Pittsburgh Penguins Beginnning to Find the "On Switch"

After stumbling through the last few weeks of the season and blowing leads to such lowly teams as the New York Islanders, speculation mounted as to when the Penguins would get into playoff mode. Their sloppy loss in Game One did nothing to quiet that. Last night's effort, however, did just that.

As the 2-1 final score indicates, the Penguins didn't dominate, but they did play 60 minutes of solid playoff hockey. It was a fun game to watch to say the least.

After Andy Sutton's devestating hit on defenseman Jordan Leopold along the boards, the game turned into a physical battle. The Penguins dished out the punishment with 52 hits, but did it smartly while only taking 11 penalty minutes. Ottawa lost the physical battle, only managing 31 hits.

The "X-factor" in this game along with the Penguins' newfound physicality was their solid defensive play. They only allowed 20 shots on goal which is 10 less than they usually allow.

As I mentioned earlier, Jordan Leopold took a nasty hit. You could count me as shocked if he plays in Game three, or the rest of this series after being knocked out cold on the ice. Luckily for the Penguins, they do have a solid seventh defenseman in Jay McKee. Players interviewed were mixed on whether or not the hit was dirty, but one thing is for sure:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have flipped the switch into playoff hockey mode, and the rest of the Eastern Conference had better take notice.