So, I meant to do this post a month ago. But I decided to wait until Tampa Bay was eliminated so we could assess them appropriately. Here we go....
The Penguins entered the playoffs as the 4th seed, earning home ice advantage over their 5th seed opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Pens entered the series with high expectations after overachieving throughout the season. After taking a step back, it is easy to see that those expectations far surpassed the roster potential that the Penguins had intact for the playoffs. On the eve of the playoffs though, few people cared about how the Penguins got to this point, they just wanted to win it all now that the Penguins had arrived there. Very few people in Pittsburgh were scared of the Lightning. But a more telling sign of the series would be that analysts were split down the middle on who would win this series, with everyone figuring it would take 6-7 games.
GAME 1: Pens win 3-0.
Marc-Andre Fleury was the story of this game. Fleury made 32 saves to record the shutout, including some beautiful otherworldly stops on St. Louis and Lecavalier. Meanwhile, the offense came from sources both expected and unexpected. Chris Kunitz continued his fantastic play from the regular season into the playoffs with a goal. Another goal came from Arron Asham, an off-season pickup that many were not sure about throughout the season. Asham was picked up for his gritty play and clutch scoring potential, and it finally came through in the first playoff game of the year. Even Alex Kovalev came through to make Ray Shero look like a complete genius as he scored the game winner, albeit on a lazy play where Kovalev was trying to buy a penalty and instead found himself alone in front of the net. After Game 1, the Penguins were flying high and Tampa Bay looked quite outmatched in the series.
GAME 2: Lightning win 5-1.
For everything that went well in Game 1, the exact opposite came through in Game 2. The Penguins were outplayed and pretty much outsmarted in every facet of the game. The Lightning scored 2 minutes into the game on a 2 on 1 and continued attacking throughout the game. A plethora of defensive lapses, plus a weak goal allowed by Fleury, made this game an embarrassment for the Penguins. Craig Adams scored the lone goal as the 3rd and 4th lines continued their great play while the 1st and 2nd lines hurt more than helped. At this point in the series, the powerplay became a major concern. With many chances to get back into the game, the Penguins could not find a way to get a sustained chance on any powerplays, pushing them to 0 for 11 in the series through 2 games. While this game only tied the series at 1, things looked bleak for the Penguins after a very poor outing at home.
GAME 3: Pens win 3-2.
Heading to Tampa Bay, the Penguins had a lot to work on and very little time to accomplish it. Luckily, Dan Bylsma is a fantastic coach on the fly, especially in the playoffs. Both teams came out to a quick pace, resulting in some big hits. Both Steve Downie and Chris Kunitz threw vicious hits, each earning a 1 game suspension for Game 4. As for the goal scoring, it was all on the Penguins role players again. The Pens took a quick 2-0 lead off of goals from Max Talbot and Arron Asham as the 3rd and 4th lines continued to dominate for the team. The Lightning regained their bearings though as the Pens powerplay failed numerous times and Tampa earned some powerplays of their own. Martin St. Louis scored 2 powerplay goals to tie the game up and create a frantic race for the game winner. Tyler Kennedy was ready for that race, and scored the game winner just 35 seconds later. The rest of the game was full of shot blocks and fantastic defense as the Penguins held on for the victory and the series lead.
GAME 4: Pens win 3-2 (OT).
The stakes were high for both teams heading into Game 4. A Pens win would give them a commanding 3-1 series lead, while the Lightning were fighting to tie the series at 2 before heading back to Pittsburgh. As expected, this was one of the tightest games of the series. With Chris Kunitz out of the lineup, the Penguins turned to Eric Tangradi to pick up the load, and he did so in a magical way. Though it took 4 games, the Pens powerplay finally scored as Tyler Kennedy shot a puck past a screened Dwayne Roloson (thanks to Tangradi). Arron Asham scored his 3rd goal of the series to give the Penguins a 2 goal lead in the 2nd period, and Tampa was on their heels. Martin St. Louis changed the tides with a fantastic effort to score Tampa's first goal and then set up Sean Bergenheim to tie the game. Both teams tightened up and this one was off to overtime. It took a 2nd overtime, but the ever so snake-bitten James Neal finally scored a goal for the Penguins faithful, and it was a big one as he wristed a puck past a very surprised Roloson to give the Pens a 3-2 win and a 3-1 lead in the series.
GAME 5: Lightning win 8-2.
The Pens headed home for Game 5 and a chance to close out the series. Bylsma did not have a great record in such chances, but the Penguins were finding ways to win and the home crowd would try and will them to this one. The Penguins and their fans may have gotten a bit overconfident though, since the past 2 games could have really gone either way but fell to fortunate Penguins bounces. The Hockey Gods made up for those factors in a big way in this one. The Penguins had by far their worst showings defensively, on the penalty kill, and on the powerplay as Tampa Bay put up 7 goals before Pittsburgh showed a sign of life. Rupp and Conner managed to score a couple of goals for the Penguins in this lopsided loss, but it was suddenly clear that Tampa Bay had the talent and ability to come back in this series. The Penguins still had two chances to eliminate Tampa, but it wasn't going to be easy when they were completely losing the special teams battles. There was also the question of why the 3rd and 4th lines continued to produce far more than the 1st and 2nd lines.
GAME 6: Lightning win 4-2.
The Penguins went into Game 6 as a better focused team after an embarrassing Game 5 blowout. Additionally, Bylsma's teams have almost always put teams away in their 2nd try to do so. The Penguins came out strong and were off to a 1-0 lead off of a Dupuis goal. Tampa roared right back though as their 3rd and 4th lines began to pitch in. Teddy Purcell scored to tie the game and Sean Bergenheim finished a beautiful pass from behind the net by Dominic Moore to make it 2-1 Lightning. Heading into the 3rd, the Tampa crowd was willing their team to a Game 7. The Penguins had other ideas though, as Jordan Staal finally showed up in the goal column and tied the game up. The Penguins lack of offensive consistency would still cost them the game in the 3rd. After the Penguins missed on a couple of breakaway chances, the Lightning scored on a couple of their own. Steve Downie and Ryan Malone gave the Lightning a 4-2 win and a chance at Game 7 in Pittsburgh.
GAME 7: Lightning win 1-0.
As the Penguins came into this game with their 3rd chance to win the series, fans were optimistic. It's difficult to lose 3 straight games in the playoffs and the season was played to get this chance for a Game 7 at home. However, many factors went against the Penguins too. A bad powerplay, penalty kill, some defensive lapses, and inconsistent scoring suggested the Penguins should have never made it to this point. Well, sadly, this was the end of their journey. The game was very tightly played by both teams, but Tampa certainly outplayed the Penguins. Both goalies put up a fantastic show and kept their teams in it. The difference could be considered a lack of coaching and/or execution. Tampa scored the only goal of the game in the 2nd period, as Bergenheim scored on the exact same play that him and Moore ran to score the 2nd goal of Game 6. The Penguins couldn't get a shot past Roloson and just like that, a 3-1 series lead was blown and the season was over. This team may have overacheived during the 2010-2011 season, and through the first 4 games of the playoffs. But they didn't show up at all for the last 3 games of the season. The ones that will sit with them all the way until September.
Tampa Bay wins the series 4-3.
In the end, Tampa Bay executed to a much higher degree than the Penguins did. Tampa had more offensive talent, which displayed prominently on their powerplays, and their commitment to team defense was greater. Roloson faced a plethora of shots, but most were from the blue line or bad angles. On paper, Tampa was the better team. Intangibles went to Pittsburgh. In the end, coaching went to Tampa Bay, and that may have been the final difference in the series.
Tampa Bay proceeded to sweep the Capitals in the semi-finals and made it to the conference finals before succumbing to Boston. The Lightning had a very similar team to last year's Canadiens that knocked out the Penguins. A commitment to protecting their goalie and some timely goals with fantastic special teams appears to be a good blue print to get through 2 rounds of the playoffs. In the long run, I would say the Penguins still have a better team than Tampa, especially once you add Crosby and Malkin back. But this just wasn't the year. This was a tough pill for the Penguins to swallow, but maybe a necessary one for them to appreciate how good they have it when everyone is healthy and playing at top form.
This offseason will bring about many changes, especially amongst the role players. The defense and goaltending is locked up. But look for the 3rd and 4th lines to change drastically moving forward. More on that to come!
