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The 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs begins for both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers this evening at Consol Energy Center.
There are a few holdover players from the 2008 series where the Penguins defeated the Rangers in 5 games but that was a long time ago and it has absolutely no bearing on this current series. The Rangers are 0-4 in playoff series against the Penguins, that too has literally no bearing on the current series.
The following chart compares both the Penguins and Rangers and how they have performed through 1 round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Keep in mind that it is not a large sample size of data.
Both teams have done a really nice job in the possession department. The Rangers have been doing a great job for much of the year, the Penguins now that they are healthy are starting to show signs of improvement.
It is widely known that one of New York’s best assets is its goaltending, the numbers certainly show that. What is a little surprising is how high Fleury’s even strength numbers have been in these playoffs. If Fleury avoids crapping his pants like in Game 4, he is playing at a level good enough for the Penguins to win.
The Penguins are clicking a shade higher on the power play as they did in the regular season. They were the best power play during the 2013-2014 regular season. The Rangers have been atrocious so far on the power play. This is an area of concern entering Round 2 for New York. Their power play breakout is the main culprit for their struggles.
What was a strength for both teams has turned into a weakness for both the Penguins and the Rangers. Both teams were a top 5 PK unit in the regular season, both teams are now in the bottom 3 for the playoffs. Given that the Rangers power play is struggling right now this doesn’t look to be as big of a concern for the Penguins as the Rangers right now. The Penguins power play could be one of the x factors in this series.
Coach Bylsma: “I think power play and penalty kill in the post-season is a fickle stat... You saw that with Montreal last night."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 2, 2014
Fickle or not the Penguins have been terrible on the PK and it could certainly cost them their season if it does not improve.
The Penguins look to be entering Game 1 with the same exact lineup that they had in Game 6 vs Columbus. Here are the line combos from the morning skate:
Kunitz-Crosby-Stempniak Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Bennett-Sutter-Vitale Glass-Goc-Adams
Martin-Letang Maatta-Niskanen Scuderi-Bortuzzo
Fleury
It was extremely fortunate that Brandon Sutter did not suffer an injury that will keep him from game action. He was one of the Penguins MVP’s from Round 1.
I wrote a Penguins Rangers series preview for Hockey Prospectus, you can find that here. Here is an excerpt from that preview that focuses on what I feel is the key matchup for this series:
Sidney Crosby vs ?????What forward on the Rangers is going to frustrate Crosby to no end? Who is going to play the Brandon Dubinsky role for the Rangers? Will Dan Bylsma ever be forced to reunite Crosby and Malkin at even strength to get the Penguins offense going again? If the Sidney Crosby line starts to produce and Bylsma can leave Malkin with Neal and Jokinen, this helps the Penguins forward depth out a ton. If the top 2 lines are productive and the bottom 2 can tread water for Pittsburgh that is bad news for the Rangers.
Sidney Crosby and Rick Nash are both playing very good hockey right now, both players don’t have any goals to show for it so far. Which player will be able to get off the snide first? Will both players explode during this round? This is one of the more interesting dynamics of the series.
Game 1 provides the Rangers a good opportunity to jump out to a lead in the series. Games 2 and 3 being back to back puts the Rangers at more of a disadvantage than the Penguins given the Rangers very intense schedule.
Most Penguins fans did not want any part of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Penguins got the Rangers instead. Will this be a case of "be careful what you wish for"? We'll begin to find out the answer to that starting tonight.
My official prediction is Penguins in 7. Sidney Crosby will lead the way.
If you are looking for the Rangers perspective on things please check out Hockeybuzz's Jan Levine all series long. Here is today's entry from Jan
Thanks for reading!
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