Penguins-Flyers Outlook
By Judd Hall
No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers
Series Price: Pittsburgh -135, Philadelphia +115
Series Format: Pittsburgh, 2-2-1-1-1
Skinny: Pittsburgh finished up two points shy of winning the Stanley Cup last season. And despite losing talent like Marian Hossa (to Detroit) and Ryan Malone (to Tampa Bay), the Penguins were still one of the favorites to hoist the ultimate pimp chalice in June.
The Pens even appeared to be bucking the unsavory trend of clubs that teams losing the Finals the year before fail to qualify for the playoffs the following season. You’d have to think that when they were 14-6-3 at the end of November. But they proved they weren’t immune to the curse by going 7-14-1 in Michel Therrien’s final 22 games behind the Pittsburgh bench.
Not much was expected out of the Penguins once they replaced Therrien with AHL coach Dan Bylsma. After all they were putting a coach that was only in his first year with Pitt’s minor league club in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Plus, Bylsma is the youngest coach in the NHL at 38…and he isn’t too far removed from actually playing, having retired from professional hockey after the 2003-2004 season.
Perhaps his youth has helped the still wet-behind-the-ears Pens to a 24-8 mark to close out the regular season.
Of course it also helps to have forwards like Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal to anchor your Top 3 lines. This trio has compiled 30 goals and 51 assists since Bylsma took the over the coaching duties. And Malkin clinched the Art Ross Trophy for the first time in his career with 113 total points. What makes this group so impressive is that they have the ability to not only play the pivot on their own lines, but they can also make up a line all by themselves to create some of the worst mismatches for defenses.
Pittsburgh can also breathe easy now thanks to Marc-Andre Fleury is playing up to the caliber that we saw last season. Fleur closed out the regular season with a 14-2-3 mark and goals against average of 2.07 since the coaching change.
It’s a good thing that Fleury is at the top of his game now too since Philly has some serious skills on the attack.
The Flyers are just one of two teams in the NHL that can say they have four skaters with at least 30 goals. Philadelphia’s top line of Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul has lit the lamp 101 times during the 2008-09 campaign. You can’t forget about Daniel Briere either now that he’s at full strength and scored three goals with six helpers this month.
As great as the offense has been for Philadelphia this year, the goaltending has been a spot of contention…particularly Martin Biron. It’s strange to think that Biron is getting a lot of grief since he’s not won more than four starts in a row. Ask any Philly fan and they’ll have a few choice words about the easy going nature of Biron. If there is anything you can say about him it’s that Biron is 7-5-1 with a 2.89 GAA.
If Philly gets the Biron that helped the Sabres win the Presidents’ Trophy two years ago, that will make the penalty kill that much more effective. That’s pretty scary when you realize that the Flyers are sixth in the league in killing 83 percent of the power plays they’ve faced. But you have to be that good shorthanded when you average around 17.5 penalty minutes per game. It’s going to be fun to find out if Philadelphia can hold its own against a Penguin power play that is scoring 2.46 percent of the time in their last 12 games.
Gambling Notes: Philadelphia had home ice advantage for this series in the bag against the Rangers on April 12, but they wound up coughing up 3-2 lead in the third to lose 4-3. That defeat and the Pens beating Montreal mean this series will start in the Steel City.
Pittsburgh earning home ice is huge since this club is 7-1 in its last eight games. But the Flyers did win the last meeting between these teams at Mellon Arena on March 22.
The Penguins have also been a great puck line play in covering five of their last eight games by at least two goals.
Pittsburgh has watched the ‘over’ go 5-2-1 in its final five games of the season. The Flyers have seen the ‘over’ cash in at a 7-4 clip to close out the year.
Outlook: If any series in the opening round had the chance of going seven games, this would be the one. You’ve got two offenses that can score seemingly at will and defenses that will leave you black and blue before you light the red lamp.
As even as both clubs are, I’m going to give the Penguins an edge in the goaltending area. And that is probably the most important spot to have a leg up in anyway. Take Pittsburgh to advance to the second round in five games.
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