Re: 2013 NHL Season
The Pittsburgh Penguins are up a game in their series against the New York Islanders! Ahhh yeah! Having said that, I'll admit, I am worried... The Isles have outplayed the flightless birds these past two games, despite taking an early 3-1 first period lead in Game 2, and winning Game 3 in OT. The thing is the Pens need a more consistent game. They have to keep givin'er and shut down the Isles top weapons.
The one area they seem to be dominated by the Isles is in their speed. Pittsburgh is no tortoise team by any means, but the Isles are the hare of the East, and it begins with Michael Grabner who had 5 breakaway attempts. He made an already decent skater in Matt Niskanen look like a pylon by skating around him with ease, turning on a dime at the Pittsburgh net to put himself in scoring position, only to have the Pittsburgh defender blow out a tire and take himself out of the play. I am surprised he gets **** third line minutes with crap offensive guys like career minior leaguer Keith Aucoin, Casey Cizikas, and usual fourth liners Colin McDonald, and/or Matt Martin. This guy should be playing up on the top six with offensive savvy guys in offensive situations. More offensive zone starts. He's a top-flight skater who has a great release and wicked hands. The guy scored 34 goals in 76 games as a rookie playing minimal minutes and next-to-no PP time. He was on pace for over 30 goals this year. His last 7 games of the regular season, Michael found the net 5 times despite getting 11-12 mins per game. Talk about not utilizing your top guns properly.
Anyway, Kyle Okposo has been the Islanders hidden gem in these playoffs. He's come out in beast mode and is looking completely different from the Okposo we saw in the regular season. Confidence up? Who knows... but the Pens need to get more from guys like Evgeni Malkin, and troll the **** out of John Tavares with their shutdown line of Morrow-Sutter-Cooke, and tighten up that goaltending. That or this series can go in the favour of the Isles.
