Ladies and Gentlemen, The Battle of Pennsylvania

After sweeping away the defending Eastern Conference Champion Senators in round one, then besting the Blue-shirts in the conference semi-final, the Pittsburgh Penguins are now set to take on their cross-state rivals from Mortal City.

The much anticipated “Battle of Pennsylvania” gets underway on Friday and everybody is wondering; will the Pens simply out snipe the Flyers to a series victory? Or will the boys from Philly crash and bang their way to an Eastern Conference title?             
 
It has been well documented throughout the season that these teams do not like each other, and if their eight regular season contests are any indication, this trend is sure to continue. The Pens may have dropped the season series between the two clubs, posting a 3-5-0 mark over eight brawl-filled affairs, but this prolific Pens offence may now have too many weapons for these Flyers to contend with.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have the 3^rd and 4^th best power plays (respectively) in this year’s playoffs with the Flyer’s unit clicking at just over a half percent better than the Pen’s at 25. However, the opportunity is knocking for the Pens to open up a lead in this department using their superior speed and skill.

The Flyer’s power play success came versus the Southeast winning Washington Capitals and the Northeast champs from Montreal. The Caps are a team who, if not for divisional seeding, would have barely qualified for the post season and checked in at  8^th spot in the East, while the Habs had to deal with rookie goaltender, Carey Price who posted a dismal sub .853 save percentage in the Flyers series – garbage, versus any opponent. Pens net minder, Marc-Andre Fleury’s sparkling .938 save percentage and stellar 1.76 goals against average represent a considerably difficult task for the Flyers.  This goalie, ladies and gentlemen, can flat out stop pucks.

In addition to being one of the team’s best players, Fleury also leads the charge on the Pittsburgh penalty kill. As the saying goes “Your goalie is your best penalty killer.” and he has been just that. The Pens PKwent an astounding 22/25 versus the Rangers thanks in large part to his play which should continue versus the Flyers. RJ Umberger ran an absolute muck for the Flyers in Montreal, filling the net with easily stoppable shots – for many of which Price had underestimated the posts or flat out missed them for no apparent reason. This will not be an issue with Marc-Andre, as he has been outstanding all playoff long.

As for the guy between the pipes for the Flyers? He’s pretty good too. Martin Biron did everything but stand on his head for the guys in orange and black during the Montreal series and he shows no signs of slowing down. However, with the Pen’s star studded offence, Crosby, Malkin and Hossa to name a few, Mario’s boys are set to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the Lac-Saint-Charles, Quebec native and promise to push the Flyers’ d-men to the brink.

Game one of the “Battle of Pennsylvania” goes on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on CBC and VERSUS.  It should be an intense series from the get go – let the games begin.