There are several theories we have spouted off about this....
The first is just unfamiliarity…. Western teams do not play us often and aren’t ready for the unorthodox schemes we tend to play with. A lot of times when you don’t have a game plan specific to a team you fall back on a basic one, and those tend to favor talent over scheme.
The second is lessened passion/rivalries. Teams don’t often get up for a cross conference matchup. They don’t bring the importance of a division game or even a conference game. There are no real rivalries that are cultivated since the play is so sporadic between the clubs... Rivalries can often offset talent differences.
The third is basically that our style of play simply matches the West very well… That they are built to counter other western teams and the pens simply have a talent core that plays contrary to what western strengths tend to be
And the final one is that the Pens aren’t pressing as much vs the Western teams. They tend to be their own worst enemy vs a team like the Flyers or Caps, oftentimes trying to show them up for past transgressions. It goes back to the familiarity thing… in a different way… The pens just make less mistakes and play less risky vs them
