I will be putting out my predictions every few hours today and tomorrow as well as putting up any rumors that pop up... The Pittsburgh Penguins vs the Philadelphia Flyers. All time regular season matchup wins: Flyers: 153 Penguins: 102 Ties: 30
All time playoff matchup wins: Flyers: 19 Penguins: 16
Last three seasons wins: Penguins: 9 Flyers: 3
What the Penguins Bring to the Party:
Two straight Stanley Cups and incredible playoff confidence in a goalie, Matt Murray, who has never lost a playoff series. They have the best power play in the NHL, and they have #87, #72, and #81. And a healthy Letang going into the post season.
What the Flyers bring to the Party:
A good blend of youth and experience and one of the best young defenses in hockey. The Flyers have a legit 3 lines for the first time in years and the rise of Patrick and Lindblom is going to be something special and is the X-Factor should the Flyers dethrone the Pens.. The Flyers also don't take many penalties...a fact that is worrisome to some old school Broad Street Bullies fans. What the Penguins can take advantage of... The Flyers two biggest weaknesses are two of the three things I have found most important in the playoffs...The Flyers are 29th in penalty kill and as I already noted...the Penguins have the #1 power play...Also the Flyers goaltending is "iffy" at best...Elliot looked better in the last game of the season, but was barely tested by the Rangers...The game before he looked very shaky against Carolina...The Penguins have dominated Elliott this year even when he was healthy. Elliott was 0-1-1 with a 5.31 GAA and .864 SV% in two games versus the Pens...
What the Flyers can take advantage of... The Flyers offense is very underrated as is Claude Giroux, who should be getting way more MVP talk than he has so far.. The Penguins defense is not what it was for their two Cup runs either and a big reason why some aren't sure this team is going to be able to three-peat...and it is not just the defensemen we are talking about here. Losing guys like Bonino and Cullen has made the forwards also less responsible.
What to Expect:
High scoring should be expected...maybe not as high scoring as the last time these teams met in the playoffs, but not far off...One matchup that will be interesting is how the Flyers deal with Malkin...Couturier has always been the Malkin killer, but this season he has been relied on to score and set up goals...Will he still be paired against Geno?
Pick:
Flyers will win one of the first two in Pittsburgh, but experience and the Penguins goaltending will lead the Penguins to a 7 game victory...
Next up...Vegas and LA, Winnipeg and Minny....
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017