NHL Playoff preview

The NHL playoffs start tomorrow, and for the 3rd consecutive year, the Pittsburgh Penguins have the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference. A few months ago they seemed destined for the 2 seed, but stumbled down the stretch. Will they have enough to make another playoff run to the finals?

I hate to say it but I have to say no. On February 18th last year, they were 27-25-6 and in 10th place in the East before changing coaches to Dan Blysma. The Penguins then proceeded to go 18-3-3 and entered the playoffs as the hottest team in the NHL. They rode that momentum all the way to the Stanley Cup championship. They just don't seem to have that same spark this year.

This year, Marc-Andre Fleury resorted to his old ways of inconsistency. He can play unbelievable 1 night, then terrible the next. Nothing showed this more than the shootout loss to Washington on March 24. Fleury played great for the entire game and the first 2 rounds of the shootout building a 2 goal lead. He then gave up 3 goals on 3 straight shots and the Pens only managed to leave with 1 point.

Last years hero, Art Ross and Con Smythe trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, has been quiet this year as well. He only played in 67 games this year and managed only 77 points. The one bright spot is that he managed 4 points (2G, 2A) on Sunday against the Islanders. It is a shame because Sidney Crosby is having the best scoring year of his career, tallying 51 this year and tying Steven Stamkos for tops in the NHL. He managed to finish with 109 points (51G, 58A) this year, 3 points behind Vancouver's Henrik Sedin for the NHL lead.

The question will now be whether or not Pittsburgh can put it all together and make a strong push towards the cup. They did get a good draw in the first round against Ottawa. The Senators have been up and down all year, but good as of late. Pittsburgh has much better depth, especially up the middle and match up well against them. This is the perfect chance for them to get everything right and get the team on the same page.

The biggest obstacle for Pittsburgh will be potential road series against Washington, New Jersey and Buffalo. Pittsburgh finished the year 0-8-2 against Wash and NJ, and was also 0-3-1 against the top 4 teams in the West. That does not look good heading into the later rounds of the playoffs.

Crosby is known to rise to the occasion in big games, and has been a force this year. The only way Pittsburgh can repeat as Stanley Cup champions is with increased play by their other 2 big stars, Fleury and Malkin. Fleury has been very solid in the playoffs the last 2 years and will need to be at his best this year. Malkin was a ghost in the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs and pulled a disappearing act in the Olympics this past February. He will need to return to his form from last year, where he won the Con Smythe and lead the league in playoff scoring.