They would have won two of the other divisions with that total but finished third in the Metropolitan. Those two teams needing to meet in the first round is one reason NBC Sports analyst Ed Olczyk thinks it's the Capitals' year.
This marks the second time the Penguins have met the Blue Jackets in the playoffs. Most of this defence group has very limited playoff exposure. The Jackets had the second-best goal differential in the conference at plus-54. Gibson is coming off a regular season in which he set career highs with 25 wins and six shutouts. A year after putting up zero power play goals, Foligno has 14 goals on the man advantage. He carried his strong play over to the National Hockey League season with 85 points for Boston, at least 24 more than he's had since making his National Hockey League debut during the 2009-10 season. The team did struggle down the stretch in losing eight of its final 11.
John Davidson, president of hockey operations for the Blue Jackets, was at Quicken Loans recently scouting the Monsters, the top farm team for Columbus. The Flyers won 4-2.
The Columbus Blue Jackets strength lies in their defense. Columbus traded a lot to get Brandon Saad from the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer of 2015.
FILE - In this Monday, April 3, 2017, file photo, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) gets a shot off during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y. The NHL's coaching carousel is paying off for playoff-starved franchises in Toronto, Edmonton and Columbus.
"Geno's obviously one of the best players in the world, and whenever he's in the lineup, we're a better team", Kessel said. Bobrovsky was 2-1-1 with a 2.46 GAA and.920 save percentage.
While Hainsey holds the longest streak, several other National Hockey League players had to wait a while before getting a taste of the playoffs.
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Injuries have played a big role on this team this season.
The Penguins will be without top defenseman Kris Letang and no team has repeated since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. He hadn't played since February 21 and had five goals and 29 assists in 41 games. His partner Jack Johnson has played in 18 playoff games (12 with the Kings and 6 with the Jackets) and has always risen to the occasion, scoring over a point per game. Fellow defenseman Olli Maatta hadn't played since mid-February due to hand surgery but was in the regular-season finale.
Pittsburgh received a boost on Tuesday when All-Star center Evgeni Malkin was cleared to play after missing the final three-plus weeks of the season with an upper-body injury. In 62 games this season, Malkin recorded 72 points (33 goals, 39 assists).
"They probably had a bit of a playoff feel to every single one of them", Crosby said. Matt Murray was an incredible story in goal.
The Penguins are +350 second-favourites to win the East.
While Pittsburgh rookie goaltender Matt Murray stepped in to calmly and sure-handedly backstop the Penguins to the Cup a year ago, Columbus has quite a stalwart in goal, Sergei Bobrovsky. Pittsburgh wins in six and advances to face Washington.
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