The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially put the Carolina Hurricanes on the brink of elimination with a remarkable 6-2 win tonight in Carolina. Every announcer and analyst in the hockey world talks about how important the first goal of a game is but the Penguins are making a counterargument this postseason.

Let's take a look at the games the Pens have won. Two out of the four games that the Pens beat Philadelphia, the Flyers scored the first goal. Two out of the four games that the Pens beat Washington, the Caps scored the first goal. And tonight the Carolina Hurricanes scored the first goal.

The Canes came out of the gate strong tonight which was expected with them being at home. They actually outshot the Pens tonight for once and Matt Cullen put them on the board first just four minutes into the game. The turning point was at the end of the first period. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored back to back goals, 31 seconds apart, with less than a minute left in the first. That took the energy out of the high octane RBC and they never really recaptured that energy.

Fatigue has to be believed to be the big factor. Even after Sergei Samsonov brough the Canes within one goal in the third period, the Pens just had more in their legs. Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, Dennis Seidenberg, and Eric Staal all played 22+ minutes again tonight while the Pens only had three guys over 20 minutes and Crosby was the only one to even get to 21.

The big guns are tired for Carolina and it's being shown by the scored. Matt Cullen is the leading scorer for the Canes with three points this series. Evgeni Malkin is the leading scorer for the Pens with triple the points at nine. Yes, that's Malkin being spectacular. It's also the Canes being lackluster.

Food for thought. Does anyone remember how much Evgeni Malkin got scrutinized last year for being non-existant in the Conference Finals. He was considered to be someone that choked in the playoffs. I think we can throw that theory out the window.

(Promoted from fanposts - FrankD)

Tomorrow night the Eastern Conference Finals heads to Carolina where the Hurricanes will be looking to get back into the series with the Pittsburgh Penguins in what many would consider to be a must-win situation for the Canes. The question is, do the Canes have any hope of getting back into this series?

Everyone seems to come back to the thought that Cam Ward is the key for Carolina getting back in this series and that is partly true. Ward has been below average at best so far with an .875 save percentage and a goals against average roughly around 4.5. That doesn't mean the series is over. Ward has tremendous career numbers against Pittsburgh in the regular season (9-3-1, 2.43, .916). If he gets back into that form, it's possible that Carolina wins at least one game at home but not if some other things happen.

The big names for the Canes this series have been nonexistent. Eric Staal has no goals, one assist and is a -3 rating. Erik Cole has no goals, one assist, and an even rating. Ray Whitney has no goals, two assists, and a -2 rating. Scott Walker has no goals, one assist, and a -3 rating. The list continues. The leading scorers for the Canes are Chad LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour with two points a piece. That's not good when on the other side you have Matt Cooke with as many points as those two combined and leading scorer for the Pens, Evgeni Malkin with triple the points of those two respectively.

Yes, Cam Ward has never lost a playoff series. Yes, Carolina gets the next two games at home. Yes, the Canes have last change the next two games so Paul Maurice can get Eric Staal away from Jordan Staal. No, the Canes have not come back from two games down this playoff season. No, the Canes do not have the depth to overcome their injuries. And no, the Canes have no answer for Evgeni Malkin.

It is most likely a stretch to say that the Pens will sweep the Canes. That just doesn't happen that often in Conference Finals. However, at this point, it is also a stretch to say that Cam Ward will still be undefeated in playoff series after the end of next week.

Promoted from Fanposts (FrankD)

Well, well, well, after tonight's events, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to go from eliminating the team that they hate the most to being matched up with the player that they hate the most. Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will be the Penguins second round opponent in this postseason.

For 58 minutes it was looking like the Pens would be matched up with the Bruins until the Carolina Hurricanes scored two goals in less than a minute to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of their series.

The Capitals won the season series against the Penguins three games to one but that can be deceiving. Two of the Caps' wins came while Sergei Gonchar was out of the lineup and guys like Paul Bissonette, Chris Minard, Dustin Jeffrey, and Tim Wallace were playing on a regular basis. Also, the one win the Penguins got was with their current roster which includes Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin.

The biggest question mark coming into this series for the Capitals is their goaltender, Simeon Varlamov. He was outstanding after replacing Jose Theodore in net in the series with the New York Rangers but this is the first significant action he has ever seen at the NHL level. The deeper he gets in the playoffs, logic would suggest that he would begin the rattle.

The Pens' biggest concern coming into this series has to be Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. Not only because of their point scoring capabilities but moreso because of their ability to get under the skin of the Penguins, especially Ovechkin. If he can succeed in getting the Penguins to play undisciplined hockey, which he's been known to do in the past, it could be a long series.

The key to the series for both teams, as always, will be special teams. The Capitals bring the second best power play in the NHL into this series against the Penguins' eighth best penalty kill. On the other hand, the Penguins will be bringing their 20th ranked power play against the Capitals' 17th ranked penalty kill. In other words, on paper, the special teams are somewhat evenly matched.

It's going to be a matter of who stays disciplined and doesn't take dumb penalties. Going in, the Caps have that edge since they were in the bottom ten in the league in penalty minutes. But that also means that they aren't likely to play the same physical style that gave the Pens some problems against the Flyers.

Even though the Capitals may have the edge on paper, how can you go against the Pens right now under Bylsma? No team in the East has them downright outmatched. Let's watch Bylsma go out there as the new official head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins and work his magic.

Continue reading this post »

Continue reading this post »

Continue reading this post »

On Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from an embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday by beating them 3-1. The game was not dominated by the Penguins, however. The Flyers made the Penguins play their game for a large portion of the game. The Penguins won because their grinders that did not get the job done in game three got it done in game four. Secondly, Marc-Andre Fleury played out of his mind.

Marc-Andre Fleury was by far the player of the game. He faced a much tougher test througout the game than his counterpart Martin Biron did. Fleury faced 46 shots in the game while Biron only faced 25. The Flyers weren't just putting the puck on net from the blue line either. They had several scoring chances that Fleury just shut down. Maybe the most impressive save was a shot from the blue line from Kimmo Timonen that Fleury did not see. It bounced off the boards in front of the net. Fleury heard the puck hit and contorted himself backwards to shut down Simon Gagne from point-blank range.

This game was important for Fleury after a poor performance in game three. Game three saw Fleury give up two goals on the first two shots of the game. In game four he didn't give up the first and only goal the Flyers scored until shot number 42. In playoff hockey, most often your goaltender has to be your best player. Fleury has been that in the three games he has won in this series. It would be a struggle to find a goaltender in the east that could hang with him.

The grinders of the Penguins also rebounded nicely in this game. The third and fourth lines of the Flyers dominated the Penguins in game three. The tide reversed back in the Penguins direction. Tyler Kennedy scored the goal which turned out to be the game winner. Max Talbot iced the game with an empty net goal. Matt Cooke had two assists and Hal Gill as well as Craig Adams chipped in with a helper a piece. The only production the Flyers got from their grinders was a goal from Daniel Carcillo when Fleury was knocked into his own net by Joffrey Lupul which left him on his knees, unable to make the save.

Gill, Cooke, Rob Scuderi, and Jordan Staal were all a plus two in this game. Scuderi and Staal also logged over 20 minutes of ice time each which were most on the team behind Sergei Gonchar. Those guys proved that they didn't need someone like Eric Godard to be dressed in order to stand up to the Flyers. They played physical hockey and for the most part prevented the Flyers from performing their behind the play shenanigans.

These are the games that champions need to win. The games were they don't play their best hockey but they still get the job done. This win puts the Penguins in a great position to end the series on Thursday in Pittsburgh.