Tough Pill to swallow

Tough to lose that one at home.....Pens are now 1-2 at home in these playoffs.........give credit where it is due.........the Senators came out and took it to the Pens for the first ten minutes......the Pens looked like the regular season Pens at times during that first ten minutes........a little soft, a little slow, a little useless in their own zone............The Senators jumped out 2-0 with goals a minute or so apart, and then almost scored to make it 3-0. From that point on the Pens outplayed the Senators for the most part, but the Senators blocked more than 40 shots, and Pascal Leclaire played like a franchise goaltender...........The Pens despite launching many shots on Leclaire were plagued by what ailed them at many times during the season.......defensive lapses and sould crushing softies let in by their "franchise" goaltender. Let me focus on that first if you will..........Fleury played very well in the overtime, but if he played well in regulation, the Pens would not have needed overtime...........he had let in 3 goals on 21 shots in regulation, the last of which came, typically not much more than a minute after the Penguins took a lead that many thought would launch them into the second round..........and as is typical it came from a shot unobstructed and way the hell out there.............not the stuff of champions....to rub salt in the wound it was set up by the typically piss poor play of Ruslan Fedostinko, who gave the puck away just inside our blue line.......oh, Rusty is -3 in 2 games, with no points......he gave the puck away on the game tying goal, and got in the way making VERY feeble attempt to block the shot on the GWG..........heady stuff for such a supposed clutch player in the playoffs, huh? I really do think they should just cut his head off.......back to MAF.......he has a VERY poor .887 save percentage, which puts him 15th out of the 19 goaltenders who have played in this year's post season, and a GAA of 2.77 which puts him more than 1.25 goals per game behind the leader in the GAA category this season.............I wrote going into the playoffs that MAF's play could very well cost the Pens in the post season, and it very much is.......when you pay 5M per season, you have a right to expect more, by a long shot than what we are getting this season......lets hope he turns it around.........another area of concern for the Pens is the usually STRONG third line, which thus far has been horrible......one of my favorite contributors Jordan Staal has one goal, one assist, and is a -5...........Matt Cooke is also -5........Tyler Kennedy is -3.....We will need the third line to pick up the pace and Fleury to play at least a little bit like a franchise goaltender to advance in these playoffs..........

The postives include the fact that 11 different players have chipped in with goals, and Sidney Crosby is playing on another level with 14 points in 5 games.....he is already a point ahead of his best playoff series ever, getting 13 points in SEVEN games against the Capitals last season....He is also only 3 points behind Mario Lemieux's franchise record of 17 points, also in SEVEN games...he is also a lofty +9 to lead all players in the playoffs.....in fact Crosby leads the playoffs in ALL offensive categories with 5 goals, 9 assists, 14 points, and a +9, all of which are the best in this years post season..........Malkin has 7 points (4G and 3A) for second on the Pens, followed by Gonchar with 6 points (0G and 6A), Kunitz with 6 points(2G and 4A), and Bill Guerin with 5 points (1G and 4A).

Jay McKee has played very well defensively, and Kris Letang chipping in 2 goals from the blueline is a nice addition...........To avoid a game 7 in which anything can happen, the Pens need to bring the A game. The way the Eastern Conference is playing out is as favorable as one could expect for the Pens..........Do not get me wrong, ALL of the remaining teams are very GOOD and quite capable of beating the Pens in a series BUT, their biggest nemesis, the New Jersey Devils have been eliminated by the Flyers, the Capitals though leading 3-2 in the series have not looked at all invincible. If we win, and the Boston Bruins win (they are up 3-2), the Pens are set up to play the Bruins.....if Buffalo wins, they are set up to play Buffalo, assuming the Caps eliminate the Habs........IF the Habs eliminate the Caps, then BOTH of our toughest matchups are gone........but lets assume that does not happen.....if the current teams leading their series win, the next round would pit the Pens against the Bruins, and the Capitals against the Flyers. I would expect the Capitals to handle the Flyers in 6 or 7 games, but the Flyers defense is the type that COULD frustrate Ovagkin and crew.....even if the Flyers do not upset the Craps, they play the type of game that will extract a toll on the tools from DC. If we play the Bruins, I would expect a tough series, but the Penguins should be able to win that one.....the Bruins have played great hockey and should be proud, especially without the services of Savard, but they do not seem to have enough scoring to prevail in seven games against the Penguins firepower......defensively Chara should be able to limit either Crosby or Malkin, BUT they do not have a second pairing that would seem capable of limiting whichever of the two Chara does not face.........now, Fleurys soft goaltending relative to Rask could offset the Pens scoring superiority, but not enough to win a best of seven in my opinion.....I would like the Pens in six.......Now, all of this is only an issue IF the Pens can close out the Sens, which is not a given. Now is the time to begin to find out if the Penguins really are deserving of being considered an elite team in the conference or not.