I thought that you were kidding and knew.
Our special teams were spectacular. Regular season.
5th PP %, 4th PP goals, 3rd PK %, 2nd PK goals allowed:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byteam?cat=misc&cut_type=0&sort=447
The Pens scored the most goals in the NHL and it was not even close:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/b...ence=NHL&year=season_2011&cut_type=0&sort=404
Even our defense was only middle of the pack, though 5 on 5 obviously would be worse than these numbers given how stellar the special teams play was. Again regular season.
17th in goals allowed:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byteam?cat=oppteamstats&conference=NHL&year=season_2011
And all of that was with losing among the most man games in the NHL, including some of the top players in the game for huge chunks of the season. Which brings us to the point of how much one bad week in Philly has skewed perceptions of the Pens to ridiculous proportions. They sucked against Philly in the playoffs. But people seem to forget how truly good they were before that. And the tear that they went on toward the end of the year. Only a couple weeks before people were asking if the playoffs even needed to be played with how the Pens were playing. There is no reason to suspect that the Pens will be any less formidible. The core of the team is barely entering its prme. Crosby and Malkin are only 25 and 26 for instance.