Faceoff Factor

How To Start An Avalanche

Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 7, 12:57 PM | Hype this story!

Looking back at this series objectively, the Penguins could be up 3-0 on the Capitals.

Before you spit out your drink on your screen and laugh at that premise, re-watch the games. The Penguins are, bar-none, the better even strength team. At 5 on 5, the Penguins have carried the play and set-up some tremendous cycles in the offensive zone.

In game one, they shot themselves in the foot. In game two, their special teams failed, in game 3, they overcame a bad bounce to put an offensive clinic on the Washington defense and finally get on the board in the conference semi-finals.

The bad news for the Capitals is that the Penguins scored three goals and none of the game off of the stick of Sidney Crosby. Additionally, Evgeni Malkin was an absolute bull, coming through the neutral zone with a strength and speed that we’ve yet to see in this series.

Things have certainly changed. The performance put forth by the Penguins was nearly flawless. About eight minutes into the first period, the Penguins found life, and they didn’t relinquish it once.

Simeon Varlamov played another strong game, but it simply will not last if the Penguins continue to throw this intense barrage of shots his way. The Penguins have now outshot the Capitals 114 to 82 in the series.

If the Penguins can hold serve at home, they will have a huge momentum swing heading into Game 5 in Washington, coming off of no rest whatsoever. The lack of a day off will either help or hamper the Penguins, but it all depends on what happens next.

There’s so much to write about regarding last nights game, but I want to mention two players who had particularly strong games, both came over from the Islanders this year. Ruslan Fedotenko had a fantastic game last night, netting the first goal for the Penguins and registering 8 hits in the process. Miroslav Satan did a fine job in his fourth line role. Although he only registered 8 minutes of ice time, he managed to get three shots on goal and battled fairly well. Satan’s move to the fourth line opened up space for Max Talbot to step-in with Evgeni Malkin and provide a much needed spark on the second line.

As fans, we currently find ourselves immersed in the spirit of hockey. For the first home game of this series, we stood behind our team as they trailed two games to none. Even after a thrilling overtime victory, we’re still staring at a deficit.

But, as is the essence of hockey, we know that we have the momentum, and just like the superstars that we cheer on a nightly basis, we will have to take the next game shift by shift.

This war has only just begun.