The Penguins have been in this position before and whether either team has been keeping an eye on the other won't be known until after the series. But, both teams employ coaches who are not afraid to make adjustments to win games where needed. DeBoer managed to take the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals three years ago. Sullivan has never been to the Finals in both his playing and coaching career.
The Tampa Bay series show Sullivan's willingness to make chances and adjustments. He changed the team to react to Tampa's own speed advantages and also on their penchant on using breakout passes. The Lightning likely identified that, for example, Olli Maatta has struggled on breakouts and he was beaten a few times in this series.
The Penguins will no doubt be aware of the Sharks offensive prowess with Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, Couture and Burns all able to do damage. They have decent depth but I would give that edge to the Penguins. Where the Sharks enjoy most of their offensive talents is on the man advantage.
The Sharks have the second best powerplay throughout the playoffs so far at 27.0%. That is a high watermark and only behind the Chicago Blackhawks, who were eliminated in the first round, with 31.6%. The Penguins do have a strong penalty kill, the fifth best throughout the playoffs at 83.6%. San Jose sit two spots behind on 80.4%. As strong as our penalty kill may be, I don't want to see it tested if it doesn't need to be. The Sharks have a real chance to grab and win games based on that. The Penguins need to play it safe and make sure they don't take any stupid penalties.
The shot volumes are something that will be interesting to watch as the series goes on. So far in the playoffs the Penguins have taken 862 shots at even strength. The Sharks have been on the receiving end of 863 shots. The Penguins have regularly gotten over 30 shot on opponents whereas the Sharks only managed that once in the Western Conference final.
The Penguins are also impressive at the other end. They've been able to adjust and prevent teams for getting chances that other teams would cough up. This has been accomplished by taking away the pass and forcing teams to shoot through bodies from further out giving the Pens an easier chance of blocking or deflecting shots away from Murray. Reducing the number of shots the Sharks can take will reduce the effectiveness of their big players.
The biggest way that the Penguins can hurt the Sharks though would be by using the same attribute they have used against the Lightning, the Capitals and the Rangers. Their speed. The Sharks are no slouches, they aren't molasses like the Rangers were. They have their own speedy players and will be able to cope but whether they'd be able to cope with four speedy lines is another thing.
The Penguins caused all their previous opponents issues with their speed. It messes with the opponents plans as trying to play physical just doesn't work. By the time you can hit someone they're gone. The Rangers tried this but it failed. The best way of combating the speed is by employing a trap and clogging the netural zone. But, in doing so you reduce your offensive capablities and leave yourself open to the dump and chase.
Whatever happens in this series, it will be worth watching. I can only unfortunately watch Game 3, 4 and 6 due to work commitments and time constraints but if the Penguins play the right strategy and keep to their game then they will be fine. I'm calling whoever wins this to do it in 6. I don't think we'll see a sweep.
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