It’s mid-June and the Pittsburgh Penguins are not on the ice. There’s something we haven’t heard of in a few years.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were unfortunately eliminated in the second round of this year’s playoffs. Now us Penguins fans are not used to this. We’ve seen our team win the Cup twice in a row these past two years. We haven’t had our team eliminated in a long time and it may feel odd to not be cheering for them right now.
The final four of this year’s playoffs include the Washington Capitals (ew), the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Vegas Golden Knights. Now if you’re anything like me, I still try my best to follow the playoffs right until the end and I still try to pick a likeable team and cheer them on until the end.
With this year’s final four, I think fans who follow the playoffs like I do should gravitate towards one team. Which team is that? Well that would be the Vegas Golden Knights, who stunned the world in their inaugural season. Why should you want to cheer them on?
The Underdogs
Vegas has been the definition of an underdog all season, let alone these playoffs. Coming in as the new franchise this season, everyone expected their team of misfits to follow in the footsteps of all other expansion teams in their first season–being a bottom five team.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Well Vegas stunned everyone by winning their division. Everyone thought their lack of playoff experience would have them easily eliminated in the playoffs, but they swept the Los Angeles Kings with ease in the first round, then defeated the San Jose Sharks in the second round. They are the definition of an underdog and if you enjoy seeing the underdogs win, then they are easily the top choice.
Marc-Andre Fleury Will Always Be Ours
The main reason we should cheer on the Vegas Golden Knights is because they have one special player who we, as Penguins fans, will always hold dear to our hearts. That player is Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury has been our starter since we picked him up first overall in the 2003 Draft and he has done nothing but bring winningness and joy to our city and franchise. When we chose to keep the younger Matt Murray over him in the Expansion Draft, that was entirely a hockey decision and should not effect our perception on Fleury. He loved this city and this team and he was basically chosen to leave against his will.
He has now adjusted himself to playing for the Golden Knights and he has taken his winning ways to Vegas. Their success is in huge part due to him and he may even be up for the Conn Smythe Trophy if the Knights continue their success all the way. The Golden Knights aren’t our rivals and he is a player we all would love to see continue to be successful.
So what do you guys think? Will you be getting behind Fleury and the Golden Knights? We’ve won our recent Cups already, so it would be interesting to see history being made by an inaugural team. Let me know your thoughts below.