Next Stop, Eastern Conference Finals!!!!!!!

Well the trade deadline paid its dues yesterday in the Penguins 3-2 overtime victory. The Pens blew a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes of the third period and could not solve Lundqvist in regulation, but with a few minutes remaining in the third, Chris Drury high sticked Ryan Malone in the face causing bleeding giving the Pens a four minute power play that would last into OT. The Pens didn't score on the power play, but they did build momentum off of it. Midway through the OT period Sidney Crosby skated the puck through center ice, across the blue line, and dropped it off to Pascal Dupuis who miss handled it but the puck ricocheted off of Ranger defenseman Daniel Girardi and rolled to Marian Hossa who buried the puck and brought the Mellon arena roof down!!! The Mellon Arena was the loudest I have ever heard it and because of the excitement, the TV cameras could not focus on the mob of players surrounding Marian Hossa. The Pens blew a couple of leads in this series and if that trend continues, it could come back and bite them. I thought when Malkin scored the second goal for the Penguins, they were going to sail to an easy victory. It was one of the best goals I have ever seen. Malkin came down one on four and started to lose the puck, but spun around and shot the puck into the back of the net on the backhand. But little did I know, the Rangers would come back. They scored twice in the third period one minute and twenty-two seconds apart. The Mellon Arena was stunned, but the players never lost their focus. Because the Pens never lost focus, they were able to beat the Rangers. With the Penguins winning, they now get set to play the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Flyers were dead last in the league last season, and are now playing to go to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Flyers are a dirty team and they know it. The only upside to them being a dirty team is their penalty kill hasn't been very good in the post season and the Pens power play has been one of the best in the playoffs. If the Flyers are going to take a lot of penalties, the Pens will eat them alive. This being said, the Flyers won't be able to play their game and they will have to make adjustments before the series even starts. The Pens have to be careful as well. Although the Pens were unbelievable on the penalty kill against the Rangers and Senators, the Flyers have a very talented power play that was ranked first for a while throughout the regular season. This series is going to be full of heavy hits and probably a few fights. The Penguins need to keep their foot on the gas and never let up on the Flyers. The Pens also need to get traffic in front of Biron, something the Canadiens did not do until game five where they scored four goals. The Pens definitely have the better looking team out of the two, but they need to play smart hockey and keep their heads on swivels.

Key Players:

Pit.- Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin always have huge games against the Flyers. Sidney Crosby almost averages 2 points per game against the Flyers in his career. Evgeni Malkin started ripping the Flyers apart when Marian Hossa showed up. I expect big things out of these three players.

Phi.- R.J. Umberger and Danial Briere. Umberger had 8 goals last series against the Canadiens and he always has a knack of scoring against the Penguins. Umberger is a Pittsburgh native so he always has that extra edge when he plays in the "Burgh" and if the Pens don't pay close attention to him he will kill them. Same goes for Briere. Briere used to own the Penguins when he played for Buffalo and some of that "ownage" carried over to Philly.