Pens/Sens Playoff Series Preview

For the second consecutive year the Penguins will meet the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Last year the Sens set the tone in the first few minutes of game one and were able to control the level of play and aggressiveness immediately out of the box. So, with the Senators playing the underdog card giving the Penguins more confidence, should we expect the same thing again tomorrow?

Absolutely.

Ottawa will try to set the tone of the series tomorrow night in the same way that they did last year. They will be aggressive, hard hitting and intense. Will the result be them same?

No.

Pittsburgh will be ready this time. Game one is at home. The crowd is going to be fired up! The Pens have luxury of being able to look back at last year and learn from it. This team is bigger, faster and, if it even possible, better skilled. The injury list is clear with the exception of Mark Eaton. They are fresh, motivated, more experienced and ready to win.

With the addition of Marian Hossa at the trade deadline, the Pens added a skilled winger. This has been a much talked about need on the team for the past few years. The emergence of Evgeni Malkin gives Pittsburgh a second dangerous scoring line. Ottawa will have to be able to stop two scoring lines and two high energy role player lines that will aggravate and frustrate the Sens. Last season Ottawa could match their best defense line against the Crosby/Malkin line and were able to shut down the scoring. This will not be the case this time around.

Pittsburgh has also upgraded their defense. Adding Hal Gil at the deadline could be a key to playoff success. Gonchar has had one of the best seasons of his career. Letang is defiantely the Pens rookie of the year and Orpick has learned not to take himself out of position to get a huge hit. Sydor adds veteran leadership to a defense corps and locker room that was badly missed in last season playoffs.

Ottawa, on the other hand, is badly in need of motivation. Head coach/General Manager of the Sens, Bryan Murray, is using the fact that the Pens lost to the Flyers on the last day of the season to insinuate that the Pens lost on purpose in order to secure the series with Ottawa. But here are the facts: Ottawa has been the worst team in the NHL since January 1st, team captain and emotional leader Daniel Alfredsson is out for what has been only termed "weeks", Martin Gerber has been a locker room problem and backup goalie, Ray Emery, last seasons playoff hero, has been a shadow of himself. Murray is using whatever at his disposal to motivate his team into action. Can he be blamed for that? And being the Penguins, wouldn't you want a first round matchup with a team in these circumstances?

I may be a bit biased but I'm going to go along with most of the other hockey experts and go with the Pens in 5.