Pens in Six Games

Eric, that is!

Playoff whiteout!

Heeeeeee shooooootsss and scoooores!!

This is a series that will start off lacking the hatred and history of the prior two. I am sure that this will not last much deeper than the first two games of the series. I think that the Pens will win this series in six games, though I am not nearly as familiar with the Canes as I am with the Flyers and Capitals. The two teams have been pretty even, but the Pens have been slightly better:

Though the Hurricanes were one of the hottest teams in the NHL for the last 25 games of the season posting a 17-6-2 record and 36 points, the Pens were hotter posting a 19-3-3 record and 41 points.

The Canes beat the Devils and Bruins in two seven game series, carried largely by their goaltender Cam Ward. The Pens needed one fewer game to dispatch two bitter rivals, the Flyers and Capitals riding their wave of star power especially the league leader in playoff scoring, Sidney Crosby and third place in the playoff scoring race, Evgeni Malkin. Sid and Geno have 21 and 19 points respectively in this playoff season.


The Pens have six players in the top 50 in playoff scoring including numbers 1 and 3, while the Canes top scorer, Eric Staal is number 10.


The Penguins have 45 goals in 13 games, while the Canes have 33 goals in 14 games.





Sidney Crosby seems to have that hunger in his eyes, and the maturity and playoff experience to make that matter enough to give the Pens the edge.



There are two areas that cause me concern with this series:


Goaltending-Cam Ward has posted a 2.22 GAA and .927 save percentage, beating Fleurys GAA by a half goal per game. Fleury is 2.72 GAA and .901 save percentage.

Although Ward is giving up HALF a goal per game less than Fleury, the Canes are scoring one FULL goal less per game.........2.35 goals per game for the Canes and 3.4 goals per game for the Penguins.

A let down......the Pens played their two most hated rivals in the first two rounds, making it easy to get the most out of the team................the Hurricanes do not create that same sort of hatred and animosity......yet. In the end, I believe that Sidney Crosby and Geno will make the difference in this series, as well as a greater depth in secondary scoring and scoring from the blue line. Fleury will do just enough to ride that wave! It will be Pens v Wings in the Finals again...............