In a few hours the puck will drop and the Stanley Cup Final will be in full swing. The Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks is a great matchup with a ton of great storylines to be had regardless of who ultimately takes home the Cup.
As with any series there will be some keys for success.
Here are a quick three for the Penguins. I don't claim these to be clever or outside of the box but I think they are valid.
Limit penalties
Pittsburgh has some emotional players (Malkin, Letang) that can take penalties that just don't fall under what I would consider useful penalties. These penalties are usually away from the play and sometimes in the offensive zone. Matt Murray had to go into god mode against the Capitals to thwart their power play and San Jose's man advantage is just as impressive. There will be penalties just don't have them fall under the totally unnecessary category.
More consistent goaltending
Matt Murray was awesome the first two rounds. He wasn't great for four of the six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. A game below .900 needs to be the exception not the rule. Murray did come back in Games 6 and 7 and gave the team above average goaltending. He will have his hands full this series.
Use home ice to your advantage
Pittsburgh will have the last change. Try and catch the Sharks when they are vulnerable and try to avoid really bad matchups. The Penguins bottom pair is going to eventually see some ice time against the Sharks top two lines. Try and limit that so it is a rare occurrence and not the norm. Also pay attention to TV timeouts and when the end of the period is coming. Try and put together a "death lineup" more often than the past few series. Travis Yost had a great piece today on how lethal Crosby and Malkin are when they play together.
.@travisyost looks into how often the Penguins will (or should) pair Crosby and Malkin: https://t.co/F8u4XFP9xv pic.twitter.com/AsXSOpqN26
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 30, 2016
Get creative with the line matching in certain situations. The Sharks are more top heavy at forward and I'm sure you can find some nice matchups to exploit once in a while. The odds are that the Penguins will have to do this at times considering the Sharks top four defense grouping is really really good.
Like I said this isn't ground breaking stuff but it doesn't have to be to make sense.
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Here is a look at some of the predictions for the Stanley Cup Final including their track record for the entire playoffs. Mainstream like the Sharks while the analytical minds like the Penguins
Another look at this, with everyone sorted by log-loss. Math runs the world pic.twitter.com/JkCNtEBEEf
— shark dom (@omgitsdomi) May 30, 2016
Thanks for reading!