The Pittsburgh Penguins now that the regular season has concluded, will transition into playoff hockey mode as they have a first round clash incoming with the Philadelphia Flyers. The NHL script writers couldn't ask for a more compelling story that will write a new chapter in the book of history between the Penguins and Flyers.
A 2018 rematch is set to commence which also so happens to be the last time the Penguins won a playoff series. They defeated the flyers in six games back in 2018 and were the better team throughout parts of that series.
Now it's 2026 where it's been four long years where Pittsburgh has had no playoff hockey and has deprived the veterans of another kick at the can. The time to push for Stanley Cup number six begins this weekend and the journey begins with the pesky flyer tough team coached by Penguins legend Rick Tocchet who was an assistant coach with the Penguins through the back to back championships in 2016 and 2017.
Regular Season Series Wrap-Up
The Penguins this season against the flyers had a record of 2-0-2 with one loss coming in the shootout on March 7 (4-3), and one in overtime on October 28 (3-2). Both wins for Pittsburgh vs Philly were in regulation and in decisive fashion on December 1 (5-1) and January 15 (6-3). Both teams won one game in each others respective buildings and one in the opposing arena.
Recent Playoff Fails will be trouble for Penguins
Historically speaking, Pittsburgh have failed to advance past the 1st round in 8 of the 16 playoff appearances over the last 20 seasons (The Crosby era). That's a 50% success rate and most of those Penguins teams had better seeding/matchups and more talent but have something holding them back from getting over this ghostly hump. This series is a coin flip at best for both teams. Pens are more experienced. Flyers are younger and faster.
Goal-tending will be Penguins biggest Achilles heel if they fail to win series
Pittsburgh goal-tending has been such a problem once the team reaches the post-season and just disappears when a save is needed. In the regular season, the team goal-tending entirely ranked 30th in the league for the last six weeks, which was by far the worst of all 16 playoff bound teams. At this point who realistically should be game one starter, one would think it's Stuart Skinner. Getting saves lately have been such a big ask for this Penguins hockey club and that is not a good thought heading into the playoffs, let alone a series with your state rival. Skinner has gone to back to back Stanley Cup Finals in the last two years and has more playoff experience then Arturs Silovs.
Head to Head Statistics heading into round one
Goal-tending: PIT has both suffered from bad goal-tending and benefited from other teams bad goal-tending in the last span of the season. Vladar has been really strong in goal for PHI over this last recent stretch.
Penguins | Flyers |
|---|---|
Team Wide - Entire Season (2.2 GSAx ranked 16th) | Team Wide - Entire Season (-10.2 GSAx ranked 24th) |
Team Wide - Last Six Weeks (-9.34 GSAx ranked 30th) | Team Wide - Last Six Weeks (2.28 GSAx ranked 13th) |
Special Teams: It will be a very curious test of special teams heading into the playoffs with some all around crazy numbers that could make or break this series. This could be the biggest advantage the Penguins have heading into this series.
Penguins | Flyers |
|---|---|
PP - 24.1% ranked seventh in the NHL | PP - 15.7%, ranked 32nd and dead last in the NHL |
PK - 81.4% ranked seventh in the NHL | PK - 77.6%, ranked 22nd in the NHL |
5 on 5 Even Strength: The Penguins and the Flyers are pretty much opposite teams 5 on 5. PIT are elite at generating 5 on 5 offence but struggle with suppressing the others team offence effectively. Part of it is has to do with the on ice product, part of it is Dan Muse's system. The Flyers have struggled with generating chances on the offensive zone but are an elite defensive team.
Flyers | Penguins |
|---|---|
xGF/60 (2.43 ranked 23rd) | xGF/60 (2.81 ranked fourth) |
GF/60 (2.43 ranked 20th) | GF/60 (3.01 ranked second in NHL) |
xGA and GA/60 - 2.25 (ranked third and fifth) | xGA and GA/60 (2.66 ranked 22nd and 2.59 ranked 22 |
THESE are ranked based off Entire Regular Season | THESE are ranked based off Entire Regular Season |
What do the Penguins need to do to win this series?
For the Penguins to win this series, there are so many elements that come into this. It all starts with goal-tending of course and that will be the biggest worry for all Penguins fans. Scoring drying up from all four lines really could happen and that's the last thing this team needs with Sidney Crosby clearly playing hurt and the aging veterans that may not have that same playoff magic as they used too.
Defensively, the D-core really needs to tighten the gap and play more defensively sound especially with the flyers who like to counter-attack and hit you hard on the transition game. All defenseman need to know their roles and be ready for game one where the expectations are so high in terms of letting your goaltenders job be as easy as possible.
For Pittsburgh it all comes down to replicating regular season success in a playoff environment ten fold. They need to continue to thrive off quick and prominent scoring from all depth players and star veterans. Those Penguins need to establish themselves in the biggest and best way possible early in this series and take over, be smothering and be on the eight ball.
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