2016/17 ECF Pens vs Sens

[x Tame Impala]

Hello Penguins fans, I was hoping some of you would be able to recall and contextualize that now infamous ECF series against Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators. I remember watching it but don't have the level of detail that I'm sure you all would.

Why did the series go 7 games and how dominant was Erik Karlsson really? It's such a point of contention on the main boards so I'd like to be sure I know what I'm talking about. Tell me anything about the series, I'd love to hear it. From what I remember EK was awesome and the 2017 Pens weren't quite the same caliber as the 2016 Pens, who in my opinion were one of the best post-lockout teams we've seen and would've been one of the few teams to seriously challenge the 2010/2013 Hawks.

Thanks in advance and best of luck to you all with the remainder of the season.

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[Buddy Bizarre]

Hello Penguins fans, I was hoping some of you would be able to recall and contextualize that now infamous ECF series against Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators. I remember watching it but don't have the level of detail that I'm sure you all would.

Why did the series go 7 games and how dominant was Erik Karlsson really? It's such a point of contention on the main boards so I'd like to be sure I know what I'm talking about. Tell me anything about the series, I'd love to hear it. From what I remember EK was awesome and the 2017 Pens weren't quite the same caliber as the 2016 Pens, who in my opinion were one of the best post-lockout teams we've seen and would've been one of the few teams to seriously challenge the 2010/2013 Hawks.

Thanks in advance and best of luck to you all with the remainder of the season.

You're right that the 2016 team would smoke the 2017 team. It might go 5 games.

2016 had 3 equally dangerous scoring lines. In 2017 the magic of HBK had worn off and Kessel was skating good portions of his time with Malkin.

The Pens had also lost Letang due to his health issues/stroke. So being down #1D was going to be a tall ask for any team.

The 2017 team was basically a PDO darling. They got outchanced and mostly outplayed, but Murray held the fort until this team could muster a timely goal. I think that was the year where the Pens scored within the last 90 seconds of the period ending in a fair number of stanzas. But the Ott series was the 1 matchup where the Pens really started to tilt the ice in their favor. They continued that momentum vs Nashville in the Finals.

I remember on the main boards that Sens fans were adamant about a couple of things that I brought up:

1) There was this insinuation that Scott Wilson (of all people) was a dirty player. Believe this was due to him hitting a player on the Sens and injuring him on a routine play
2) I brought up on the main boards that Guy Boucher would not be a head coach in 2 years. He himself had caught lightning in a bottle and implemented the trap. The players executed it quite well, but we know NHL guys don't like doing this long-term


EK was his usual dominant self, controlling play from the backend. He was their leading scorer in the playoffs!!

2016–17 Ottawa Senators season - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Anderson was definitely a tough nut to crack and was playing out of his mind. Wish I could give you more detail, I was fairly drunk those 2 playoff runs to help calm my nerves lol

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Letang strokes were 2014, 2022. Herniated disk surgery was why he missed 2017 playoffs.

 

[Peat]

Hello Penguins fans, I was hoping some of you would be able to recall and contextualize that now infamous ECF series against Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators. I remember watching it but don't have the level of detail that I'm sure you all would.

Why did the series go 7 games and how dominant was Erik Karlsson really? It's such a point of contention on the main boards so I'd like to be sure I know what I'm talking about. Tell me anything about the series, I'd love to hear it. From what I remember EK was awesome and the 2017 Pens weren't quite the same caliber as the 2016 Pens, who in my opinion were one of the best post-lockout teams we've seen and would've been one of the few teams to seriously challenge the 2010/2013 Hawks.

Thanks in advance and best of luck to you all with the remainder of the season.

Basically correct.

I thought, and I think a lot of us thought, we basically didn't have a chance going into 2017 without Letang. That we won it all without him, and more injuries in the forwards to boot throughout the whole thing, came down to a few things

a) Flower and Murray enjoying very strong playoffs
b) Guentzel emerging as a force to give the top six lots of firepower
c) A somewhat soft schedule in terms of quality and play style matchups

CBJ were a really good team, but not a great team, and thought they could hit the speed out of the team. They couldn't - they could only create lots of speed for the holes. The Caps made the same mistake, although being a better team should have still probably ended the run if it wasn't for MAF. That's MAF's finest hour as a Penguin that doesn't involve Detroit. Nashville, team on a Cindarella run who'd just lost their 1C in the playoffs... honestly arguably the easiest match up.

That leaves Ottawa who were probably the least talented team but

a) trapped like mofos rather than chasing the Pens
b) Had Erik Karlsson

Who was probably the best player that series.

 

[Sideline]

IMO, 2017 Erik Karlsson would make this geriatric Penguins team a dark horse to win the Cup this year. He was the Ottawa Senators.