http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Monday, April 27, 2009
Penguins Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz celebrate Sidney Crosby's second period goal against the Flyers in the ddeciding game of their seven-game series in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
It was only the first round, and even after winning it the Penguins are still 10 playoff victories shy of the total they amassed last season.
So, any potential comparison of this year's team with last year's entry remains a moot point, at least for the time being.
Eventually, they'll either get closer than to within two victories of the Stanley Cup or they won't, and then we'll know.
At that point, they'll either be better or they won't.
Still, the just-completed postseason rematch with Philadelphia screams for such an assessment.
The Penguins beat the Flyers in five games in the Eastern Conference final last season, punctuating their advance to the Stanley Cup final with a 6-0 drubbing on home ice.
This season, they survived a first-round series in six games, ending it via a rally from a 3-0 hole in a 5-3 triumph on Saturday at the Wachovia Center.
Clearly, it was tougher this season.
But it was tougher because the Flyers were much better, not because the Penguins regressed.
"From what I saw, they were better, for sure," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "They're dangerous. They had a lot of depth. Their first three lines were all contributing. They're definitely strong up the middle with (centers Claude) Giroux and (Jeff) Carter and (Mike) Richards. (Goaltender Martin) Biron played pretty well, too.
"It was tough, for sure."
Much as it pains any Penguins fan to give the Flyers credit for being anything other than a collection of Neanderthal cementheads, Crosby understands how good they really are.
Penguins assistant coach Tom Fitzgerald does, too.
"They're a great team," Fitzgerald said. "We just beat a very good team. Four lines, and they've got stars and scorers and beef and goaltending and a mobile defense.
"I tip my hat to them."
Had Bill Cowher been coaching the Penguins against the Flyers, he no doubt would have taken off his hat and given it to them.
The Flyers were that good.
Still, the Penguins were better.
They won games when they were the better team on a given night, when the play was even enough to demand overtime, when they were being out-chanced, outshot and out-skated, and, finally, when they were actually out-playing Philadelphia but still on the wrong end of a 3-0 deficit thanks to a conspiracy of breaks, bounces, misfires and struck goalposts.
Having done all of that, you have to tip your hat to the Penguins, too.
It was only the first round. Still, they've accomplished something significant in winning.
But does that make them better than they were last season, at least at this stage of the postseason?
"I don't know if you can read that much into it," Crosby said. "Playoffs are tough. Year to year, you gotta do the same things over and over."
That includes facing adversity, something the Penguins didn't really do in last year's playoffs until they emerged from Detroit down two games to none and not having scored a goal.
This time, they lost a potential clincher in Game 5 against the Flyers and then found themselves seemingly destined for a Game 7 before adversity was overcome.
"Now, we faced it real early," Fitzgerald said. "Hopefully, we can continue to grow with it."
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