Thursday, May 12, 2016

Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins Set to Square Off for Chance to go to Stanley Cup




The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Tampa Bay Lightning as the two teams are set to faceoff in the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals on Friday May 13.

The Penguins who have been the hottest team since mid-December, right around the time they made a coaching change to try and right the ship. In the first round the Penguins got past the New York Rangers in five games, then marched past the President Trophy winning, Washington Capitals in a six. 

The Pens entered the postseason wondering about their goaltending as third string goalie, Jeff Zatkoff opened the playoffs, due to starter Marc-Andre Fleury coming off symptoms of a concussion. Zatkoff became the first Penguin netminder to get a win in his playoff debut, since Frank Pietrangelo was able to win his postseason debut against the New Jersey Devils in 1991. 

After losing game two, the Penguins changed things up and went with rookie netminder, Matt Murray between the pipes, who won the next three against the Rangers to send them to the second round. 

In the second round, with the exception of game five, all games were one goal games with goaltenders Murray and Braden Holtby being tough to beat at each end of the ice. Three of the games even took longer than 60 minutes to determine a winner.

The Penguins number one defenseman, Kris Letang, has been putting up elite performances, which is usually one of the key factors teams look for in postseason success. When Letang has been on the ice, the Pens have outscored the opposition 22-9, the largest of any National Hockey League defenseman this postseason. 

Letang leads all defenseman with a plus-7, is fourth in ice time averaging 29:26 per game and sixth in points, with eight in their 10 playoff games. 

Many people did not give the Lightning much of a shot, when captain and leading scorer Steven Stamkos went down with a blood clot in his right arm. The Bolts have also been without defenseman Anton Strahlman in the first two rounds. 

The most effective line for the Lightning has been their top line of Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov. The “Triplets Line” has combined to score 16 of Tampa’s 30 goals throughout the playoffs. The most of any line in the NHL. Johnson and Kucherov are a plus-11, with Killorn a plus-10. 

Kucherov has been the main aspect of that line with nine goals. The Lightning have outscored their opponents 20-3 when Kucherov is on the ice. The largest margin of any player in the league during the 2016 postseason. 

The penalty killing for both teams are pretty much even, with the Pens having the fifth best penalty killers in the NHL during the regular season at 84.4 percent and the playoffs at 83 percent, while the Bolts were the seventh best during the regular season at 84 percent and third this postseason at 88.4 percent.    

The team that scores first will have a huge advantage, as the Lightning are 6-1 when opening the scoring during the playoffs, the Pens are 5-1 when they light the lamp first. Kucherov and Vladimir Tarasenko, of the St. Louis Blues, lead the NHL with three first goals of the game. 

Neither the Pens nor the Bolts have lost when taking a lead into the second or third period, in the 2016 playoffs. The Lightning have outscored the opposition in the final period 13-4, while the Penguins have been outscored in the third 10-9. 

During the regular season, the Lightning won all three matchups with the Penguins, outscoring them 15-9. All three games were after the coaching change. 

The Penguins last went to the Eastern Conference finals in 2013, when the Boston Bruins swept them, while the Lightning were there last season, defeating the Rangers in seven games. 

The Penguins last won the Stanley Cup in 2009, getting their revenge over the Red Wings from the season before and the Lightning last won hockey’s holy grail, in 2004 over the Calgary Flames in seven games. 

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