OT: Pens/NHL Playoffs

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Well it is that time again. It is Playoff time. Much more excited for this year than last year. Pens/Rangers for the 3rd year in a row. This time it seems like maybe the Rangers are a bit more banged up than the Pens. Fleury has just taken the ice for the Pens in practice and Malkin and Matta look like they will be back in the lineup sooner than later. This is the fastest Pens team that I can remember, and definitely the deepest since the 2009 team. The one thing they lack is overall size.

So it all starts on Wednesday. Like I said, MAF is skating at practice, so I am expecting him to be ready to go. I just wish he had some live action to shake off some rust. Lundquist has been the Pens kryptonite in the past, but he has wilted some at the end of this year. And the Pens have shown they could solve them. So interesting matchup in net.

As I said, deep team. You can have 87 and 71 on the same line sometimes, and on different lines. The 13/62/81 line has been a force. Sid has scored only 3 goals in his last 22 playoff games. That has to change for the Pens to make a run. Malkin was shut out totally against the Rangers last year. If he is healthy and comes back, he will also be well rested. It will be real interesting, especially without McDonough how the Rangers try and match D corps and lines now.

The bad thing of course is that Saturday afternoon game, yes AFTERNOON game will no doubt affect attendance a bit at the Spring game. The good thing, Pens/Rangers will be televised a lot outside of Roots so if I am traveling outside of the area, I will still be able to catch games.

Washington the #1 seed did not get the most favorable draw as they get matched up with the always pain in the ass, Flyers who no doubt will be motivated by the death of their owner Ed Snider, who was the pulse of that franchise. The other two series in the east are "meh". In the stacked West. LA/San Jose looks like another war, and St Louis and the defending Champs could be a Conference Final instead of a 1st rd matchup. Should be a great series, and is this the year the Blues break through?

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

One other thing, being that a lot of yinz who went to Pitt are from the Eastern part of the state, I am assuming there are some Flyer fans here. RIP Mr. Ed Snider. Truly one of the iconic owners in all of sports. He was the Flyers from the get go, he made them the first of the "second six" expansion teams into a power. And the Flyers have been a fairly consistent and successful franchise on and off the ice.

He though has two blackmarks.

1) He was the purveyor of goonism. The backing of the orginal Broad Street Bullies and still valued that aspect of the game over a lot of others.
2) And as a Pens fan, I loved this, he would never truly accept rebuilding. Because of that, the Flyers have not won a cup in over 40 years now. They viewed this as beneath them, and history has shown that teams who have had a few years of top 5 draft picks usually get rewarded.

 

[ratking17]

Yeah, the pens game made my decision about the spring game easy. I was thinking about it this year (4 hr drive) but playoff hockey trumps a football practice in my book.

 

[FreeportPanther]

A lot depends on the refs. If they tolerate a lot of clutch and grab, like seems to always happen in Playoff hockey, well then that neutralizes the Pen's number one weapon.

Also need Sid to show up. He seems to be playing real good right now, but he needs to play like the premeire talent he is.

Sure hope the goaltending situation heals up. Fleury/Murray is a solid tandem, but leaning on a rookie up against Lundquist won't cut it.
Sullivan should be criticized for not resting Murray against the Flyers. What wa he thinking? Could have given the kid some great experience in a means nothing game. Instead, a fluke injury has potentially jeopardized their playoff hopes.

Bet you don't see Malkin until the second round at the earliest. Pretty sure he has a broken arm.

Love playoff hockey, but liked the games every other night like it used to be.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

It's definitely an exciting time of the year. The NHL Playoffs and March Madness are my two favorite playoffs in the calendar year. I love the NFL and MLB Playoffs too but the magic of March and the springtime grind are each very special.

On Ed Snider:
He was clearly an outstanding owner for the Flyers. He consistently gave them everything they needed to be successful and that is all you can really ask for from any owner. Also, people should know that when the NHL realigned a few years ago, the most popular model among the owners initially had Pittsburgh and Columbus going to the Atlantic Division and the Florida teams playing in the Metropolitan.

Snider put an end to that talk by adamantly saying the NHL would be idiots to break up the Flyers/Penguins rivalry. He writes some big checks to the NHL so his opinion REALLY counts and we ended up in the old Patrick Division and Tampa and Florida ended up with Toronto and Boston and company. That was not a sure thing by any means until Snider insisted upon it. That's a feather in his cap, IMHO.

I do agree that the Flyers' methods are often questionable and their mentality has probably hurt them as much as it has helped them over the years. I see them in the same light as I do the Raiders. They definitely have an organizational identity and they are bound and determined to stick with it come hell of high water. The HAD to play that way in the 70s in order to compete with the top Original Six teams. However, they don't have to play that way now but they still typically do. I think that is a Bobby Clarke thing more than an Ed Snider thing but someone had to sign off on all of those goons.

Another amazing story about Snider and the Flyers is they needed a place to play to get a team and they had no real prospects of getting one. Snider heard through the grapevine that Philadelphia was planning on building a complex in South Philly for the Eagles and Phillies so he called the city planners office and within ONE DAY they had clearance to build the Spectrum also on that site. That would NEVER happen today and if it didn't happen then who knows if Philadelphia would have even gotten a team?

I'm sorry for his family and I definitely worry that this could impact the relationship between Comcast and the NHL.

On the Penguins and the NHL Playoffs
I can't explain it but to me this year just feels WIDE OPEN. Chicago and Los Angeles are still tremendous but they don't look quite as good as they have been. I still consider the Kings to be THE favorites to win the whole thing but even they look like they could be had if the right set of circumstances present themselves. I just have a feeling that someone nobody is expecting to win is going to walk off with the chalice this year. Maybe it will be Dallas - the least talked about excellent team in recent memory - or maybe it will be Florida or San Jose or someone like that? Hopefully, it will be Pittsburgh.

I definitely agree that Philadelphia will be a very difficult match up for Washington. The Capitals are certainly an excellent team - definitely the class of the East - but even they look vulnerable to me. I'm not crazy about their back end. I think it's solid but not great. I'm not sure that means Pittsburgh will win the East but Washington looks to me like a team that may have peaked too soon. Barry Trotz is a helluva coach though and they will definitely be a tough out.

The other other team in the East I can see potentially beating the Penguins is the Rangers. They have SIX 20-goal scorers and an elite goaltender. They are also a very fast team and they too have a great coach, Alain Vigneault. However, I just think Pittsburgh is a nightmare match up for the Blue Shirts because we can match them in many key areas and trump them in many others. Over the past two years they have been WAY faster than we have been. That is no longer true and I expect that become evident very quickly.

Finally, I want to address a myth I continue to hear regarding the Penguins' postseason chances. People keep saying that it's fine to play a speed game in the regular season but what are they going to do in the playoffs whenever people are trapping all over the place and doing whatever they can to obstruct and slow down the game?

Don't buy into that reasoning because it's foolish. Chicago has won three of the past five Stanley Cups playing puck possession up and down hockey. With the exception of a few guys, the Hawks are NOT an overly physical team but they have the puck all the time and it's tough to beat a team if they always have the puck.

Also, the past two Eastern Conference champions - Tampa Bay and these same Rangers - played EXACTLY how Pittsburgh is playing right now; speed at forward, puck moving D, good goaltending. If Fleury comes back healthy and plays the way he has for most of the past two years, Pittsburgh is going to be a tough out for anyone.

 

[vegasgreed]

yep, the real season is about ready to begin.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

So we watch every PENS hockey game on Center Ice since we're not in the area.
I read something that maybe ( I hope not) Murray and Fluery may not be ready for the playoffs?
I know they moved up a goalie for practice.
Is that what you're hearing! We don't get much info on the PENS here but we know everything about the Flyers.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

So we watch every PENS hockey game on Center Ice since we're not in the area.
I read something that maybe ( I hope not) Murray and Fluery may not be ready for the playoffs?
I know they moved up a goalie for practice.
Is that what you're hearing! We don't get much info on the PENS here but we know everything about the Flyers.

Yeah, the Pens had to call up a young untested goalie. Dominik Hasek. Hope he can do well.

 

[ratking17]

MAF practiced today. King Henry was sick and did not.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

On Saturday afternoon when I saw that Matt Murray was going to start, I just assumed that meant that Fleury was ready to go.

I have a difficult time believing that they would've started Murray without having a pretty good idea that Fleury was ready to roll.

That said, were it up to me, I still would have sat Murray on Saturday. I just thought/think the potential downside of playing him far outweighed any potential upside. That is not Monday morning quarterbacking, that's how I felt at the time.

Look, we sat Crosby and Letang for a reason. Why wouldn't that also extend the goaltending position?