The Pittsburgh Penguins eliminated the Washington Capitals for the second straight year, knocking out the Presidents' Trophy winners with a 2-0 road win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. But with the Ottawa Senators up next in the Eastern Conference finals, the scary part for the other teams left may be that Pittsburgh is just now finding its groove.
"He had a great year last year and I think he might have taken his foot off the gas a little bit in the summer and it took him (until) October, November before he got his footing", Armstrong said. "I think as a group, we made an attitude adjustment and chose to go at them instead of sitting back".
This series, beginning Saturday night in Pittsburgh, is the fifth between the teams. Murray is now healthy enough to back up Fleury, and it will be interesting to see how short the leash on Fleury is if things start to go sideways for the Pens. Defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Carl Hagelin are also injured.
The Senators appear to have its full roster at its disposal with the exception of defenceman Mark Borowiecki, who hasn't played since Game 2 of the Boston series.
The Penguins showed in Game 7 against the Capitals that they still have the speed of a champion.
The Penguins have proved they can rise to any challenge, no matter how big. "You have to say screw it, and let's go play hockey". "That doesn't guarantee anything".
SABRES: Jason Botterill is leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins' bid to defend their Stanley Cup title for an opportunity to build the Buffalo Sabres into contenders as the general manager. The Penguins are battered and bruised going into the East final against Ottawa and face a different kind of challenge in the third round.
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The next six shots belonged to Pittsburgh as they were able to settle the game down thanks to the brilliance of their goaltender. Don't count them out though, as they have been playing at a very high level. But he understands better whether he can help us in this situation or not.
This time they talked out their issues during the season, talked them out in the playoffs, hammered the Penguins for six games, and all they needed was to do it for one more game, one more period, to give themselves a chance. "And this guy is a battle-tested guy". Anaheim took two of three in the regular season series. This was the year Bruce Boudreau was hired midseason, so the future at least looked bright for the franchise. "I think "you win or lose as a team" is probably my best answer right now". And now we have our backs against the wall again and we come up with the best game so far of the season.
But that period represented the first puck pursuit breakthrough in a few weeks for the Penguins, who regularly struggled to control territory and dictate play against Washington and, to a lesser extent, against Columbus.
If the Capitals are going to truly find a difference moving forward, then they need to trade away one of their proven superstars.
That was the Penguins, coming off their worst performance of the playoffs and one of their poorest showings of the entire season, shutting out Washington, 2-0, on Wednesday night in what was easily their most complete game of the postseason.
"As an extra penalty", Boswell wrote in Wednesday's edition of the Post, "the Caps get to gaze at the highway strewn with rose petals that the Penguins now have ahead of them for consecutive Cups".
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