As we head into the final week of the season there is still a race for the playoffs in the East and it is still wide open. All we know at this point is 2 of Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia will be in...and I know there are sites out there who give odds on these sort of things....
According to Sportsclubstats.com, the Flyers have a 78.7% chance of making the post season, the Bruins have a 62.2%, and the Red Wings have a 60.4% chance...so even though only 2 of these three teams CAN actually make it, they all have an over 50% chance?
None of these teams play tonight, so I will write more about exactly how this could go down tomorrow, but suffice to say while many see the Flyers as the favorite right now, mostly due to games at hand, I don't see the Flyers as favorites at all unless they were to win in Detroit Wednesday night.
More to the point of this story....Can anyone stop the Penguins?
You can be sure of one thing...both the Isles and Rangers should be trying to land out of third place and into fourth....The difference between Florida or Tampa in the first round and Pittsburgh is quite substantial.
When you watch the Penguins right now you are watching one of the most frustrating teams to face in years....they are very similar to the Crosby's Cup winning team in that they are actually a counter attack team whose best defense is their awesome offense. The Pens have built a great puck-moving D, that can make quick transition passes to looming forwards should you turn over the puck.
The more aggressively you attack Pittsburgh, the more likely you are to get burned...and knowing this can make any team become more and more tentative as they dig a deeper and deeper hole. There is nothing "shutdown" about the Pens defense....but the system they are playing makes many teams essentially "shut themselves down."
When you look at the teams who have beaten Pittsburgh over the last few, you are seeing teams who aren't very much loaded with talent...teams who know they just can put the puck deep and try to chase and create turnovers down low. It is rare a very good team, who may be desperate for wins, will be able to play so conservatively...
The Capitals may be the exception in the East. In the West, there are a few teams, mainly LA and Anaheim, who could be so patient and wait out the Penguins to make mistakes...
We will discuss all this and more on today's Buzzcast...
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