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Paul Bruno

NHL Eastern Conference Playoff Report - Week 7

June 2, 2009 3:44pm CDT

wo games of the Cup Final have been played and while the Pittsburgh Penguins have competed and limited the Detroit Red Wings to a modest total of six goals, the boys from Steeltown have lost both games. Is there hope for a comeback?

The series opened with a back-to-back in Motown over the weekend and with the Wings dealing with injuries to two of the best players in the league - Niklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk. This, combined with the fact that Detroit was just coming off a tougher series than Pittsburgh in the Conference Finals, further heartened Pittsburgh fans.

The Wings, it will be argued, showed their mettle in winning both games by identical 3-1 scores. The further truth of the matter is that the Penguins have not played smart hockey and are getting little from their depth players.

The Pens need to get tougher, particularly around the net, to have any hope of winning this series.
Highlights of both games reveal lots of traffic in front of the Penguin goal and Marc-Andre Fleury has had to fight for position to even view a number of shots coming his way. At the other end, Chris Osgood has rarely been bothered by anything resembling an obstructed view.

Another factor that is limiting the Penguins is that Sidney Crosby has been negated by Henrik Zetterberg, with the Wing center outplaying his counterpart at both ends of the ice. Evgeni Malkin has taken advantage of a lesser matchup and has been in on both Pittsburgh goals so far.

Furthermore, none of the Pens' second or third liners has been a factor on the scoresheet. That lack of scoring depth will be pivotal, especially when Detroit can point to a guy like Justin Abdelkader, who has chipped in two goals for the Wings. That's the kind of production that can tip the scales.

History tells us that it is unlikely for a team to lose two road games and rebound to win a Final series (see that fact noted in Ray Flowers' Western Conference Review).

The Pens have to subscribe to a different focus. They are going home for games 3 and 4 and have an opportunity to use that platform to level the series.

They should be able to free Crosby from Zetterberg and have to believe that other players will step up on home ice. They have shown enough grit to compete and have also been the victims of some unlucky bounces that have led to Wings' goals and the Pens have hit their share of goal posts, too. Also the Wings have parlayed the bounces from the end board of their home rink to another advantage. Those aspects have a way of evening out in a series between well-matched teams such as these.

So what do the Pens have to do to change things?

Challenge the likes of Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom, moving them away from Fleury's net. Conversely, get Bill Guerin, Matt Cooke or Jordan Staal to bother Osgood at the other end.

How about scoring more than a goal per game? The Pens have the talent to score more often and they expect more contributions from depth players such as Chris Kunitz and Miro Satan, who have both been held scoreless in the first two games.

The Penguins played the Wings in the Finals last year and know their challenge. The trick is to not focus on the big picture of having to win four of the five remaining games. They will be far better off just looking at winning game 3 first and only after that contest should they begin to consider Game 4.

It's one game at a time for Pittsburgh. They will only make their task bigger by looking at it any other way.


EASTERN CONFERENCE REVIEW
For all other Eastern Conference clubs, the time is fast approaching for the annual free agent frenzy and the NHL draft.

The Montreal Canadiens made some headlines by signing Jacques Martin as their new head coach. Apart from having the prerequisite bilingual skills to deal with the local media, this is a guy who has really only guided one team, the 2007 Ottawa Senators, to any notable level of success. Too often his clubs have disappointed. Sticking with the Montreal situation, they have 10 UFAs, including Mike Komisarek, Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay and Alexei Kovalev. It is likely that they will have a much different looking team next year.

The Jay Bouwmeester sweepstakes will be the final act in Florida's failed gamble to make the postseason. He will bolt to either a contender or a big market this summer - eliminating the Panthers from consideration.

The Maple Leafs' GM Brian Burke is looking at making a big splash at both the upcoming amateur draft in late June and in the free agent signing period. He is rumored to be interested in bringing the Sedin Twins to Toronto, as a priority.

Ottawa has a couple of key players up for free agency. They are not expected to make an offer to retain tough guy Chris Neil, but you would expect that resigning Mike Comrie would be of interest for a team lacking in secondary scoring.

Plenty of speculation surrounds the plans of the New York Islanders and the Tampa Lightning and whether they will hold on to the top two draft positions. Defenseman Victor Hedman and centerman John Tavares have separated themselves from all other junior prospects and are both expected to be NHL ready for next season. Either team will have to be bowled over by an offer to surrender their picks. You never know, though...

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