Hockey in the ‘burgh
I’m a Penguins fan. This is not news. I also pay a little attention to the national sports media regarding our team and other teams in the NHL. Recently (as in, just now), I read a post on the Puck Daddy blog from Yahoo written by Greg Wyshynski that analyzes the playoff matches in the Eastern Conference.
His picks:
Rangers vs. Senators: Rangers. This isn’t a hard call, the Rangers were vying for the President’s Trophy for the team with the most points.
Bruins vs. Capitals: Bruins. I’m iffy about this one. Boston has a good goaltender in Tim Thomas (even though he’s a giant douche off the ice). And it appears Ovechkin has turned on his game a little of late. I’m not sure I care too much, this round.
Panthers vs. Devils: Devils. The Devils are the 6 seed in the conference to the Panther’s 3 seed. However, the Panthers are only the 3 seed because they won their division. I agree with this call.
Penguins vs. Flyers: Flyers. And his reasoning is just…wow. To quote:
Where the Flyers have the advantage: Scoring depth and a toughness to go with it at the forward spot.
Scoring depth? Where the fuck does he come up with THAT? Evgeni Malkin won the scoring race by 12 points. TWELVE, motherfucker. OK, one guy is not depth.
Let’s compare, shall we?
Flyers Penguins Player Points Player Points Malkin 109 Giroux 93 Neal 81 Hartnell 67 Kunitz 61 Dupuis 59 Jagr 54 Staal 50 Briere 49 Voracek 49
Slightly tilted in the Penguins favor, as Dupuis breaks the pattern of 1 per team. And let’s not forget about the guy who played only 22 games and got 37 points, Sidney Crosby. He’s in the top 10 on the Penguins despite having played only a quarter of the games the team played this year.
Flyers have more scoring depth than the Penguins? Please. As far as toughness goes, I will grant you that the Flyers are a bunch of thugs…I mean, they’re a pretty tough team. And the Pens are generally smaller than most other teams in the league. I’ve seen situations where a Penguin player will check an opponent with speed and bounce, to be honest, and it bothers me. But we did call up Steve Macintyre, a known enforcer.
And we have a goalie who has won a cup before, and gone to the final dance a couple of times. Bryzgalov made it to the conference finals once and lost, and Bobrovsky is good, but the Flyers were swept in the 2nd round (Division championships).
One final point: Although tonight’s game had less impact on the standings than this post (see: none), and the top players on each team didn’t really play that much, I think it’s safe to say that the Pens can win games against the Flyers.
So, Wysh, I call shenanigans on you, sir. Shenanigans.
Originally posted at Phoenix Rising.