Let me be the first to say that these days off stink horribly! I have never seen a series with so much downtime and it seemed even longer with the United States celebrating the Memorial Day holiday! Well, we all made it through and the Eastern Conference will finally get back to playing hockey tonight at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Penguins seemingly have a death grip on this series, but they still need to win one more game. The Hurricanes team that they see this evening will not be the same one that they have beaten three times to this point. If things go as they typically do in these situations, this version of the Hurricanes will look and act a lot more like an animal with its leg caught in a snare – snarling, rabid and fighting for its life.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins can overcome this version of the Hurricanes on their first attempt. They failed during their initial attempt to eliminate both the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, giving each the chance to live another playoff day.
It is worth noting that this isn’t necessarily the same version of the Penguins either. They have grown throughout the playoffs and are now playing what can only be called their finest hockey of the season. The team is confident and to say that they are on a mission would be a severe understatement. Nothing seems to rattle them; they just play their game. It isn’t unlike the scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill talks about the rules regarding mob payments…
“Oh, you scored the first goal against us, we’ll play our game and win.”
“Oh, you hurt our top defenseman, we’ll play our game and win.”
“Oh, you found a way to score four against us, we’ll play our game and win.”
“Oh, you have a loud building, we’ll play our game and win.”
“Oh, your goalie has more playoff pedigree, we’ll play our game and win.”
It just seems that no matter what happens, they play their game. It is a tribute to Dan Bylsma if you ask me. Though he is very early in his coaching career, he has traits that are very similar to those of Herb Brooks and Badger Bob Johnson.
He has Brooks’ ability to get a group of individuals to act and react as a single unit. The ability to get a any player to believe in himself and his teammates. He has done great things with the great players, as well as the ones that might not be amongst the best on the team. It is really reminiscent of what Herbie used to do with the Penguins teams that he worked with.
Bylsma also has shown that Badger Bob ability to find something positive in any situation. Sure the Penguins might not have lost many games since he has been coach, but when they have he pointing out the positives. He hasn’t allowed this group to get too high or too low. They are coming into this game four just as ready as they were for game one. There is no cockiness and no looking past this Hurricanes team. To a man this team realizes that they have accomplished nothing yet, while at the same time realizing that they can be very successful when doing the right things.
As I stated above, the Hurricanes will come out of the gates with all guns blazing this evening, but the Penguins will be ready for it. There will be no quit, no taking it easy or looking past this game.
I fully expect tonight to be the finest game of the Eastern Conference Final, the one that we have all been waiting for since game one. That game was a battle between two good teams and it just hasn’t seemed the same since.
The Hurricanes could get a boost in tonight’s game by getting Tuomo Ruutu back in the line-up. He took part in today’s morning skate, but will likely be a game time decision.
The Hurricanes are also hoping that their leading goalscorer, Eric Staal is able to get to the next level. The 40-goal scorer has yet to notch one in this series. Staal’s getting off of the schneid would go a long way towards extending this series, though he has not had an easy assignment. The elder Staal has been matched against his younger brother, Jordan at times, who has played great defense against him. During others he has been tasked with trying to shut down and against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which has been near impossible in this series. Tonight could be different, especially once you add that dash of desperation
Will the Penguins be dancing with Lord Stanley? Will the Hurricanes be Stay’in Alive? Time will tell…
Game Notes:
The Penguins are 18-24 all-time in the fourth game of a best-of-seven series with a 7-12 mark on the road.
The Penguins are 25-23 all-time in games that could clinch the series. Tonight’s game marks the fifth time this post-season the Penguins have been in this situation and are 2-2 in those games.
The Penguins have outscored the Hurricanes 16 to 8 through three games this post-season.
The Penguins have held the Hurricanes to one goal on eight (12.5 %) attempts with the man advantage through three games.
The Penguins are one win shy of reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time in franchise history and second consecutive season.
The Penguins have scored six or more goals in three of their last four games, including a 6-2 victory in Game 3 at Carolina May 23.
This series marks the seventh time the Penguins will play in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Penguins are appearing in their second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. The last time a team accomplished the feat was the New Jersey Devils (2000 & 2001).
The Penguins finished the regular season with a 2-1-1 record versus the Hurricanes.
Evgeni Malkin leads all scorers with nine points (6G-3A).
Rod Brind’Amour leads all Hurricanes with seven points (3G-4A) in eight career playoff games versus Pittsburgh.
Marc-Andre Fleury is 3-0 with a 2.67 goals-against average in three career post-season appearances versus the Hurricanes.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin both rank in the top five all time for points per playoff game: 1. Wayne Gretzky 1.84 points per game 2. Mario Lemieux 1.61 points per game 3. Sidney Crosby 1.41 points per game 4. Evgeni Malkin 1.31 points per game 5. Mark Messier 1.25 points per game
Sidney Crosby has the most career playoff points before turning 22-years old in NHL history. Former Penguins forward Jaromir Jagr ranks second on the list with 46 points (19G-27A), followed by Brent Sutter with 43 (16G 27A) and Wayne Gretzky with 36 (14G 26A).
The Penguins currently have two players (Evgeni Malkin & Sidney Crosby) with 20-plus points and six players with 10-plus points during the 2009 playoffs. The Hurricanes leading scorer is Eric Staal with 14 points (9G-5A), along with four additional players with 10 or more points.
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