Nothing Worth Winning Ever Came Easy

Just three weeks ago this was seen as an improbable match-up. There was no way the Canadiens were going to upset Washington in the first round. Now, just three weeks later here we are. The Pens are the top seed remaining in the Eastern Conference are will be hosting the team who did the improbable. This will be the first playoff meeting between the two teams since 1998.

It’s hard to imagine that on Wednesday night we were all Montreal fans as we watched them eliminate Washington. Less than 48 hours later they are now the enemy. The feature the hottest goaltender in hockey and a penalty kill that held Washington to 1 for 32 in their series. This team should not be overlooked. This won’t be easy.

The big difference now for Montreal is that they won’t be playing a soft Washington team this time around. They will be playing the battle tested Stanley Cup Champions. The Pens are out for justice and they won’t let anything stand in their way of another Stanley Cup. Montreal won’t have it so easy on offense anymore. They will be playing a much better defensive team. Instead of being able to skate through guys like Mike Green they will come face to face with Brooks Orpik. This won’t be as easy as Washington.

Season Series: The Pens dominated the season series against the Canadiens by going 3-1-0 against Montreal this season. Given that those three wins were against Carey Price and not Jaroslav Halak who we will see in this series. Sidney Crosby notched his first hat trick of the season in a 6-1 pounding on Montreal in October. However, this is the playoffs. The regular season no longer matters. What matters is right now. So let’s take a look at the series.

Goaltending: Right now Jaroslav Halak may very well be the best goalie in the world. He shut down a high powered Caps offense and posted a .973 save percentage in the final three games of that series. On the Pens side Marc-Andre Fleury is starting to find his playoff rhythm. After a shaky outing in game one against Ottawa he rebounded nicely and help backstop them to a series win. Simply because of Halak’s strong play the advantage here has to go to Montreal by the slightest margin. However, that could very well change after Game 1.

Defense: Much like Ottawa, Montreal blocks of ton of shots. Led by the monster Hal Gill they will do everything possible to shut down Crosby and Malkin. If last series is any proof you can contain them but eventually they will figure you out. Andrei Markov is their leader in ice time as well as their top offensive threat on the blue line. The Pens on the other hand will have to challenge the Montreal scorers to make plays. They won’t sit back like Washington and let the Canadiens dictate play. It will be interesting to see how Montreal responds to the pressure in this round. I’m calling this one even.

Offense: As I said above things won’t come as easy this time around for Montreal. They will have to make plays and catch the defense flat footed and take advantage of turnovers. Ottawa did everything they could to shut down Crosby and he still had 14 points in the series. Crosby rarely gets frustrated. In fact he may be the most composed player in the league. It will be up to him to break Halak. Secondary scoring will also play a huge part. Look for Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis to make a huge impact. For Montreal watch out for Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec. Corbsy and Malkin still give Pittsburgh the edge.

Special Teams: Not enough can be said about how good the Montreal penalty kill was against Washington. They held the league’s number one power play unit to just one goal on thirty two chances. That’s a 97 percent kill rate. If the Pens want to succeed they need to get goals on the power play. They need to shoot instead of passing it around. The Pens penalty kill clocked in at an atrocious 68 percent after round one. They really need to step it up on the penalty kill to keep the scoring low. Just for their insane penalty kill I give Montreal the edge.

Intangibles:  The playoffs are nothing new to either of these teams. They are both loaded with battle tested veterans who have gone all the way. The difference though, the Pens’ veterans are a few years younger than what Montreal has. Scott Gomez is no longer his old Devils self. Age has crept up on him. Crosby is 22 and will take advantage of their lack of speed. However, in the playoffs age means nothing. Everyone is playing for the same goal. Both teams are loaded with experience.

Overview: This should be a very entertaining series to watch and should feature some fantastic goaltending. Coming out pf Pittsburgh with a 2-0 series lead would be huge for the Pens. The Montreal crowd will be rocking when we go up there next week. We need to take advantage of our home ice in this series. Montreal won’t back down. They just knocked off the number one regular season team in the league. They are brimming with confidence. It’s up to the Pens to destroy that confidence.

My Pick: Pens in 6.

Earlier this evening the Philadelphia Flyers fired their head coach John Stevens. The Flyers have struggled of late and their stars have been caught in the center of it all.

Their goaltending has been their weakest point. Ray Emery has been garbage over the past month.

The Flyers hired former Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette as their new coach.

There are also rumors that Flyers “captain” Mike Richards has reliquished his duties to Chris Pronger. So much for leadership.

Whatever the case, the more the Flyers suffer and fail the happier Pens fans are.

I’ll post more when I get more info on the situation, but for now, Phuck Filly.

GO PENS!!!

fuckyeahpittsburghpenguins:

when people reblog and like things its makes your tumblarity go down. WTF tumblr, you’re retarded. Almost as retarded as almost killing your own goalie.

/rant