Poll: Pens playoff predictions

[crawz87]

One thing I've really been impressed with on this road trip is how solid they've played in playoff type games. Fluery playing great, forwards back-checking hard, and defense playing pretty solid. If they can take this type of play into the playoffs, they have a solid chance to make it to the finals.

 

[Whale Mingo]

My opinion has not changed, only solidified:



Plan the parade.

 

[Tender Rip]

We might as well start talking Isles, because they will be our first round opponent. Rangers are too hot not to win the division, and with our remaining schedule the Caps are not catching us.

Question is whether we have home ice or not, and I kinda think we will have that.
Isles have mostly owned us this season and have the pace, depth and forecheck that we dread. Their D is not that good if you go to the net hard though, and their PK is decidedly sub-par. We need to improve our offense a lot in those two areas, and if we do we are favorites in my book absent a Fleury melt down like has unfortunately been rather habitual against the Isles.

 

[cygnus47]

I think NYI and NYR are the two teams that will really take it to us in the playoffs and they are likely to be our first 2 opponents. If we can get our powerplay going, we're better than even against NYI and close to even against NYR. I think we'll get through the first round, but something will catch up to us in the 2nd, whether its injuries, depth or special teams.

If we make it through the 2nd round though, I wouldn't be surprised if we blew out the other Eastern representative and made a strong run at the cup.

 

[NatureBoy]

If they play like they played against San Jose, I see a chance against almost every opponent. I know they lost that game, but when you play a game like that on a regular base, you will win more than you will loose.

But to go really far, the PP needs to start clicking.....

 

[ColePens]

Nothing would surprise me, from first round loss to getting to the Cup finals. The East is that wide open.

^^ This is the answer. We can beat anybody. We can lose to anybody. We are going to have to see what Pens team shows up for 7 games and if MJ can actually adjust in a playoff series.

Wide open. Isles/Rangers/Caps all would be slightly favored over us. I fear the Isles the most. That speed overwhelms the Pens and they end up playing like ****. They take the boards away and just dominate us.

 

[Shaftception]

If they play like they played against San Jose, I see a chance against almost every opponent. I know they lost that game, but when you play a game like that on a regular base, you will win more than you will loose.

They were visibly quicker, faster on the forecheck, and pinched more than any game in recent memory, which aided their possession time. They won't be as successful at that against the islanders for instance if that's the eventually matchup which it's looking like it will be, who are even quicker and more aggressive on their pinches, based on every game they've played against them this season.

Place those results into the context of a 7 game series and I don't see any legitimate expectation for pitt to win that series, and their star player is hotter than either of pitt's atm. Outside of health and defensive play (probably canceled out by their lack of scoring recently) nothing is really in their favor atm.

I think NYI and NYR are the two teams that will really take it to us in the playoffs and they are likely to be our first 2 opponents. If we can get our powerplay going, we're better than even against NYI and close to even against NYR.

Well a) there's no reason to expect them to flip the switch on the power play once the playoffs start, and b) nothing about any of the games against both teams this season indicates pitt is better than either, let alone even, and especially after nyr's current stretch.

^^ This is the answer. We can beat anybody. We can lose to anybody. We are going to have to see what Pens team shows up for 7 games and if MJ can actually adjust in a playoff series.

Wide open. Isles/Rangers/Caps all would be slightly favored over us. I fear the Isles the most. That speed overwhelms the Pens and they end up playing like ****. They take the boards away and just dominate us.

But is it really? Because Pitt isn't the one at the top of the conference this season? Outside of not going on a 15 game win streak, the current rangers past 30+ games is better than that of the "All-In" pitt team that lost to boston, which was mistakenly regarded as far and away the eastern favorite at the time. Yeah there's more strong teams in the east this season comparatively, and there's not a lot of points separating most at the top right now, but that's going to change by the end of the season. The rangers not only now have the best record overall, but also the best record in the past 30+ games (meaning how they're most likely to play going into the playoffs), the best roster top to bottom after the trade deadline, and most importantly are balanced both offensively and defensively. Most of the eastern playoff teams excel at one aspect, the rangers excel at both.

It's not wide open, there's a clear favorite, and there's no objective based reason to believe pitt has any chance against them, let alone the islanders or probably capitals either (though out of the 3 I'd venture wsh would be their best chance). And no, just because boston swept those "All-In" pens regardless of regular season record doesn't mean it's likely at all to be indicative of any future matchups for completely different teams. You're basically leaning on both stars returning to their 30+ point playoffs forms out of the blue, kickstarting the powerplay out of a half-season funk, while maintaining their top-5 defensive play, to maybe take a team like the rangers to 7 games with a chance for an upset. Not only is that an awful lot to pin your hopes on happening all at once, but there's no current hint that any of that is even going to happen.

This isn't pessimism or being contrarian to troll the board, it's reality. Could they win it all? Sure, but it would most likely take more fortuitous bounces, matchups, injuries to opposing teams, etc. far outweighing that of what the 09 team benefitted from, it's just not at all reasonable to expect based on any objective evidence from the majority of this season.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

I think we're a better post-season team now and we're going to shock everyone this year. I'm saying ECF. And once we get there it's a crapshoot who wins (unpredictable at this point because the post-season is a whole new season).

The whole community is writing us off and basically giving the Rangers the Cup so I just want to get further or beat them mostly. The East is wide open and anyone saying it's not is wrong. The parity is real, and the East is as strong and competitive as it's been in a long time.

 

[Penguinzilla*]

Pens will sweep everyone and win the Cup

 

[The Greatest 101]

If we play NYI in the first round,I hope they start Greiss.

 

[Will Hunting]

Yeah, that NYR´s win over Caps last night pretty much solidifies our R1 matchup vs the Islanders.

We´re a better team than them and we are also better prepared for the playoffs than them. They are vulnerable and their defensive system is the worst out of all playoffs teams, that´s not the recipe for success. Not well coached, not experienced enough and defensively weak.. but they are still very dynamic especially when someone allows that to them. That said, it all comes down to our play in the neutral zone against the Isles. If we´re outplayed there and being too passive like we tend to do against them lately, they would probably play their trademark game & kill us. But I think that we would find a way there to neutralize them and exploit their weak special teams & defense.

R2 against the Rangers is a whole different animal. Rangers are a true powerhouse in all aspects of the game. Excellent team really. But you never know, if they play the Bruins(or even the Caps in R1), it could get tricky and maybe they would suffer a bit there. Anything can happen, in our Cup run the Canes eliminated the Bruins and then we swept the Canes. Matchups are crucial and that R1 can get tricky for the Rangers. Maybe just maybe we could avoid them somehow. Longshot, I know, especially with us having our hands full vs the Isles but I can dream.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I have no idea how they'll do and I consider that a good thing since I'm not convinced they'll get embarrassed. They control their own fate in a lot of ways, they can keep building on what they've done in the recently or they can do their usual. If they play the right way I think they have a fair chance against anyone in the East, not to say that they won't be outplayed or that the other team won't just be a better team but they won't implode pathetically. Probably close enough for '**** happens' to come into play in their favour if the other team is flat out better.

And for god's sake get Kunitz off the PP or we'll be looking back at that as a deciding factor.

 

[displacedpensfan]

In terms of preferred matchups

I'll be a slight contrarian. I think we've finally gotten our head around the Caps, so that's my preferred choice; not to mention the house of playoff horrors we've been for them in the past.

I think I'd actually rather take on the Rangers than Isles though; the Rags aren't as quite as fast and aren't quite as likely to get us off our mental game as are the Isles; that said Henrik can screw us over bad, but so can Halak. Plus, if we beat the Rags it would be a huge mental slingshot through the rest of the East, I think.

 

[NastyNick]

Most likely gonna be

Pitt vs Islanders
Rangers vs Capitals/Bruins

And i'm ok with that. There aren't going to be any easy series this year. The Islanders are slipping and sliding right now. Maybe that will continue for the next 3 weeks. They aren't too well experienced in how to prepare for the playoffs.

Meanwhile either of the Bruins or Capitals will give the Rags a rough ride.

 

[displacedpensfan]

I'll add this though, if you look at our strength of schedule for the remainder of the season against what the Rags have left, I'd say there's a nonzero chance that we could win the division and the conference, which would get us Boston or if we're really lucky, Florida.

 

[joeyjake5]

I do not think this team is soft at all, Winnik,Downie and Lappy will help remedy that, plus Hornqvist goes to the net and will cause trouble for opposing goalies.

As always it will come down to how Crosby, Malkin, Fluery and Letang.

Im not buying the argument that trading Bort and Despres will be the reason we will have a first round exit, We had those guys for the last two years and we know how well that ended.

This is the best Penguin team we have had in a long time.

Yes, but the others NYI, NYR, Craps, Habs and Bolts have improved that much more.

 

[Coach Travis]

It'll be Detroit vs Islanders in the ECF. We might make it out of the first round.