Penguins/NHL
Round 1 Set Between Penguins – Islanders
The Penguins performance in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers was a fitting end to the regular season for Pittsburgh in how they just find ways to make things more difficult than they should be.
A third period collapse versus the lowly Rangers had Pittsburgh minutes away from a Round 1 meeting with the Washington Capitals until Jake Guentzel saved the day with 2:36 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 3-3.
Guentzel tying the game late is how it should have been with Guentzel scoring his 40th goal of the season and Sidney Crosby picking up his 100th point of the season with the assist.
Thanks to Guentzel’s late heroics, Pittsburgh accomplished their goal of getting a Round 1 matchup with the New York Islanders.
What will be fascinating with this series is whether the Penguins up and down play all season, looking like a middle of the road team one week, looking like a dangerous Cup contender the next week will be a precursor of what to expect in the post-season.
It won’t be a shock if the Penguins show up in Round 1, put it all together and their superior talent 1-20 breaks the Islanders dam and we see Pittsburgh cruise to an easy six game series, similar to Pens – Flyers last spring in Round 1.
It also won’t be a shock if what we saw all regular season is actually who the Penguins are. One that looks like a machine one period, one that will shoot themselves in the foot the next period with critical breakdowns that have followed them all season.
The odds are the Penguins making this a tougher series on themselves than they should.
— The Islanders with a 104 point campaign, recorded the most points in franchise history since the 1983-1984 season and New York’s regular season success went against several norms:
NYI Rankings
22nd in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals | (PIT 6th)
29th on the power play (14.5%) | (PIT 5th)
18th on the penalty kill (79.9%) | (PIT 19th)
26th in possession (47.8%) | (PIT 15th)
16th in Scoring Chance For % (49.3%) | (PIT 10th)
They’ve countered all of that by being the stingiest defensive team in hockey, allowing a league-low 191 goals (2.33 p/g, all situations), including 5-on-5 (127 goals against, 1st in the league).
All of this despite lacking a legitimate No. 1 caliber shutdown defenseman on their backend and having a goaltending combo of Robin Lehner (25-13-5, 2.13 GAA, .930SV%) and Thomas Greiss (23-14-4, 2.28 GAA, .927SV%). Who saw that come?
Scouts contend the Islanders all-in defensive mindset has insulated their goaltending to a great extent. The Isles have done an excellent job through the neutral zone of forcing teams to the outside and the Islanders are a very good coached team at boxing out in front to keep the opposition of the sightlines of Lehner and Greiss.
The Islanders success in this series is going to be about using their speed to expose the Penguins bottom pairs and most importantly winning the neutral zone.
COUNTER-ATTACK
The Penguins have great vulnerabilities of getting lackadaisical with the puck in the neutral zone and players blowing assignments that make them susceptible to odd-man rushes the other way. It was on display again in the third period vs the Rangers Saturday night and the Islanders 1-[hide]3-1 trap figures to cause Pittsburgh problems if the Penguins get into the mindset of constantly playing pond hockey.
The Islanders offensive game is all about turning neutral zone breakdowns into rushes the other way. For Pittsburgh this is a series where being patient with the puck, taking less chances (style they often play without Kris Letang) is going to be the best route to counter the Islanders where Pittsburgh’s superior talent will eventually take over in games.
ROUND 1 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
Game 1 7:30 pm @ NYI | Wednesday, April 10
Game 2 7:30 p.m. @ NYI | Friday, April 12
Game 3 12:00 p.m. @ PIT | Sunday, April 14
Game 4 7:30 p.m. @ PIT | Tuesday, April 16
Game 5 TBD @ NYI | Thursday, April 18
Game 6 TBD @ PIT | Saturday, April 20
Game 7 TBD @ NYI | Monday, April 22
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Penguins – Panthers Fallout: Key development with Neutral zone/d-zone play
Game 3 Chess Match: Pens quicker in exiting zone, solve Rangers in Neutral zone
Penguins lacked adjustments to Flyers neutral zone play, superior wall play in 5-3 loss
The Stars in San Jose sure are producing, Murray back in net, Pens Must win the neutral zone
