After the closing seconds ticked off the Game Seven clock in the Montreal Canadiens' stunning first-round elimination of the Washington Capitals from the NHL postseason, attention quickly shifted to the second round. In it, the eight seed Les Habitants , and the No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins will face-off in the playoffs for only the second time in the franchises storied histories.
Perhaps the biggest storyline going into this series is whether the Penguins might meet the same fate as the No. 1 seed Capitals. The theory goes, "If Montreal shut down Washington offensively, won't they automatically do the same thing to the Penguins?"
In my opinion, that's an easy question to answer: No.
For more on why that's true and a lot more, below is a breakdown of the series. I will focus on a position-by-position analysis of each team, and examine how the special teams, coaching, and intangibles of each club stack up against each other.
I'll also identify three players to watch from each club, and offer what I think each team must do to win the series.
Fowards
If it's one thing about Montreal's group up front, it's that ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mario Bordogna
2010 NHL Playoffs: Breaking Down And Analyzing The Pittsburgh-Montreal Series
April 30th, 2010 by Mario Bordogna Leave a reply »
Advertisement