Let the Battle Begin

The Penguins have made the playoffs for the first time since 2019, and only the second time under the tenure of GM Gurtowski. The Penguins changed their stance from passive to aggressive for this season, and currently sit with 48 wins on the season, a franchise record, with the chance to end the season with 50 wins depending on how the final two games go.

The Penguins saw a major improvement in their team across the board. Out are franchise icons Jamie Benn and Devan Dubnyk, while coming in to replace them were Blake Wheeler and Jaroslav Halak, both of whom had better years than the departed players. The Penguins saw seven players hit the 50+ point threshold, five hit the 20+ goal threshold, and both goalies being above a .910 save percentage for the first time since 2015-2016.

There were some bumps in the road. Franchise icon Alexander Edler saw his ice time diminsh as the season went on due to undisciplined and inconsistent play, and the third line which mainly consisted of Pius Suter and Adrian Kempe went ice cold after good starts to the season. But as they say, the playoffs are a chance to start over.

Despite this record season which has them 2nd in the Metropolitan Divison and 4th in the Lemieux Conference, they have the defending Stanley Cup Champions and cross state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, waiting for them. This series will be a rematch of the First Round in 2018, which saw the Flyers dispatch the Penguins in five games while outscoring them 11-8 and keeping Jamie Benn, Bo Horvat, and Henrik Sedin to a combined three goals in those five games.

Is 2022 different from 2018? Penguins fans are certainly hoping so. This team hasn't been out of the first round since 2017, before GM Gurtowski even knew what the Elite Hockey Experience was.

The 2021-22 season series between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh saw the Flyers beating the Penguins in three of their four meetings. 

January 6, 2022: 3-2 L
April 4, 2022: 3-1 W
April 16, 2022: 4-3 L
June 3, 2022: 6-5L

What stands out in all four of these games, even the losses, is that the Penguins were always able to keep pace with the high octane Flyers, despite the fact that their big guns weren't big enough early on. The Penguin who terrorized the Flyers the most was Brad Richardson, who had two goals and two assists while playing as the fourth line center. The top six of Horvat, Tatar, Wheeler, Norris, Saad, and Toffoli only combined for 13 points in four games. That is not going to be enough to tame the Flyers, who can score goals at will. Just ask Reilly Smith, who had four goals in the final game of the season series and terrorized the Penguins with eight points in those four games.

I think it's fair to say the experts will be picking Philadelphia, and why wouldn't they? They have a better team on paper and dominated the season series. Though if this season in the EHE has taught us anything, building a roster on paper doesn't mean shit. The Penguins have played well consistently throughout the entire season, and in this series the difference is going to come down to goaltending, the only element where Pittsburgh has the advantage. If Pittsburgh can find a way to outscore the deadly Flyers, we could see a dethroning for the ages.