Penguins' Roundtable: Penguins Playoff Predictions

@LetsTalkPens

It is here Penguins fans. The 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs are back and the Penguins are there for a tenth consecutive season. After a whirlwind of results, in-season trades, call-ups blooming into legitimate NHL threats, and a coaching change, the Penguins made it. But what’s in store for the Penguins as they embark on to the postseason journey?

They will take on the New York Rangers in round 1 of the postseason starting tonight. The Rangers face many injuries going in including defenseman and captain Ryan McDonagh as well as forward Mats Zuccarello. Henrik Lundqvist left practice on Monday for unspecified reasons. The Rangers are depleted but the Penguins aren’t in much better capacity.

Forwards Beau Bennett, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, defenseman Olli Maatta, and goalies Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray enter the series with injuries. All are listed as day-to-day, but some are in better condition than others according to head coach Mike Sullivan. Neither team is healthy, but it doesn’t necessarily hurt the Penguins.

The Penguins depth in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is what has kept them afloat all season long. The Stanley Cup finalists last season (Blackhawks and Lightning) had four scoring lines. Until this season, the Penguins lacked a four-line scoring team. They were employing the likes of Tanner Glass and Craig Adams for years and that wasn’t cutting it. I believe the Penguins depth is going to carry them on a deep playoff run.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Dallas Stars will be meeting in the Stanley Cup finals this year. I’m still torn on who will win this series but I will say this much. If Fleury returns for the playoffs and plays like the ‘Flower of New’ and not the ‘Philadelphia Series Flower’, the Penguins will make a playoff push and win the Stanley Cup. GMJR built them to do it. Mike Sullivan coached them to do it. It’s time for the players to show the can do it.

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@EngellandEye

The Penguins are peaking at the right time and honestly, I haven’t had this feeling going into the playoffs since…well, it’s been awhile. And the announcement of Pittsburgh Gold almost gives this yet another layer of destiny. So here’s my breakdown:

Round 1: Pens beat Rags in 6 This one is actually tough to pick with both cities being on Injury Watch. But having extra days between games 1, 2 and 3 will help greatly. The Rangers knocked us out the past 2 years. The 3rd time will be a charm, and Lundquist will be forced to push over a Dunkin’ Donuts kiosk.

Round 2: Pens beat Caps in 7 You can count on 3 things happening every spring: Flower blooming, giant potholes devouring your car, and the Capitals being bounced from the playoffs. You can’t fight history.

Round 3: Pens beat Panthers in 6 Bring your own rats for Game 6. Those damn things still haunt me.

Stanley Cup Finals: Pens beat Blues in 6

We’ll be giving THEM the blues…am I right? The handshake line will produce a memorable moment when Robert Bortuzzo and Beau Bennett make out at center ice.

Plan the parade route now, Mike Sullivan is leading them to the promised land.

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@ZackMorris82

This topic was decided about two weeks ago and it’s a very interesting question. How far could the Penguins go in this year’s playoffs? Well, let’s start by getting a few things straight. One, this isn’t the same Penguins team that flamed out in just five games to the Rangers last year, thanks in part to a Carl Hagelin (GOAT) game-winning goal in overtime of game five. For example, the Penguins are faster, the blue line is healthier than last year, and unlike last year, and the Penguins trust their youth. Finally, the Penguins caught fire at the right time for the first time since 2009 when they won it all.

To really begin, let’s talk about the improvements the Penguins made. Last year at this time, the Penguins had Daniel Winnik AND Craig Adams on their team. Worst yet, Winnik actually played and served as a top six forward for some time. The Penguins have a pretty good replacement to makeup for Daniel Winnik’s absence. That guy is Carl Hagelin. The Penguins are much faster and much harder to play against this year as compared to last year’s team, thanks to the likes of Phil Kessel, Carl Hagelin, Conor Sheary, and Bryan Rust. The Penguins should be feared just off speed alone.

Unlike last year, the Penguins blue line is healthy (grabs a 2x4 and knocks on endless wood). Letang is a Norris Trophy candidate, he won’t win it because the NHL sucks, but damn is he good. Letang has career highs in goals with 16, assists with 51, and points with 67. Maatta should return in time for game one but who knows. Furthermore, Rutherford traded ROB SCUDERI FOR TREVOR DALEY. Rutherford for that trade alone should have a statue erected (hahahaha) outside of CONSOL. Since Daley’s arrival, he’s done more than just be better than Rob Scuderi. Daley has proved to be a solid top four defenseman, adding 6 goals and 16 assists in 53 games with the Penguins. The Penguins also have Ben Lovejoy (who shouldn’t be playing but hasn’t been terrible lately), Ian Cole who somehow managed to find Jesus halfway through this season and turn it around, Brian Dumoulin, who’s had a career year, and lastly the acquisition of Justin Schultz from Edmonton has turned his career around, as well as provided the Penguins with some stable D (hahahaha).

The Penguins actually trust their youth! It was an unreal concept that Bylsma and Johnston couldn’t quite grasp and something that Sullivan was forced to learn. Rely on the young guys. Kuhhackl, Wilson (before he got crucified), Sheary, Rust, Porter (before he got crucified), and Sundqvist all have stepped up big time for the Penguins this year. It was partly because they had to step up due to injuries and lack of coaching (*cough Mike Johnston*) but nonetheless, they’ve shown a lot. I can’t write this without crediting bottom six forward veteran Matt Cullen. For just $800,000, Cullen has scored more goals (16) than the likes of Jakub Voracek (11) and Eric Staal (13) . Cullen doesn’t only show up on the score sheet but also in the locker room, as a guy that’s ‘been there before’ and that certainly can’t be discounted.

Right now, the Penguins are hot enough to melt steel beams. Coming into game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins have won 14 of their last 16 games, with one of those losses being to the Flyers without Sid and Letang. The Penguins are also second in the league in goal differential, behind only the Capitals with a +42. For such a slow start and such a crap coach to begin the season, that is elite.

If all of that is true, still there’s no reason the Penguins can’t get past the first round. The Penguins went 3-1 this year against the Rangers, having won their last three games. In addition, the Penguins have gotten into the head of pissbaby goalie Henrik Lundqvist, causing the unreal temper tantrum that you’ll be telling your kids about one day. During the Penguins last seven game win streak, the Penguins scored at least five goals a game in every one of those games. If that continues, watch out. Mind you, the Penguins are doing this all without star Evgeni Malkin, who is said to be coming back at some point during the first round. I say Penguins in six.

The second round is going to suck, plain and simple. The Penguins get the winner of the Caps / Flyers series. Honestly, buy a second keyboard now just because you’re already going to throw one out the window in pure anger. The Penguins went 3-1 against the Flyers this season, and their one loss came only because the Penguins weren’t playing Sid or Letang. In all reality, other than hurting our players and acting like douchebags, the Flyers really don’t scare me. I believe the Penguins could easily take them. The Capitals however, have me feeling some sort of way. On one hand, ‘Caps are gonna Cap’ is such a commonly used phrased because Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals have yet to make it out of the second round of the playoffs since he’s been there (10 years). It’s hard to take the Capitals seriously, especially the further they go in the playoffs. The Penguins did go 3-2 against the Capitals this season, and looked good doing so, however the Caps did win the President’s Trophy with 120 points, so obviously they’re doing something right. A series with them would not be easy, however I think the Penguins would be able to pull it out in six or seven games.

From there, honestly who the hell knows? If the Penguins can get past a series with the Rangers and winner of the Capitals / Flyers series, then they may well do the damn thing and win it all. If everyone is healthy the Penguins could bring home their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history. We’re not discounting other NHL teams, believe me there’s a lot of great teams, however, if you remember 2009, doesn’t this feel a bit like that? The Penguins fired their coach halfway through the season, made a few deadline acquisitions to better the team, and went on a run. When the Penguins are on their game, good lord. They literally could beat anyone. One thing is for certain; the Penguins don’t have Daniel Winnik, Craig Adams, or Rob Scuderi to end our hopes and dreams with again.

In conclusion, I don’t want to speculate as to how far they go, just because it depends on how every other matchup works out, but the Penguins for once have a lineup in place to be successful in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the Penguins can continue to play as good as they have over the last month and a half, look out @NHL. On the flip side, if the Penguins do get eliminated, yeah I’ll probably deactivate my Twitter, cry for a few days, and forget about life, but then I’ll remember, the Penguins will get a full season with Mike Sullivan next year. Either way, get ready for a playoff run and to get #MadOnline every other day. It should be magical. Go Pens.

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@FranjiPensPress

How far do I think the Penguins will go in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs? Well, in the words of Chris Berman, they “could…go…all…the…way!”

The Penguins have not necessarily been the most successful playoff team in recent years. Despite their ridiculously terrific play down the stretch, without a number of key players may I add, the Penguins will still have their critics.

Some may say the Rangers will knock them out in the first round. Other may say that even if they get past Lundqvist and the Rangers, the Flyers or Capitals physical play will be too much for the Penguins to handle over a 7 game series.

I beg to differ. Since I have been following the Penguins, this year is, hands down, the most confident I have felt about this team going into the playoffs. They have speed, they have desire, they have shown resiliency, and they are winning hockey games. AND they’ve been doing all of this without start center Evgeni Malkin, top-pair defenseman Olli Maatta, speedster Bryan Rust, and starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. All of these guys have been skating recently, and may be able to return even in the first round.

It is difficult to imagine the Penguins losing 4 of 7 games to any team right now, and for that reason, I really do believe they can win a Stanley Cup.

If the Pens can get by the first 2 rounds, I am not at all worried about any team from the Atlantic. The Eastern Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final will be one of the teams coming out of the Metropolitan Division matchups.

I’ll take Penguins over Rangers in 6, Penguins over Caps in 7, Penguins over Florida in 5, and then Penguins over the Ducks in 7, where they will lift the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh for the first time in franchise history.