The Pittsburgh Penguins Key to Success

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on an absolute tear so far this postseason. They rolled through last year's Stanley Cup runner's up, Ottawa, in four games. Right now, they are taking care of business against the New York Rangers.

The key to the Penguins success in this postseason is their ability to shift the momentum on their opponents. In game one against the Rangers, the Penguins went down 3-0, but battled back and evened the score at three. They took the lead with two pairs of goals, 14 seconds, and 20 seconds apart, respectively. Pittsburgh was able to suffocate the Rangers for the second half of the game, and they capitalized on a late power play. New York couldn't get anything going once the Penguins tied it up.

In game 3, the Penguins did almost the same thing to all but end the series against the Rangers. They scored 62 seconds into the game to take the Garden faithful out of the game. They proceeded to go up 3-1, but the Rangers got some life back. The Broadway Blue shirts tied the game at 3, but Ryan Hollweg made a colossal mistake. Now don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but one could say that he cost the Rangers a shot at advancing to the next round. When the crowd was going nuts and New York was putting all the heat on Pittsburgh, he took a stupid penalty, and guess what the Penguins did. They scored on that very power play, sucking the energy from the crowd and their opponents. The Rangers couldn't muster any more offense in the 3^rd period, and the Penguins added one more tally to end the game up 5-3.

It is evident that Pittsburgh is very well coached. They know how to get inside a team and suck the life out of them. They are very good at taking momentum away from their opponents. If Marc-Andre Fluery plays the way that he's been playing in net for the Penguins, I can almost guarantee they will win the Cup. With the combination of some of the NHL's best young players, along with veterans like Petr Sykora Sergei Gonchar, they have a legitimate chance to win it all this season. In addition, if you are a fan of the Penguins, then the best is still to come because their two best players are under the age of 22.