Qualification Round: Penguins vs Canadians
Posted: July 29th, 2020, 11:31 am
We are just a few days away from playoff(ish) hockey. The Penguins missed being an automatic qualifier by 3 points which is incredible considering Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Shultz, Dumoulin, and Letang all lost at least 10% of the season due to injury. Unfortunately, that puts the Penguins in a scary best of 5 qualification round.
On paper, the Penguins are a much better team with a much better coaching staff. Hopefully they can win game 1 on Saturday and force the Canadians to win 3 out of 4 in order to take the series. Game 1 in this qualification round is so important.
There are a few things that I think could lead to the Penguins not making it out of the qualification round:
First, I do have faith that Murray can play consistent enough to get them to a round 1 series but all it will take is a bad game or two to get the Penguins in a very difficult situation.
Secondly, Crosby has been missing a lot of practices and skates the last week or so due to an undisclosed issue. He did practice Monday and play in the scrimmage against the Flyers yesterday, though. Taking him out of the lineup would hurt the roster make up. For instance, with him in the lineup a line of Sheary, Guentzel, and Sid is very effective. Sheary and Guentzel will not be nearly as effective playing alongside Jared McCann. Also, that will hurt one of their strengths which is forward depth.
Finally, many question how in shape these athletes will be in their return after nearly 4 months many of them not even being able to skate. So a early game injury or misconduct penalty which shortens the bench, could led to very difficult path to a victory. I don't think many players are going to be able to give you 25+ minutes of productive minutes if they are forced into a shortened bench situation. A untimely injury could really derail a team in this opening round more than it has in other playoff series. Also, a minor injury that requires a few games could keep a player out almost the entire qualification round series.
My prediction. I think putting 3 wins in a row together coming off this break is a tall order so I am going to say the Penguins in 4.
On paper, the Penguins are a much better team with a much better coaching staff. Hopefully they can win game 1 on Saturday and force the Canadians to win 3 out of 4 in order to take the series. Game 1 in this qualification round is so important.
There are a few things that I think could lead to the Penguins not making it out of the qualification round:
First, I do have faith that Murray can play consistent enough to get them to a round 1 series but all it will take is a bad game or two to get the Penguins in a very difficult situation.
Secondly, Crosby has been missing a lot of practices and skates the last week or so due to an undisclosed issue. He did practice Monday and play in the scrimmage against the Flyers yesterday, though. Taking him out of the lineup would hurt the roster make up. For instance, with him in the lineup a line of Sheary, Guentzel, and Sid is very effective. Sheary and Guentzel will not be nearly as effective playing alongside Jared McCann. Also, that will hurt one of their strengths which is forward depth.
Finally, many question how in shape these athletes will be in their return after nearly 4 months many of them not even being able to skate. So a early game injury or misconduct penalty which shortens the bench, could led to very difficult path to a victory. I don't think many players are going to be able to give you 25+ minutes of productive minutes if they are forced into a shortened bench situation. A untimely injury could really derail a team in this opening round more than it has in other playoff series. Also, a minor injury that requires a few games could keep a player out almost the entire qualification round series.
My prediction. I think putting 3 wins in a row together coming off this break is a tall order so I am going to say the Penguins in 4.