn't accomplish that by speeding up the ice, beating the entire team and scoring 10 goals per game.  The played a tough, defensively sound game.  They hit their opponents hard, and lock it down in front of Marc Andre Fleury.  They waited for the other team to give them opportunities to score.  What they are doing now is essentially trying to force goals, and in the process, giving the Islanders opportunities to score.

This needs to stop.

Pens 4, Islanders 2

The Penguins got some revenge tuesday night in Long Island.  They avenged last weeks ugly 4-1 loss to the Islanders on home ice.

Marc-Andre Fleury was the Penguins MVP tonight.  by far.  He was solid all night, and made at least two jaw dropping saves; One of them a signature MAF cartwheel getting the glove on the puck, and the other a great save with the left pad coming across the crease.

The Penguins were undisciplined tonight, no excuses.  They gave the Isles 7 power play chances.  I did however have a problem with the officiating .  See, the way NHL refs call penalties is very strange.  They sometimes purposely ignore penalties, either because that team has gotten called a lot already in that game, or they simply aren't feeling it.  Also, NHL refs frequently call penalties that really shouldn't be called.  This is the part I really hate.  They do this to "even-up" on other penalties in the game.  If one team gets a 5-on-3 power play chance, look for the other team to get some cheap calls going their way.  The problem in this game was the Penguins had 5 penalties called on them in the second period.  None of them had more than 2:00 between them.  My point is, if the refs are going to continue to use their arbitrary penalty calling style, they at least have to be unbiased and even.

Fortunately, the Penguins' penalty kill came up HUGE.  Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, and Brandon Sutter were all standouts in their defensive play.  Only once or twice did the Isles get a high quality chance on the power play (of which they had 7).  Maybe they should stop putting Sidney Crosby out there for the face-off.  Joe Vitale can do the same thing at the same success rate.