Pittsburgh Penguins Vs. New York Rangers

The 2M4B sim is unpredictable and the 2010-11 Pittsburgh Penguins are the ultimate proof. GM Chris Brassard decided to undergo a rebuilding project in late November when he started to unload veterans for picks…or so he thought. The more the roster was gutted, the better the team played, boosted by the waiver wire addition of Sykora. Suddenly, the Penguins were in the running for not only a playoff spot, but home ice! The Penguins are the true definition of a  team, there are some solid forwards like Arnott, Lombardi, Rolston, Booth, Miettinen, Bouwer and Sykora, but no stars. The defence follows the same mold with Rozsival, Leopold, Schultz, Murray, Tallinder and Mara forming a strong group of 6 that plays strong positional defence. The Penguins have an excellent goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov, who had an underwhelming regular season. It’s a wonder how they got the 4th seed, but they did.

3 KEY FACTORS:

• Someone lighting it up offensively. Balanced offence is nice, but in the playoffs, stars often taken the stage. The Penguins need one to emerge.
• Bryzgalov. We mentioned his mediocre season, well this is the chance for him to redeem himself and show why he is considered an elite goalie.
• The Penguins had the edge in the special teams this season and that must continue in the playoffs.

The 2010-11 New York Rangers are proof that long-term rebuilding projects CAN pay off. After what seemed to be an endless run of bad hockey seasons, it all came together this season for the Blueshirts and the future looks bright going forward. The team’s top 9 is big, talented, fast and powerful with Getzlaf, Iginla, Franzen, Giroux, Wheeler, Handzus, Galiardi, Filppula and Upshall. It’s a hard group to contain and shutdown. On defence, the team is also deep and talented with Kronwall, Hedman, Carle and even Chris Phillips providing plenty of offence. Robyn Regehr supplies stability and physical play. In goal, Evgeny Nabokov had an excellent season as he played 74 games and was a big reason for the club’s success. On paper, this is an elite team. They won’t have home ice though and the Penguins are a plucky bunch, which will make this series an interesting one.

3 KEY FACTORS:

• Despite the talent, the Rangers scored the exact same amount of goals as the Penguins. Needless to say, the big guns will have to be firing for NY.
• Can Ryan Getzlaf raise his game? 62 points in 80 games is a very underwhelming season for him. But the playoffs are a chance at redemption.
• Playing their game. Simply put, man for man, the Rangers are the better of these 2 teams. If they play their game, they should win.

Prediction: Counting out the Penguins would be foolish. This is a resilient group that will keep it close. But the Rangers have just too many weapons, too much quality depth. Rangers in 6.