Penguins v Rangers: Stanley Cup 1st round

Penguins v Rangers: Stanley Cup 1st round

The play-off matchups are set and the Pittsburgh Penguins are to face the New York Rangers in round one of the 2015 Stanley Cup play-offs. The Rangers probably aren't the team that the Penguins would have wished to have played most but it is who they have been rewarded with and they must deal with it. The Penguins backed into the play-offs with a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 82 and expectations are currently low.

The series between the two teams went in favour of the Rangers with them winning three out of the four games between the two. The one that the Penguins won was a 3-2 shoot-out win on November 5th. The only point the Penguins obtained was a 4-3 OTL on December 8th. The other games ended in 5-0 and 5-2 wins for Rangers.

How can we beat the Rangers?

The Penguins can beat the Rangers. To say otherwise would be defeatist and as long as you're in you have a chance. Each team is beatable and the Penguins shouldn't completely write themselves off. They're underdogs in this match-up and there is no pressure or expectation on them to win. That is on the Rangers. To beat the Rangers the Pens need to go back to basics. They need to keep it simple and not try anything stupid, like no look passes.

The best bet the Pens will have of beating the Rangers is if they play a trap. I hate that the Pens would have to play one based on my dislike of playing against the Devils and other teams that have employed it against the Pens in the past, but if we want to progress, we have to. A 1-3-1 system would be best I think. Most of our defenceman are not offensively gifted. Right now Martin is the only one who I would feel fairly confident of being able to score, I wouldn't say the same about the rest.

Scuderi scored his first goal in over 180 games against the Islanders on Friday, Chorney has one NHL goal way back in the 2010-11 season. Harrington and Dumoulin between them have yet to score. That leaves Cole and Lovejoy. Lovejoy has one goal so far with the Penguins, 11 throughout his career whilst Cole is one worse off. If Ehrhoff comes back it might give us a bit more help but I wouldn't expect our Defence to score, it would certainly help though.

The Penguins need to also make sure that they control the puck. It sounds stupid but the more we keep it the less we're at risk. The Penguins Corsi over the season was 52.8% compared to the Rangers 49.5%. It is one area where we have an advantage. Keeping the puck and slowing the game by clogging the lanes will frustrate the Rangers as they look to utilise speed from their forwards a lot. If we're going to be beaten then why not try and be as annoying as possible?

One last thing that can help the Penguins is discipline. We need to keep our calm and not get involved in any games that could put us on the back foot. It is something that creeps into our game sometimes when we go behind in big games (Usually in the Flyers matches) and it is a way that teams have used to get us off our game. Keeping calm and not taking stupid penalties will help. Let the Rangers make undisciplined mistakes.

How do I see the series playing out?

If I'm being honest,  I don't see us advancing. I think the Rangers will be too strong for us, but I think we will be able to grab a game at least. If we can get the opening game then who knows, maybe it will give us a momentum boost and spur us on for the rest of the series to get revenge for the 4-3 series loss last year. We need players to step up their game and others to keep on the straight and narrow that they are now. Fleury, for instance has been brilliant in the regular season this year and if he can carry that through to the play-offs then he gives us a better chance, but he will need help from his defence. He can't do it on his own.

We will need our secondary scorers to come to the fore as well. We have missed it during the regular season and it has been the sole reason that we have scored just 45 goals in the 21 games since March 1st, which includes some games against lottery teams at the bottom of the standings. Crosby and Malkin will need help as they can't be expected to do it on their own. If we are able to get scoring from other areas we can take pressure of those two and make it harder for the Rangers to simply stop our offense by shutting them down.

The series will be a big one and a good one with some great hockey. I'm looking forward to it whatever happens and as long as the Penguins are in the play-offs I will believe we have a chance, no matter how small. Game one is Thursday at 7pm EST. Let's go Penguins.