The Psychology of Ray Shero

By Artistry

An insane person once called the Penguins one of the most arrogant organizations in the league. In recent days, many others, including fans and media, have come to share that sentiment. But the word "arrogant" suggests a sense of entitlement that really applies more to a growing legion of Penguin fans -- those who seem to believe a roster with Sid and Geno means anything less that a Stanley Cup is unacceptable, so get rid of everyone and ask questions later. Ray Shero is not arrogant. Quite the opposite. If you watched his press conference on Wednesday and think otherwise, grab a dictionary. No, the Penguins general manager is not overbearing or insolent or self-important. You may disagree with any number of his decisions: to stand by Dan Bylsma, to commit to fixing Marc-Andre Fleury, or to extend Malkin until he's 35-years-old. All fair game. Criticize away. But if you've been paying attention, you know exactly who Ray Shero is and what he will do.

How Ray Shero developed his steady hand, after the jump...

Ray Shero became an assistant general manager for the barely hatched Ottawa Senators in 1993. They were terrible, and they had no idea what they were doing. During Shero's tenure, the Sens had two GM's with no prior GM experience in Randy Sexton and Pierre Gauthier.  Randy Sexton drafted Alexandre Daigle with the no. 1 pick in the 1993 draft. Great pick, Randy Sexton! There were subsequent terrible picks, and terrible hiring decisions. The Sens fired Rick Bowness, who had a terrific head of hair, and hired Dave Allison, and who the hell is Dave Allison. Let me answer that: Dave Allison is the guy who went 2-22-1 as coach of the Ottawa Senators. The team finally turned the corner with the hiring of Jaques Martin in 1996, a good coach who remained at the helm in Ottawa for the next 8 years. So young Ray Shero learned some things there.

How to lose 70 games in 100 days.

In 1998, Shero joined the expansion Nashville Predators. As you'd expect, the Preds were bad. Not historically bad, but for the first couple of years, they were very respectably expansion-level bad. Then they began a steady ascension, to the point where when Shero left for Pittsburgh, they were a 100 point team and a contender. And here's the thing you may not know about the Predators, or maybe you forgot. Over 15 seasons, they have had exactly one general manager and precisely one coach.

So Ray Shero learned some things there, too.

After some early success in Pittsburgh with Michael Therrien -- who was not Shero's hire -- the team soured on Therrien and Shero brought in his guy Dan Bylsma. One thing is very clear from the fallout after the Boston series: no one on the Penguins is souring on Bylsma. You may think that's part of the problem, but Ray Shero thinks otherwise. So when virtually everyone else was calling for the coach's head, Ray Shero extended Bylsma's contract. Ray Shero said he would extend Evgeni Malkin, and he did. Ray Shero will now offer Kris Letang a contract, probably in the neighborhood of 8 years, $48 million, and Letang will in all likelihood turn it down. Ray Shero will then trade Kris Letang.

None of this is happening because Shero is arrogant. It's happening because he's supremely confident. He's the guy who studies the landscape, does his analysis, tells you exactly what he's going to do, and then does it. Without bluster. Without apology. [Although, if you watched his presser, with no small amount of rambling.] He may end up being spectacularly wrong about Bylsma or Fleury or any number of things. And maybe you've already rendered your verdict, decided that you know how this will all play out, and declared Ray Shero guilty of gross mismanagement. That is certainly your prerogative. But then who's the arrogant one?

Pens re-sign Evgeni Malkin for a lot of money; It's ok to be cchhappy

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

[Make sure to check out our podcast recapping Pens season and detailing 10 things the Pens need to do in the offseason]

The Penguins have announced that they've signed Evgeni Malkin to an 8-year, $76 million contract extension.  He will have a salary cap hit of $9.5 million, which is the second highest cap hit in the league behind Alex Ovechkin (by a mere $38,000).  It's $800,000 more per year than Sidney Crosby, but the total value of the contract is $28.4 million less than Sid's deal.

A few quick thoughts after the jump...

1) This is A LOT of money to be investing in two guys, especially two guys who play the same position and whose utility overlaps at least somewhat on the power play.  However, it's still a good contract.  Not many teams have the opportunity to have the two of the very best players in the league locked up for the next 8 years at a price that, while expensive, is not cripplingly so.

2) The cap drops to approximately $64 million this coming season, during which Geno will be on the last year of his current deal paying him $8.7 million/year.  There's no question that the Pens expect the salary cap to begin increasing quickly and significantly.  The fact that ratings for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals were the highest in 16 years is a pretty encouraging sign that will happen.

3) Geno better age well.  Sometimes a player dramatically falls off the map, either temporarily (like Ovechkin) or possibly permanently (like Brad Richards, also a former Conn Smythe winner).  The concern is not whether Geno can justify a $9.5 million/year cap hit over the next three or four years, but whether he can adapt his game as he ages so that he doesn't become cap-crippling baggage.

4) Speaking of Ovechkin, it's perfect that this deal means Ovechkin remains the highest paid player against the cap in the league.  There's a unique pressure that comes along with that title.  Better him than Geno.

5) But Geno isn't off the hook in this regard.  Whether deserved or not, there's going to be more pressure on him than ever now that he counts more against the cap than Sidney Crosby.  It's not going to be enough that Geno elevates his game in Sid's absence, and it's not going to be enough that he generates 20 shots in a playoff game.  He just has to bury it.  And bury it often.

We're all now in it for the long haul with 87 and 71.  It's a good place to be.  Now do the Geno Shuffle.

Pens fall to Bruins, 1-0; Season ends with a whimper

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

[Listen to the Game 4 recap podcast below or on our Spreaker page. You can click here to subscribe on iTunes, or download the Spreaker app for iPhone or Android]



If pucks could talk, Jarome Iginla's wrist shot at the final buzzer would have let out a feeble whimper as it landed almost apologetically in the glove of Tukka Rask.  It was a fitting and symbolic end to a series the Pens deserved to lose and the Bruins deserved to win.  Now armed with a body of work that reads like an inventory of a losing team's most-favored excuses -- a hot goalie, injuries, a bad goalie, and no good bounces -- the Pens have another long offseason of soul-searching ahead.

Read on for the burial...

When a team loses in such a spectacularly disappointing manner, the brain can pull you in two opposite directions are the same time.  There's the reactionary "fire everybody, Crosby sucks" approach, and then there's the "I'll just wait a few weeks and let this pain fade away so that when I decide what changes I want to make I will have tricked myself into thinking we were just a few bounces away" method (aka, The Full Leonsis).

The truth for Ray Shero and the Pens is somewhere in between, but he'd be wise to not waste the opportunity that comes with having your team so thoroughly embarrassed for the world to see.  Though the systematic errors are glaring and the individual failures are spectacular, the common thread that binds the last four playoff disappointments was woven at the Herm Edwards School of Simplicity: the Pens don't do the right thing often enough.

It's less important what that right thing is, and much more important that the Pens either can't identify it or can't do it.  The Pens started the Eastern Conference Finals playing the right way, but couldn't sustain it when it turned out that Boston was not going to be like Ottawa and pour the accelerating lubricant for the Pens' glide into the next round.  So the Pens stopped playing the right way for the next 5 periods and instead dug the first three feet of their own grave.  And once the Pens identified the problems in the way they played in games 1 and 2 and tightened up defensively, they could not, shot-differential be damned, consistently generate anything resembling the high quality scoring chances that the Pens would need to beat a locked-in goalie like Rask.  The Pens may spend the next few weeks feeling sorry for themselves for not catching a single break over 8 periods in Boston, but that would obscure the fact that the Pens rolled over when things didn't come easily in games 1 and 2, and couldn't persevere in games 3 and 4 once they finally seemed to grasp the idea that winning playoff games is supposed to be hard.

The Pens would have eventually broken through on Rask had they continued to play the way they did in games 3 and 4, but you don't get an "eventually" in the playoffs.  And, given this team's track record of mixing random slices of inexcusable chaos into their discipline sandwich, what indication is there that the Pens could have sustained their overall solid performances in games 3 and 4 anyway?

It doesn't matter what might have happened in a game 5 or if the Pens had taken the lead at any point in one of these games because they didn't.  It doesn't matter if the Pens were playing the right way when they went out because they went out.  By design, the playoffs require excellence across a small sample size; whether the Pens were trending in the right direction when they went out is irrelevant.  There's already a trophy for trending well over a large amount of time.

Comfort food for GTOG.

It's an indictment of everyone in the organization that the Pens went out this way, so it's hard to pin more blame on any one person than it is on another.  Ray Shero's acquisitions didn't get the team any further than it would have gone without those guys, and it's easy to argue that getting both Morrow and Iginla stagnated a team that simply didn't need both of them.  It's great to have a fancy shoe collection, but you can only wear one pair at a time.  Dan Bylsma added to an ever-growing resume of presiding over inexplicable performances, and when he finally recalibrated his team in one area (defense), he seemed to do it at the expense of another (offense).  Crosby, Malkin, Neal and Letang had no points in 4 games, and while that will almost certainly never happen again over any future 4-game stretch, it still happened.  And the supporting cast, supposedly the deepest in the league, didn't hold the fort while the stars got it together.  It was a total failure by everyone.

Last night's game was exciting only because it was meaningful -- if that game happens in December, it's a total snooze fest, the kind of game where if you DVR'd it, you'd actually get mad at your roommate for NOT spoiling the score and warning you against spending three hours watching it.  It's admirable (and appreciated because we watch all 82 games of it) that the Pens try to play hockey the way most people want it to be played; you know, with actual goals and excitement.  But the Pens have to be careful not to martyr themselves as the paragon of the way hockey should be played.  Because while it might be nice to enjoy the spoils of the afterlife -- like the MVP and Norris Trophy that could be coming in a couple days -- the bottom line is that you're dead.

Raw Emotion Podcast: The End. Pens lose, 1-0

Pens could have played all weekend. Still wouldn't have scored.

We talk about Game 4, Bylsma's future, the Bruins' defense, late-payment forgiveness, and so much more. It's the GTOG Podcast.

Listen below or click here. And as always, click here to subscribe on iTunes.



**If you're listening on your smartphone, the best ways to make sure that you have an uninterrupted experience are: 1) download the podcast from iTunes OR 2) download the Spreaker app by going to the App store and searching for "Spreaker" then "Get To Our Game"**

Some random follow-up thoughts on the Pens' double-OT loss to Boston

By GTOG Staff

Listen to the below or click here. And as always, click here to subscribe on iTunes.



[If you're listening on your smartphone, the best ways to make sure that you have an uninterrupted experience are: 1) download the podcast from iTunes OR 2) download the Spreaker app by going to the App store and searching for "Spreaker" then "Get To Our Game"]

The more we think about Game 3, the more we end up thinking about games 1 and 2.  The Pens probably win that game last night 53 out of 100 times. Unfortunately, they don't play best-of-100 series. Which is exactly why you can't give away 2 playoff games in a series -- at home, no less -- and expect to win 4 of 5 against a very good team when you're pretty close to dead-even with that team when you're both playing at your best. The Pens played really well last night, but all it does is shine a light on the stinkers in the first two games. We know the Pens can play as well as they did in game 3. We still have no idea why they can't do it more consistently.

No shame in losing Game 3. Great shame in being down 3-0.

Unable to put together any sort of cohesive reaction to last night, here are a bunch of random things we're thinking about, in no particular order.

- Along with the misfortune of having just faced down the barrel of a 3-0 series deficit last spring, we have the advantage of knowing exactly how this could work. Take advantage of Boston's inevitable if slight psychological shift in Game 4, when they cannot possibly match the Pens sense of desperation. Score 10 goals in the game (Note: will settle for 3. OK, 2.).



Come back to Pittsburgh and score a tight 3-2 victory. Suddenly, everything is in play. Even losing 5-1 in Game 6.

- Malkin was the best player on the ice last night, and it wasn't particularly close. He gets an A+ for generating scoring chances. But you don't win games with scoring chances. It's hard to think about the 21 shot attempts without thinking about the fact that none of them went in. It's a distinct talent to generate the types of chances that Malkin generated last night; it's also a distinct talent to finish the chances. Some of last night was just being snake-bit. The rest is him needing to be better at finishing.  If he was a running back, he'd have been taken out at the goal line.

- The Mike Alstott to Geno Malkin should be Jarome Iginla, but you could make a low-light reel of all the juicy rebounds that have bounced over Iggy's stick in the last month.

- Sidney Crosby was terrible early, but got much better as the game went on. A really strong defensive effort. But that's like complimenting your gardener for not tracking mud in the house. It's not what Sid is paid to do.

- The most disappointing part of Sid's game has been the power-play. It's expected that when teams load up to stop a guy at even-strength, they will usually have some success doing that, especially with players as good as Boston has. The power-play is the time to shake loose from those shackles and at least get comfortable having the puck on your stick. Sid hasn't done that at all. Dreadful on the PP.

- The PK was wonderful last night. PP was the real culprit.

- In moment of candor, would Ray Shero admit that he would have traded Brendan Morrow back to Dallas after Iginla fell in Pens' lap? And would he admit that after getting Morrow, he only got Iginla to keep him away from Boston? Because they're largely redundant. The Pens needed one of them. Not both.

- 7:09 on the PK for Craig Adams. What a performance. If he buries that slapper that hit the post in OT, the city probably names a steel mill after him.

- Refs on "let's take 'em both" patrol are the worst.

- Bylsma is deservedly getting a lot of heat. Arguably his worst stat from last night: Joe Vitale played 9:38 and only took 3 face-offs. If that's all you're using him for, why is he playing over Jokinen and TK, when the team's biggest issue against Boston has been an inability to score?

- It's one thing to dress Vitale if you think you need what he brings. It's another thing entirely to dress Vitale and then act like you don't even want him in the lineup. This really confuses us about Bylsma -- he insists on dressing guys in whom he has no confidence giving even a semi-regular shift. It's not like he doesn't have options.

- Speaking of TK, as we discussed on the podcast, he would have been a real asset in OT.  The one thing he never lacks is energy. There's potential for a great match-up against a tired team in OT.

- We've reached the point in the season where we're asking for more Tyler Kennedy. In other news, the Pens are about to get swept.

- Lineup changes for Game 4. Niskanen can't play with Letang. Have to keep Cooke with Geno and Neal. Bennett should stay and get PP time. BB is one definite bright spot heading into next season.

- The Pens scored 10 goals in Game 4 against Philly last year. The Pens also scored 12 in games 1-3. The Pens have 2 goals in 11 periods this series.

- The series isn't over so we're not in the mood to make pronouncements about the off-season. Except for one. Marc-Andre Fleury has got to go. This shouldn't be hard decision, and in light of the decisiveness of Shero's handling of Jordan Staal last year, we expect it will happen quickly. It doesn't matter who else is available. Fleury is not a winning option going forward.

- The way he's played this season, the Pens should feel very fortunate that Vokoun is signed through next season. He can't play 65 games. But the games he plays, he usually plays well.

- For as much talent as Letang has, and as high as his ceiling is, the Pens haven't really accomplished anything with him since he's been the team's best defenseman. Yet he's so gifted that you have to start wondering if a different coach could get him to play the right way more often. Whether here or elsewhere.

Podcast: Pens dominated by Bruins in Game 2, 6-1

Well that was terrible. The Pens were completely dominated by a terrific game from Boston and then compounded it with an all-time stink-bomb. We chronicle it all, LIVE on the GTOG Podcast, after the final whistle.

Listen below or click here.

The Prime Minister's face.

5 thoughts on the Pens' game 1 loss to Boston, including a new team motto

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

A few leftover thoughts about last night's 3-0 loss to Boston.  But first, check out the podcast.

Listen below or click here. And as always, click here to subscribe on iTunes.



5. The Showdown

The Crosby/Chara and Malkin/Bergeron showdowns at the end of the second period are getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so.  It's too soon to tell whether this was a good or a bad thing, but there's a lot not to like about it.

Very little good can come from this.

It's admirable in a lot of ways that Crosby and Malkin are willing to mix it up more than most superstars are, but it's also not that smart for them to do it for the simple fact that when they fight or jaw at people, they aren't better at it than anyone else.  They make themselves ordinary.  Rather than staying on a higher plane than other players because of their superior talent, they can be brought down to the level of their competition.  Give the Bruins credit for getting Sid and Geno to do it.

The other potential problem with their "standing up for themselves" response is that it's not very logical.  Whatever Boston did to get Crosby and Malkin that upset (and maybe it was simply frustration with not scoring), does anyone think that Boston is going to stop messing with 87 and 71 because they fight back?  Does anyone really think any of the Bruins are going to be afraid of getting their asses kicked by Crosby and Malkin?  If Crosby and Malkin are reacting like that, then it means that they're at least somewhat rattled emotionally and obviously Boston will try to keep doing that if that's the response they can get from those two guys.  Boston is only going to stop with that stuff when the scoreboard dictates that they have to stop.

New motto: Ignore and Score.

Four more thoughts after the jump...

4. The bottom 6 has become necessary

As we discussed on our podcast, the Pens are going to need contributions from the bottom 6 to win this series.  Our initial thought was that scoring from the bottom 6 would be sufficient to beat Boston, but not necessary.  After game 1, it looks more necessary than ever.  Boston is going to load up, as they should, to stop the Pens' top 6, and they're good enough that they might be able to.  If the bottom 6 doesn't contribute offensively, the Pens could easily lose this series.  It's not enough that the bottom 6 wasn't on the ice for any of Boston's goals.  They need to be on the ice for Pittsburgh's goals.

Some numbers so far in the playoffs:

Good: Kennedy (5 points in 8 games)
OK: Morrow (4 points in 11 games)
We're seeing some things, but need to see more: Cooke (3 points in 12 games); Jokinen (3 points in 7 games)
We know not to expect much, but it would be nice every once in a while: Adams (1 point in 12 games); Glass (1 point in 5 games); Vitale (1 point in 4 games); Bennett (1 point in 4 games)
Really disappointing: Sutter (2 points in 12 games)

There are 132 action shots from game 1 on the Pens' website. Brandon Sutter is in 1 of them.

You don't win Stanley Cups with passengers.

3. Hit the net

As Dejan Kovacevic pointed out in his column this morning, the Pens need to focus on hitting the net, not necessarily picking corners.  The Pens got a lot of good looks, especially early, but channeled their inner-Alex Semin and airmailed them way over the net.  When the Pens missed the net off the rush, these misses started Boston's breakouts at least a handful of times in the first period.  And even though we're pretty close to being done worrying about the PP combinations, because all of the combinations are good, the emphasis needs to be on more traffic.  Doesn't matter who.

2. Easy on the pinching 

Letang wasn't at his worst, but also wasn't at his best.  He seemed dedicated to pinching on almost every opportunity last night -- great if it works, nightmare when it doesn't.  Boston isn't Ottawa -- not only can they get the puck past Letang when he pinches, they can score when they do.  This certainly didn't cost the Pens the game, but it's something to watch going forward.

Textbook?

1. Video review on 5-minute majors 

Refereeing is our least favorite topic.  The Pens didn't lose the game last night because of officials -- the Pens PK was perfect, and they had 4 power-plays.  No complaints on that front.

But the 5-minute major on Cooke was ridiculous.  It's such a difficult call for the refs to make at full speed, and it's such an impactful decision to give a guy 5 and a game, why not let this be subject to video review?  I hate anything that slows the game down, but if the ref believes in his decision to give 5 and a game, let's take away the excuse that things happen quickly.  Make him look at it again, and then decide.  If he makes the wrong decision after video review, then the league should discipline him.  Or just let the league review it.

Bottom line: No panic heading into Game 2. The Pens know what they have to do to win, they just have to do it. And not stop doing it if it isn't working right away.

Penguins vs. Bruins: Tale of the Tape

By GTOG Staff

[You can find the preview podcast here]

It's Eastern Conference Finals Eve, Boston vs. Pittsburgh, when thoughts of Mario Lemieux torturing Ray Bourque swirl in our heads, somewhere Andy Moog is waking up in a cold sweat, and the Tale of the Tape between these two titans becomes urgent and required reading. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ulf Samuelsson's right thigh, which is to this day still traumatized by Cam Neely's carelessness. And we wish Vladimir Ruzicka the best in his quest to forget everything that happened after his 5-point performance in Game 2 in 1991. Let's break this down.

Obstacle Overcomability

This is always our most important category, because it defines the NHL playoffs. If you can play, you can play, but if you can't overcome adversity, you can't win. The Bruins had that historic comeback against the Leafs when they were down three goals in the third period of Game 7, and down two goals with 1:22 left in regulation. Amazing, unprecedented stuff from the Bruins. But you know what else is amazing? The fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs took a 4-1 lead in Game 7 against Boston in Boston. You don't give Bill Clinton credit for still being married to Hillary because no one gets obstacle overcomeability points for overcoming themselves.

The Penguins saw Marc-Andre Fleury - arguably their most important piece of the playoff puzzle heading into round 1 - melt down against the Islanders. They're still meshing as team and figuring out who belongs in the lineup. Their captain and best player is only now setting aside a face shield that - believe it or not - limited his effectiveness. They face enormous external pressure to win and win going away. And all the Penguins are doing is getting better.

EDGE: Pens.

Read on for the rest of the categories ...

Emergeability

The bad news for the Pens is that this is one Tale of the Tape category that they can never win, at least as currently constituted.  Unless like 8 guys get hurt, we're not seeing anyone play whose ceiling we don't already know, or at least have a pretty good idea.

"Brian Dumoulin is not walking through that door!"

Torey Krug redefined emergeability in the Bruins' series, scoring 4 goals in 5 games.  But it may not even be the right kind of emergeability.  Claude Giroux showed great emergeability in 2008-09 against the Pens, then blew the doors off emergeability in '09-'10 when the Flyers went to the Cup.  That was the right kind of emergeability -- he emerged into a much better player than anyone thought he was.  What Krug did was so unexpected that it raises the question: was this emergeability or flashinthepanability?  Regardless, the Bruins may use three rookie defensemen at any point in this series.  Pretty sure everyone on the Pens has been in the league for a dozen years.

EDGE: Bruins.

Coiffability

Hair is about appearance, but it's also about trust. And if you can't trust your captain's hair, how can you trust your captain?

Here's Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara winning the Stanley Cup.

He looks like any other 6'9" man struggling with hair loss, probably figuring that no one will see the top of his head.  But here he is at the parade a few days later.

Are we really supposed to believe that it's natural for a 30+ year-old-man to magically patch-up his male pattern baldness in a few days?  Get real.

Zdeno made a deal with the devil to win that Cup. Now the debt has come due.

EDGE: Pens. 

Sex Appealability

Time to check in with the Women of GTOG for their thoughts on this always crucial factor.

Mrs. Artistry: Edge, Penguins.

Artistry's Mom: Edge, Penguins.

EDGE: Pens.

Legacyability 

This is a forward looking category -- think 10 or 15 years in the future and ask yourself whose legacy is more positively or negatively impacted by winning or losing this series.

In the upside department, the Pens have more to gain, if only because they have two players who will be far more memorable than anyone on the Bruins.  If the Pens go on to win the Cup, Crosby and Malkin each get a second Cup and become, without any further question, the two defining players of the salary cap era, which would instantly come to be known as the Sid and Geno Era.  And because of their popularity and excellence, the Penguins become the defining post-lockout team.  Fair or not, that's how life works.  If Boston wins, then they can make a better argument for having the best team post-lockout, though there will still be plenty of other teams making a case in what would be an ongoing debate.  From an individual perspective, outside of Chara, the Bruins aren't really defined as individuals -- if  they win the Cup, they'll basically have 6 or 7 guys who will be remembered like Patrick Elias is remembered.  (I mean that as a compliment).

Such a memorable face.

If the Pens lose, it won't put any sort of choker label on them, but it will be devastating.  A total wasted opportunity.  And if the Bruins lose, does their 2011 Stanley Cup deserve an asterisk because they didn't have to go through Crosby and Malkin to get there?

All of this is a long way of saying that it will be awesome if the Pens win so that we can make fun of the Bruins' Cup in 2011.

EDGE: Pens.

Spurnability 

We've made our thoughts on Jaromir Jagr clear this week, but to summarize: we're basically out of thoughts on Jagr.  It is the classic it-is-what-it-is situation.  He didn't want to play for the Pens last year.  We're over it.

"I ain't over it."

Iginla's spurning of Boston is much fresher, though unlike Jagr and unlike Marian Hossa in 2008, the Bruins never really had Iginla.  They wanted him; he wanted someone else.  There's a big difference between your rival stealing away a girl you just met at the bar and stealing away your girlfriend.

Nevertheless, this will be made into a story all while being downplayed by the Bruins' players.  If Boston loses the series, they will continue to downplay it.  But if they win?  Boy, did we show him!

EDGE: Bruins.

Annoyability

The Islanders were annoying in the way that it's annoying to play pickup basketball against a guy who hustles and sets a lot of screens.  He's not doing anything wrong, but who wants the hassle?  The only annoying thing the Senators did was make you feel guilty for beating them so badly.

The Bruins are a whole different animal in this department. Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic are this year's Wayne Simmonds and Scott Hartnell -- you want to laugh at them like you do to a Chris Neil, but they're actually good players.  Nathan Horton's face when he scores is Cammalleri-esque.  Gregory Campbell's dad works for the NHL -- not his fault, but also not our fault for hating him.  Pierre McGuire will verbally fellate Patricie Bergeron the first time he makes a good defensive play on Crosby.  Tyler Seguin has 1 goal in 12 games, so he will probably score a hat trick Game 1, and then you'll read stories about him being part of  the Phil Kessel trade and then you'll be like, "I'm already disgusted and now I'm being forced to read about Phil Kessel?"  David Krejci is going to make some sick pass that embarrasses Matt Niskanen, and then McGuire will scream, "KREJCI'S IN HIS HEAD, DOC! DAVY KREJCI IS IN MATTY NISKANEN'S HEAD, DOC!"  Jaromir Jagr will make a diving motion at Crosby while we furiously Google "Paul Pierce wheelchair."  And you know at least one of their rookie defensemen is going to goad Evgeni Malkin into a bad penalty.

You will see this face. Just be ready for it.

The Pens have their share of annoying tendencies, but there's a huge difference between the two teams.  The Bruins can win by getting under your skin.  The Pens can get under your skin by winning.

EDGE: Bruins.

Stalwartability 

Dejan Kovacevic wrote about the Letang-Chara "match-up" the other day and figured that whoever outplayed the other one would win the series.  But in reality, it's not quite that simple.  Letang doesn't need to outperform Chara -- he needs to prove that he can do for the Pens what Chara can do for Boston.  As great of a player as Letang is and can be, he hasn't anchored a defense to a Stanley Cup the way Chara did for Boston in 2011.  When the Pens won the Cup in 2009, Letang averaged 19:18 of ice time per game in the playoffs, the fifth most among Pens' defensemen, and finished with a +1 rating. When the Bruins won the Cup in 2011, Chara averaged 27:39 per game and was a +16.

This isn't to say that Letang can't do it, just that he hasn't.  Yet.  So far this post-season, Letang is averaing 27 minutes per game and could realistically end up leading the playoffs in scoring by the time it's over.  He's been that good.  But it also isn't getting any easier.

Chara isn't a target for Letang to beat. He's a measuring stick.

EDGE: Bruins.

Leadability

"I'll take this one, guys."

I like to look at life as a fraternity. Right now the fraternity is me, Tom, Drew, Aar, Joe, Eli, and Pey. I see a lot of that fraternity within these teams. You got Sid, who I'm close with, I feel comfortable just saying to him, 'hey, you know, Sid, if you ever need to shoot some ideas around or pick my brain, me and Ash will have you over any time.' Geno, too. Now they bring in Brend' and 'Rome. Boston is full of great leaders, too. It started with John. Then you had John Quincy. Bill. Larry. Now Tom. I look at their team and I see Looch and March and Kre and 'Deno and it looks a lot like a brotherhood to me. So I just keep doing what I'm doing, controlling what I'm controlling, whether it's going 8-8 with the dink-n-dunk or winning 2 Super Bowls with me throwing deep to 'Twan, 'Tone, and 'Tonio. You know, whatever the team needs. And I see a lot of myself in Sid. This one's for 'Rome.

EDGE: Pens.

Intangibility

This category is less about the more commonly discussed intangibles like leadership, toughness, want-to, really-want-do, sorta-want-to, and definitely-want-to than it is about the ultimate intangible -- whether the invisible hand of destiny will decide to intervene.  The Pens don't really have anything in this department; for Boston, the question is whether the whole Boston Strong movement in the wake of the marathon bombings is going to be an emotional factor in this series.  It's hard to imagine that it's still going to be, given the amount of tributes, anthems, Sweet Carolines, and all of the other sports-related ceremonies and memorials that have been done already and, of course, the fact that the Pens have already played there in the immediate aftermath (and won).  If anything, the emotional toll and the toll on convenience from the manhunt was a negative for Boston: they closed the regular season by going 2-5 and then nearly (and probably should have) lost to Toronto.  Now things have returned to normal and the Bruins are rested.  That's a scarier thought than destiny intervening.

EDGE: Bruins

FINAL SCORE: 5-5

Predictions

Boston can and might win this series.  They are a really good team without a lot of weaknesses the Pens can exploit. But if the Pens are who we all think they are, the Pens will win this series.  An eight day break leaves a lot of time for breaking down specific match-ups, but it all comes back to the most basic match-up: who has better players?  Unless something weird starts happening, the Pens don't have any glaring weaknesses that Boston can exploit to overcome the simple fact that the Pens have more better players.  Not much better. But better.

Pens in 6.

Pens-Bruins preview podcast: Oozing with analysis, emotion, and predictions

It's our Pens-Bruins Eastern Conference Finals preview podcast.  How does the long delay affect the series? Which Bruin do you fear the most? What's the deal with the Tortorella firing? All that, our predictions, and so much more. It's the GTOG Podcast.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes

**If you're listening on your smartphone, the best ways to make sure that you have an uninterrupted experience are: 1) download the podcast from iTunes OR 2) download the Spreaker app by going to the App store and searching for "Spreaker" then "Get To Our Game"**

TWITTER: Follow Artistry. Follow Finesse. Follow GTOG.

Penguins vs. Bruins: Does Pittsburgh's regular season sweep of Boston matter at all?

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

The Pens swept the three regular season games against the Bruins this year.  They were all very well-played one-goal games.  Does it matter?  Let's take a look back.

March 12th: The Sutter Game. Pens win, 3-2

What happened: The Bruins led 2-0 with under 7 minutes left in the third when Chris Kunitz got the Pens on the board and Brandon Sutter blacked out and woke up with his two biggest goals of the season. Highlights here.

What we wrote:

Almost immediately after Tyler Seguin scored to put the Bruins up 2-0 with 6:30 remaining in the first period, the Penguins started cobbling together one of their finer efforts of the season, even though they spent the next 33 minutes getting shutout by a goalie whose name was either a Mexican restaurant (Qdoba) or the Supreme Leader of Iran (Khomeni). If the Pens had gone on to get shut out, we would not have been overly discouraged. 

Relevance for Eastern Conference Finals: This was the Pens 6th win during the 15 game winning streak, and was the second game during the streak where the Pens started winning with good defensive efforts.

Read on for more...

March 17th: Joe Vitale, Game-Winner, Pens win, 2-1

What happened: Joe Vitale hit the turbo boosters and scored the game winner late in the first period. Highlights here.

What we wrote:

The Pens' winning streak hit nine games yesterday, but even more impressive, their play-the-right-way streak reached five games. In the last 5 games, the Pens have given up 1, 2, 1, 0, and 1 goals. In the 4 games before that it was 6, 3, 4 and 4. Both goalies are playing well and even though we disagree with Bylsma scratching Despres, it didn't matter yesterday. Whatever buttons he's pushing, it's working.

Relevance for Eastern Conference Finals: This was the Pens 9th win during the 15 game winning streak and Vokoun made 31 saves. But the Pens were outshot in this game 32-18, including 12-3 in the 3rd.

April 20th: The Iginla Game, Pens Win, 3-2

What happened: Jarome Iginla and Kris Letang scored enormous power-play goals in the 3rd period to break a 1-1 tie and clinch the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

 

What we wrote:

By any advanced statistical measure, the Bruins dominated the game against the Pens yesterday. By traditional measures, like discipline, beastmodeness, and final score, the Pens came out on top. ... For all the trades Shero has made, picking up Tomas Vokoun may still be his best. Pens are probably out of this game in the first period if Brent Johnson is in net.

Relevance for Eastern Conference Finals: Optimistic takeaway is that the Pens were outplayed and still won. Pessimistic takeaway is that the Pens were outplayed.

So, does any of this matter? The Pens went 3-0, but it was by no means a dominant 3-0.  The Pens got very good goaltending in each victory and scored some timely late goals in two of the three wins.  These teams are close. Very close.

But there was one major thing missing from each game that suggests Boston has yet to see the Pens' best punch.

Missed all three games.

A 7-3 victory sounds about right; Pens push Sens to the brink in Game 4

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

We opened our podcast last night asking the question: Was Game 4 the game we've been waiting for the Pens to play all postseason?  Our answer was a definitive 'no.'  Game 3 was the game we had been hoping the Pens were capable of -- a tight, 1-0 win, with scoring from an unexpected place, and an ability to overcome a hot goalie with a hot goalie of our own.  But you know, shit happens.


[Listen above or click here to subscribe on iTunes]

Game 4 was the game we knew the Pens had in them, and the Pens teased us with it a few times in the Isles series (Games 1 and 5) and even early in this series (Game 1).  But they never got all the way there like they did last night.  Game 4 was total domination.  The Pens OWNED the first period and probably should have been winning 5-2 after 20 minutes.  With all due respect to Dejan Kovacevic, who is having himself a hell of a playoffs, the Pens were not "awful" in the first period.  In fact, it was arguably the Pens most dominant period offensively in the whole playoffs; it just took a few minutes more of play in the second period to reap the benefits on the scoreboard.  What happened in the third period -- 4 goals in 10 minutes -- was not the product of 10 good minutes of hockey, something which has often been enough for the Pens to win games.  It was the well-earned payoff from two excellent overall performances in Ottawa in Games 3 and 4.

The Pens went into Ottawa and scored 8 goals in 2 games -- it's just a matter of bad fortune that they weren't spread out more evenly to come home with two wins.  Because one thing is clear this morning and it's that this series should already be over.

Read on for more...

Unfortunately, it's not over.  The mental errors that the Pens make way-too-regularly are not going away, so there's no guarantee that the Pens close it out in Game 5.  But the Pens would be wise to keep their foot on the gas and try to bury Ottawa right from the start because as clearly as the fans and media can see that the Pens are the better team, the Senators themselves seem to see it most clearly.  From Scott Burnside of ESPN.com:

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson, who reached the 100-point plateau in playoff scoring with a power-play goal with the game out of reach in the third, was asked whether it was feasible to win three straight against this Pittsburgh team.

"Probably not," he answered with brutal candor. "With their depth and their power play right now, it doesn’t look too good.

"I’m just saying that I don’t think there’s much going for us. Maybe that’s the way we like it."

The Senators are ready to lose this series.  The only way they get back in it is if the Pens let them, and the killer-instinct and refusal to get frustrated last night is the most encouraging sign yet that the Pens won't allow it.  The last 4 games for Ottawa have been like nursing a sick relative.  There was a brief glimmer of hope, but we all know how it should end.  It's time to pull the plug and let go.

It's ok, Paul. Don't be scared.

- Somehow Evgeni Malkin ended up with zero points despite the Pens putting up a 7-spot, including two on the power-play.  He's now gone two straight games without a point. On paper, this looks bad.  But if you have eyes, then it's evident he is returning to his MVP form of last season.  If Geno and Sid are both playing at their highest level -- where they each are around 1.5 points per game -- the Pens are a near-impossible match-up for anyone.  With no Cups in the prior three season, there have been questions about whether the "2 superstar model" works.  The answer is that it does work when the 2 superstars are playing like the 2 best players in the league.  Which they are.

- Tomas Vokoun is something to behold.  I've never seen a goalie look behind himself so much to make sure the puck isn't dribbling between his legs and in.  It doesn't dribble between his legs, though, and that's all that really matters.  As long as he keeps winning -- and he's 5-1 with a 1.82 GAA and .942 save percentage -- there is nothing to discuss.  He's the goalie.  If he falters (and despite the constant looking over his shoulder, there's no indication that a collapse is imminent), Fleury will be ready.  The only question at this point is whether if Vokoun has a bad game, would that even be enough for Fleury to supplant him as the #1 goalie again?

- Kris Letang must be bi-polar.  One personality is an evolutionary Scott Neidermayer; the other is a de-evolutionary Mike Green.  His first period was horrific, from giving up a shorthanded breakaway to falling on top of his goalie.  But then he had 4 assists.  When he isn't limiting himself, his ceiling is unlimited.

- If healthy, Jussi Jokinen needs to stay in the lineup.  Joe Vitale did a very nice job in his few games, but Jokinen brings something that can further separate the Pens from the competition -- an ability to sustain offense.  The Pens are so top-heavy that you can't even really say they have a "1st line."  With Jokinen, the same is true at the bottom of the lineup.  There's really no 4th line.  With Cooke, Kennedy, Sutter, Jokinen, Adams, and Bennett/Morrow, it doesn't really matter what you call any combination.  Each can play 10-15 effective minutes.  Here are Game 4's time on ice numbers:

Gorgeous.

- Last night was a sad night for Sergei Gonchar.  He was a -4 and was in the box for James Neal's killer PP goal early in the third.  He's a big time liability at this point.

- 15:32 from Crankshaft, and you barely heard his name.  That's a great thing.

Pens need to put this one away on Friday.  We suspect they will.  Go Pens.

Pens blow Game 3, but we feel terrific about it: Here's why

By Artistry

Nothing is more annoying than Penguins fans who seem to relish complaining about the team more than they like celebrating watching the very best players in the world for most of the past 30 years and annually contending for the Stanley Cup. We know those people. And we don't like listening to them. But we do live radio shows immediately after every playoff game, when the emotion is most raw, and, well, it can sometimes be like sticking a microphone in front of two, more verbal John Tortorellas.

Artistry in a quiet moment with his dogs

Finesse gives a big thumbs up at a recent charity event

Then we get an email like the one from Graig in Columbus, and we're left asking ourselves a horrifying question: "Wait, are we those people?"

From Graig:

I have been looking for a long time for a Pens-specific podcast.  The Pittsburgh radio shows are fine, but I have to wade through a bunch of Steeler stuff to get to the Pens stuff(grew up in Eastern OH in the 80s about 75 mins. from Pittsburgh, am a Cleveland fan in everything else).  Pens 24/7 is fine for information, but the discussions are uninteresting.  I found yours because one of my favorites, Dave Dameshek, tweeted that he was on it, and I LOVED that show.  It was a great discussion of great memories from my childhood and teen years, and I stand behind the assertion that 66>99, always.  66 is my favorite athlete in any sport, and I consider it a privilege and honor to have seen him in person in his prime.  

That said, having loved the first show, I thought....Alright, here's what I'm looking for!  Well, sort of.  I love your names, you guys have interesting discussions, and have real personalities.  Plus, I love that Pittsburgh accent.  However, I can't help but notice there is a lot of negativity in your cast.  I get it.  Expectations are high, as we've basically assembled the NHL's version of the Miami Heat(I am still sorting out how I feel about that one).  However, I must ask the question....do you guys get any enjoyment out of watching our beloved Pens?  I'm not trying to be hostile, sarcastic, or a smart ass.  It seems that even with wins, there is about 75%(at least, sometimes more) talk about what we were terrible at.  I mean, you'll throw in something positive or a compliment while acknowledging your own negativity sometimes, but it is a little bit of a turn-off.  I get it, I understand being critical.  I really do.  Last night we had chances to put them away, and Letang was out to lunch on the tying goal.  However, nothing comes easy, and I'm not sure you understand what a difficult job it is that we're trying to pull off, and that the competition is actually worthy.  Maybe it's just my background as a loser Cleveland fan in everything else that skews my perspective.  I'm happy to have won anything in my lifetime.  I could really live off of the three Cups for my lifetime, mainly because I don't know when or if it will happen again.  I'm actually happy to have a team that is a perennial contender....trust me, in my pro sports fandom, you don't know when that will ever happen or for how long, so enjoy playing meaningful games in the playoffs.  

First, Graig is right on the money. We love watching and talking about hockey, we generally have good humor about and affection for our hockey team, and we think we can offer some genuine perspective in a universe of bad Pensblog imitations. If we've been getting away from the mission, that's on us.

Ben, after an email from Graig.

Second, let's be very clear: this was a bad loss, not a bad game. In fact, we're more encouraged after that Pens performance than we have been all season long. Get ready for a shot of positivity with a chaser of delight after the jump...
- Regardless of the score at any point in Game 3, the Penguins were great. There were two primary reasons for the loss: Craig Anderson, who stopped 49 of 50 shots, and an 0-for-6 showing on the power play. Nothing to be done about the former, and no reason to worry about the latter. The Pens took Anderson's absolute best game and were one bizarre breakdown away from winning anyway. And the goalie's brilliance merely highlighted what the Pens should do to adjust with the man advantage: move Jarome Iginla off of the goal-line, where he stood on that 5-on-3 PP and where he was deprived of any chance to uncork his canon of a shot from a proper angle. With Andersen stopping virtually every first shot, look for the Pens to get dirtier in Game 4 - let the big guns fire and get traffic in front.

Beatable.

- After a shaky Game 2, Tomas Vokoun was excellent Sunday night. He gives up some juicy rebounds, but that tendency is largely offset by the team's apparent confidence in him, and what by all accounts is his calming influence on the ice. 46 saves on 48 shots will do nicely going forward.

- Evgeni Malkin was by far the best player on the ice. The Penguins are a nearly impossible team to beat in a 7-games series when Malkin and Crosby are taking turns building hall of fame highlight reels. That's what we're starting to see here. His ridiculous overtime display suggests Geno's bum shoulder might limit his shot selection (he took 10 anyway), but it won't restrict his ability to dominate for long stretches. He came an Anderson toe away from scoring the most spectacular and important goal of a consistently dazzling career. It made me think of this Mario OT special in the 1988 all-star game.



Pretty good. Geno's would have been far better.

- The Tyler Kennedy goal is in essence what separates the Pens from almost everyone else. Once you get past the all-star top-six, you need to contend with relentless, playoff-proven guys like Kennedy and Matt Cooke, who can knock your star player on his wallet and fire a puck off the cross bar and in before your star player even has a chance to embellish the hit. (Thanks to Pensblog for the gif.)

- The Pens top 4 defensemen looked like they could be the top 4 defensemen on a Stanley Cup champion. Letang, Martin and Orpik all played more than 35 minutes of smart, efficient, steady, "we're better than you" hockey (with that one exception), and Matt Niskanen looked not the least bit out of place contributing 26:54.

- Craig Adams matched Cooke with a team-leading 6 hits, and looked for the first time this playoff season like his 2009 Navy Seal level warrior-self. Maybe what the team needs as much as anything is for those lower lines to start imposing their will on people. And this was a good start.

- There is no doubt this should be a 3-0 series right now. It didn't work out that way. Oftentimes the playoffs can play ping pong with your soul. Do the Senators suddenly think they can win this thing? Maybe they do. Good for them. That's adorable. But I have a message for them and for speaker of truths Graig in Columbus, and it's this: Pens in 5.

LGP. GTOG.

All's well that ends well: Pens win 4-3; Isles sent packing

By Finesse (follow me on Twitter)

Check out the recap podcast by listening below or clicking here.



When Brooks Orpik redeemed himself for nearly decapitating Sidney Crosby last month by firing a laser beam past a completely overmatched Evgeni Nabokov to send the Pens to the second round, the immediate euphoria was quickly replaced by a sense of relief.  With a team as seemingly loaded as the Pens, a first-round loss to the 8th season Islanders was unthinkable.  The fallout would have been impossible to contain.

Now all we have to do is contain the emotion.

But when the story of the 2013 Penguins is written, no one will care that the Islanders outplayed the Penguins for long stretches of this series.  The Confederacy won a lot of battles in the Civil War, too.  The playoffs are supposed to be hard. The Isles were able to capitalize on shaky goaltending by Fleury and make the Pens start feeling a little bit of doubt (fine, a lot of doubt), but the Pens did what winners do: they finished games.  Dominating the puck for two and a half periods like the Isles did is great; having world-class players making world class plays to win playoff games is better.  So if you're wallowing in the Pens poor performance for much of Game 6, you may find some solace in the most elementary aspect of the sport -- the clock.  Hockey games are 60 minutes for a reason: it's usually a long enough time to allow the better team to win.  Or at least get to overtime.

The Isles were a worthy foe.  But the better team won this series.  What this performance foretells for Ottawa is for another day.  Let's wrap this thing up.  A full breakdown of the series after the jump...


Series MVP: Tomas Vokoun

For a team that's being widely criticized even though it won the series, there are no shortage of legitimate series MVP candidates.  Malkin is tied for the lead in playoff scoring, Crosby was sensational, Pascal Dupuis constantly scores goals, Jarome Iginla had the quietest 9 points ever scored, and Letang and the Prime Minister finished with a combined 12 points and a +8 (I know, seems crazy).

But this is a fairly easy one.  The situation after Game 4 was getting a little too dire for anyone's liking.  The Pens had played a lot better in Game 4 than in Game 3 and probably should have won -- after all, the Isles only had 24 shots and gave up 4 goals.  It was clear that Fleury's terrible play was starting to affect the team's overall play.  It's very hard to "get to your game" when every shot you let up is its own roller coaster ride.

Tomas Vokoun came in and gave the Pens a baseline of competence in net.  His first period of Game 5 saved the series from slipping away in horrifyingly embarrassing fashion.  And for the rest of Game 5 and Game 6, he did all the Pens need their goalie to do: not lose the game.  In Game 6 he never let the Isles get a two goal lead and every shot against wasn't the tumultuous journey of emotion that we experienced with Fleury in net.

It shouldn't be up for debate.  Vokoun should start Game 1 against Ottawa.

Underrated performance: Jarome Iginla

Iginla had nine points in six games and flawlessly delivered every cliched quote you want from your revered Canadian veteran ex-captain.  We know he isn't the player he was ten years ago, but he's a first-ballot hall-of-famer.  The points he's racking up may come quietly, but they aren't by accident.  And look at his face in this picture celebrating TK's goal in Game 5.

Worst performer: Mark Eaton

The Pens went 20-3 with Mark Eaton in the lineup during the regular season, so the guy still has gas in the tank.  But after all-time stinkers in Games 3 and 4, he was replaced for Game 5 by Simon Despres, who the coaching staff only trusted for 6:12 of ice time in Game 3.  In other words, this was the get-Eaton-off-the-ice strategy.  It's hard to diagnose exactly what went wrong for him because he is usually So Serviceable.  Maybe the Isles' speed was a problem for him. Whatever it was, the guy looked completely overwhelmed.

He will be back in the lineup during these playoffs, and possibly even for Game 1 against Ottawa.  In the meantime, we'll all start trying to forget about his performance in this series.

Overrated storyline: Kyle Okposo

How many times did NBC Sports show the Kyle Okposo highlight reel package, which was basically him getting credit for two goals being scored by Marc-Andre Fleury, followed up by a nice move through the Pens defense but not actually scoring on Vokoun?  The guy is a good player, but the notion that he was having some kind of Claude Girouxian series against the Pens was ridiculous.  Fine, he beat up Matt Niskanen, but so has Sidney Crosby.



Unsung Hero: The Penalty Kill

With the game tied at 2, the Pens killed off two Islanders power-plays late in the second period of Game 6.  It's impossible to overstate how important these kills were.  The Pens were playing terrible hockey and the Coliseum was coming to rolling boil.  There was a serious chance of an unraveling had the Isles taken advantage.

Overall the PK killed off 18 of 20 power-plays.  That's Dance of Champions stuff.

Turning Point: Tyler Kennedy screaming for a pass at the top of his lungs

Listen to this guy call for the pass.



And what an insanely good pass by Letang.

Underrated storyline: Andrew MacDonald's broken hand

The guy was averaging over 23 minutes of ice time before he got hurt in Game 4.  Sure, the injury was largely his fault because he got hit with a shot while bear hugging Craig Adams, but still, it was a tough break for the Isles.  His replacement Radek Martinek was a veteran, but he was a veteran of a bunch of terrible Islanders teams.  And it showed.  Imagine if when Brooks Orpik was injured the Pens best option as a backup was Josef Melichar.

Series Goat: Evgeni Nabokov

It's not that he let in a ton of bad goals, though there were a few of those.  It's that he didn't make a single memorable save all series.

Crosby is saying "thank you" in this picture.

Most vexing player: Kris Letang

The guy makes more $8 million plays than any other defenseman in the league.  But he also makes more $500K plays than any defenseman in the league who thinks he's going to be worth $8 million in free agency.  That we know Letang is bipolar doesn't make it any easier to watch.  He's emotionally abusing us.  But damn, is he good.

Lasting legacy of this series:  TBD

The immediate impact of winning this series is that it relieves the suffocating pressure to get out of the first-round.  The long-term impact is yet to be written, but the obvious question is whether this was the beginning of the end for Marc-Andre Fleury.  If Fleury gets back into form and leads the Pens to the Cup, then this series is a mere hiccup on his resume and it will end up being about as memorable as Pens-Sens in 2010.  But if Vokoun leads the Pens the rest of the way, or if Fleury comes back and craps the bed again, then what happened in Games 2-4 is potentially franchise altering.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but we probably haven't seen the last of the Flower this spring.

Next.