Stanley Cup Playoffs: Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins 2nd Round Preview

[shmelty33]

i agree

SteveDangle

[SteveDangle]

It's living up to the hype right now! Realluy in-depth, dude. I feel like Sid is the best Penguin these playoffs, but then again, hindsight is 20/20.

[ruff3651]

I wanna say its Billy Guerin. He isnt showing up on in the box score as much as he is used to but he is playing very gritty hockey.

Games 3 and 4 (and parts of game 5) the Penguins were really able to hold onto the puck because of board play from Guerin and Jordan Staal. When OV doesnt have the puck, he cant score.

The Pens are just winning more of the little battles that make up a hockey game.

Okay OV probably could find a way to score without the puck anyway.

[PuckSensei]

Guerin has been great, but to say that he's been the best Penguin in these playoffs is pretty darn redunkulous, IMO.

[PuckSensei]

My 20/20 hindsight is telling me that the title of the best player in the playoffs has swung back to Malkin now.

Will be interesting to see if the Wings can shut him down again, like they did last year.

[PuckSensei]

You're right. I thought about that after. Here are my predictions for all the series that I made before round 2 started:

Caps over Pitt in 7, Det over Ana in 7, Chi over Van in 7, Bos over Car in 7.

[PuckSensei]

No excuses for game 3 from me. The Caps suuuuuucked! The only reason they were even in the game was Varlamov. Incredible performance by him, but the rest of the team simply didn't show up. Defense couldn't get the puck up the ice and kept turning it over and the offense couldn't sustain any pressure. Probably the worst game I've seen the Caps play under Boudreau.

[shmelty33]

OK let me start: Sydney Crosby: playoff games played: 10, Goals: 9, Assists: 7, Points: 16.

The player who is leading the NHL playoffs is Syd the kid. You can sit there and talk about a hundred things you do not know or just stop talking. When it comes down to the playoffs the best player will amp up his game and lead his team to victory. Sydney Crosby is the best offensive presence on Pittsburgh and as of right now the best forward in the NHL.

thanks, Shmelty!

[PuckSensei]

I respectfully disagree. I do know what I'm talking about and many people agree with me. Like I said, I have nothing against Syd and thinks he's a great player. I just think that Malkin is better. He's just a better all around player and can do more than Crosby out there. Crosby is smart and does the most with what he has, but Malkin's skill level is higher.

[shmelty33]

yes during the season malkin was better point wise. but during the playoffs(when it counts)

sydney crosby is getting the job done.

Canadian players bring a higher level of performance in the playoffs then any other country. i make an exception for alex thegr8 hes is the greatest player in the nhl. and i hope i can come close to the level of play that he creates when i play the show.

[PuckSensei]

What says you now? Malkin has been incredible lately and has played at a level few have ever achieved.

The whole Canadian players bring a higher level of commitment to the playoffs malarkey is getting really old. It's simply not true because I can cite tons of examples to the contrary, both in terms of Euro players performing great (just look at the most Euro team in the NHL, Detroit) and of Canadian players underperforming. For example, Eric Staal who was great up until the last series.

[PuckSensei]

To follow up, it's the same old BS. When a Euro player struggles those who are biased against Euros come out with this bologna. You don't hear the same when a North American player tanks in the playoffs. The particular player may take a lot of grief, but you don't here these idiotic generalizations. I find this rather annoying.

Another example for you (and I know he's not Canadian, but still a North American)... Eric Cole has scored exactly ZERO goals in his last 30 playoff games. 30!

[robertfroberg]

great points! what the capitals need to find is consistency if they want to go deep into the playoffs. they have been up and down during the last part of the regular season as well as againt the rangers in round 1. then they woke up when they were down 3-1 and played the great hockey they can in fact play. if they play their own game i think they can take it very very far.

good comment on semin as well, i completely agree.

[PuckSensei]

I disagree a bit. The Caps played only 1 bad game vs. Rangers and it was game 7, which they ended up winning. They dominated the Rangers in the first 4 games and were down 1-3 only due to Lundqvist standing on his head.

Incidentally, so far in this series I believe that the Caps have been outplayed in all 4 games and are at 2-2 only thanks to Varly. This goes especially for game 3 when they were just horrible. If Theo was in net Pitt could have easily scored 8 or 9 in that one.