Reply #6: Soft?

[Onceuponalife]

They split their season series 1-1. Pitt won in Feb. in a shootout against the Sharks backup netminder, who saw very little shooutout action this season. So that could have easily gone either way. Upton has already described how the Sharks' defense totally dominated the flightless waterfowl in their first matchup, holding them to their worst ever 11 SOG. The Penguins are a fine team, for Eastern Conference standards anyway. Their offense hinges mostly on two guys and their goalie is 23rd in the league in GAA. Meanwhile, the Sharks have a very balanced attack with 6 different forwards with 20+ goals and 4 defensemen with 30+ assists. Plus one of the best goalies in the league for the past several years.

The fact is virtually no non-partison sports writer is picking the Pens to go all the way. Most are picking either the Sharks or Red Wings. The current power rankings for Fox Sports shows the Sharks No. 1 and the Pens No. 12. At Yahoo Sports, they have the Sharks No. 1 and the Pens No. 5. I haven't checked any other sports outlets but I doubt any would show the Pens higher than 5. Also you might have noticed that the Western Conference has totally DOMINATED the East this season, going 141-103 against them head to head. The Sharks have done especially well against the East the past 3 seasons and this year they are 12-6 head to head, while Pitt is just 10-8 against the West.

Of course, I know anything can happen in the playoffs and i'm not assuming the Sharks will be in the finals. But I think the hardest work will be in-conference and if they make it to the finals I have confidence they can beat any Eastern team, with home ice advantage (oh, did I not mention their NHL best home record of 32-5-4?). I think Boston is the obvious favorite to be there at the end and I've been impressed also with the hot streak Carolina has been on. But I seriously doubt the Pens will survive till then.

I feel confident the Sharks will handle the ducklings in the first round, having taken care of them 4-2 during the season. I also think Detroit may be in for an early exit. Their home ice advantage against Columbus might not serve them well considering they have lost 5 of the last 6 at home, and the Blue Jackets have given the Red Wings all they can handle during the regular season, splitting the 6 games they played, including an 8-2 Columbus victory in Detroit (WHAT?). Detroit's goaltending looks especially weak right now.