Left Handed Larceny

The Big East

by Eric Berkenpas

Caleb is busy getting an education so I am filling in to analyze the upcoming East semi-final matchups. The first round had a ton of fireworks and left a lot to be excited for in the upcoming series. The Islanders, who everyone expected to roll over against the Pens, especially after a Game One 5-0 loss, made a heck of a series out of it. They battled the Penguins tooth and nail in games 2, 3, 4 and 6 and proved to the world that the belonged in the playoffs and should legitimately be considered one of the top teams in the East. Ottawa shocked the Canadiens and got some timely scoring in game 4 which in essence sunk the already bruised Habs.

#1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #7 Ottawa Senators

01/27/2013 PIT 2 @ OTT 1 SO

02/13/2013 OTT 2 @ PIT 4

04/22/2013 PIT 3 @ OTT 1

Photo cred www.usatoday.com

It really seems like the Penguins squeaked into the second round despite winning the series 4-2. Many fears were awoken again in the hearts of Pittsburgh fans as their team took a form very similar to the team that got dominated by Philadelphia just a year before. Marc Andre Fleury was extremely shaky and the Vokoun came  in and played as well as anyone could have hoped for and more. He posted a shutout in his first outing in game 5 and stopped 35 of 38 shots in game 6 to secure the series winning victory. The stars were certainly shining as Malkin, Crosby and Iginla are 2, 3 and 4 in playoff points with 11, 9 and 9 respectively. The defense, goaltending and poor decision making are all causes for concern going forward for these Penguins, but they just have so much firepower that they have proven to be able to still get by. This can only work for so long in the Stanley Cup Playoffs though.

Photo cred www.nhlpa.com

Ottawa absolutely embarrassed the Habs in round one, outscoring them by 20-9 in 5 games. Karlsson and Alfredsson lead all Ottawa skaters in points with 6 and was a combined +10. This series was really all bad timing for the Canadiens and good timing for the Senators. The Habs closed out the season on a very bad stretch of games and the Senators were on a high after getting their Vezina quality goalie back and their Norris winner defenseman back. Anderson was very solid and the young guns really contributed offensively; Pageau, Turris and Conacher all tallied 3 goals in those 5 games. The Senators enter the semi-finals with a ton of confidence and look to enact revenge on the Penguins after losing the season series 3-0 and of course, the injury to Karlsson in the second game.

Photo cred www.pensburgh.com

The Penguins are going to need significant improvement in their game if they want a chance to come out on  top of the Senators. Ottawa is a much better team than their record suggests after getting back Karlsson and Anderson from the IR. I would venture to guess that they would have finished #2 had they not had any injuries in the season. I foresee  Vokoun starting the series in net but the Penguins will make sure to reinsert their #1 guy before this series is over and he is going to have to get his game together. Defensively the Pens are going to have to do a lot less watching and be quicker to loose pucks. The defense needs to be more careful making passes when exiting the zone as Ottawa no doubt is studying what the Islanders did to create so much trouble for Pittsburgh. The Penguins need to get more physical too. They seemed to back off of the Islanders for whatever reason and need to rediscover that physical game against Ottawa because the Senators will definitely bring it. Lastly, the timely scoring and capitalizing when opportunities present themselves needs to continue. Ottawa plays very stingy defense and Anderson is not an easy egg to crack. If Fleury can get back to normal and the defense plays how they did during the 15 game win streak, the Pens could soar through this series. If not, they may find themselves hitting the links way earlier than they should.

Photo cred www.zimbio.com

Ottawa doesn't need to do much improving as they played almost flawlessly against the Canadiens. What they definitely need to make sure they do is ignore Cooke and whatever ill-will they harbor towards him. That was a very evident distraction in the 3-1 loss in the third game of the season series and the Senators cannot afford that distraction in the playoffs. Anderson is going to have to play the way he has all year and Alfie is going to have to continue his play because it really drives all their young talent to excel when they see their seasoned veteran captain playing his heart out. Karlsson has been great so far and is going to have to continue that. But more than any of this, the defensive core is going to have to play smart, physical and disciplined against the extremely talented and deep offense that Pittsburgh possesses. With Pittsburgh's PP converting at over 30%, Ottawa can't afford to take bad penalties and give Pittsburgh extended time in the offensive zone. There are few better in the league than Crosby when it comes to drawing penalties. If Anderson continues to play how he has been, Alfredsson continues to lead the young forwards by example and all players can manage to stay disciplined and stay out of the box, Ottawa may find themselves sending Pittsburgh packing.

Prediction: Pens take series in 6 games



#4 Boston Bruins vs. #6 New York Rangers

01/19/2013 NYR 1 @ BOS 3
01/23/2013 BOS 3 @ NYR 4 OT
02/12/2013 NYR 4 @ BOS 3 SO

Photo cred www.zimbio.com

Both of these teams are coming off of thrilling victories in game 7  of their first round series. Boston mounted one of the greatest playoff comebacks of all time and scored 3 goals in the last 10 minutes of regulation to push the game to OT in which they took only 6 minutes to score in. The Rangers ended a hard fought series where each team won all their home games by walloping the Capitals in Washington by a score of 5-0. Henrik Lundvist posted two straight shutouts to dismiss the Capitals. Considering both these teams are part of the NHL's original 6 group, they have only met 9 times in the playoffs, the most recent of those meetings happening 40 years ago in 1973. That fact alone makes this meeting all the more exciting to look forward to outside of the fact that these two teams create an intriguing matchup. Lunqvist's shutouts is reason for concern in Boston, but the breakout of Lucic and Horton is cause for concern in New York. The question is, which seemingly unmovable force will be shaken?

Photo cred www.zimbio.com

The Boston Bruins showed the whole world yesterday that you can never count them out, even down to the last 51 seconds! The Bruins had a very tough first round matchup with their division rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven't been in the playoffs in many years. Questions were being asked about how good this Bruins team was who had a very up and down season. After their first series, many questions still remain. Tuukka Rask certainly did not play his best in his first playoff series as a starting goaltender but played well enough to win the series. The Rangers have a ton of skilled players who have the capability of putting the puck in the net so regardless of their scoring potency in the year, Rask will have to be sharp. Boston's main problem all year were the under performances of Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton who were both in poor shape to start the season. Oh how things can change when playoffs roll around. Lucic and Horton combined for 6 goals and 16 points and were a huge

Photo cred www.csnbayarea.com

reason the Bruins moved on. David Krejci leads all players in points with 13 and is playing some of the best hockey of his career. Boston is going to need that kind of play against the Rangers who have a significantly better goalie in net behind a significantly better defense than Toronto has. Lundqvist showed how much of a factor he can be by shutting out one of the NHL's most potent offenses two games in a row. Jaromir Jagr is my key to this series for the Bruins. He has not played well since joining the Bruins and Claude Julien is going to have to find a way to get Jagr going. He is too good of a player to be under producing like he is and if the Bruins are going to crack Lunqvist, Jagr will have to be involved. If not, it is going to be a very tough and grueling series.

Photo cred www.nydailynews.com

The Rangers also had a ton of question marks throughout the entire season. There were huge expectations from the start of the season after the offseason acquisition of Rick Nash. He had himself a good season but seemed to impact the team in a negative way as their goal scoring went down from last year and their goals against went way up. Lunqvist was a horse all season and is the sole reason this team earned a spot in the playoffs; that and the trade deadline moves Glen Sather made to acquire Ryan Clowe and Derick Brassard. The Rangers continued their scoring woes in the playoffs and tallied only 11 goals through the first 6 games before the floodgates opened in game 7. Derick Brassard was a huge reason the Rangers moved on as he tallied 2 goals and 9 points in those 7 games, almost doubling the next best on the team, Mats Zuccarello, who has 5. Rick Nash was abysmal for the Rangers and if he didn't get a verbal lashing from Tortorella, he deserves one. He played with no passion at all and just looked dazed and confused out there. For a player with the skill and toughness he possesses, that is inexcusable for him to play that way and he is absolutely my key for the Rangers this series. If he can elevate his game to a level that he should be playing at, the Rangers should be able to beat the Bruins. Lunqvist and the shot blocking of his defense will be solid for the Rangers as they always are. The goal scoring is what will make or break it for the Rangers as they too will be facing much better goaltending and defense in this series.


Prediction: Rangers win in 7