Can the Penguins Beat the Islanders?

Google defines sexy as exciting, stimulating, interesting, appealing, intriguing.

How I wish it were true of the Penguins upcoming first-round matchup with the New York Islanders. Then we’d be assured our competitive juices would flow and we’d be fully engaged.

Unfortunately, the series with the Islanders promises to be about as thrilling as going out on a date with your Aunt Betty perched in the back seat of the car. Heck, even the NHL schedule-makers thought so. They slated all four of this season’s games with the Islanders back in 2018, figuring they’d be of little interest and have little bearing on the Metropolitan Division race.

How wrong they were.

I agree with my esteemed colleague, Other Rick, on many counts. On paper, the Pens are the better team. However, as we know all too well, ‘on paper’ doesn’t always translate into results. Especially when the chase for Lord Stanley’s coveted silver chalice begins.

As a team, you need to bring your ‘A’ game…or a reasonable facsimile…every night. While the Pens have made significant strides in that regard, especially since adding Nick Bjugstad, Erik Gudbranson and Jared McCann and giving significant ice time to kids like Teddy Blueger, they’ve betrayed disturbing signs of a letup in recent games. Something our guys can ill afford against the Islanders.

There’s an old boxing adage…styles make fights. It very much applies to this series. While the black and gold generally embrace a run-and-gun style, Islanders coach Barry Trotz, fresh off a Stanley Cup with Washington, installed a disciplined defensive system and authored a stunning worst-to-best transformation in goals against. New York goalies Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss, journeymen both, combined for a .928 save percentage and 11 shutouts. The Isles jumped 23 points to snag second in the Metro.

I worry about our insistence on making plays at the opposing blue line, which feeds right into our foe’s defensive wheelhouse. The Pens tried this approach against Washington last spring with diminishing returns, while springing the Caps’ forwards loose for quick counterstrikes off of turnovers. I still have nightmares about Jakub Vrana and Evgeny Kuznetsov racing in on Matt Murray unimpeded, to say nothing of Alex Ovechkin.

I’m especially concerned when Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel hit the ice. A dynamic duo they may be (154 points combined), but they also were a collective minus-44. Given Malkin’s insistence on carrying the puck into the offensive zone and making blind drop passes? Trotz and his boys must be licking their chops. A disaster waiting to happen.

A potential remedy? I liked the look of Kessel skating with Blueger and McCann during Malkin’s recent absence. Kind of a modified HBK Line. However, I prefer McCann with Sidney Crosby. Such a move would also disrupt the third line of Bjugstad, Patric Hornqvist and Dominik Simon, which displayed decent chemistry. For the record, I’m not wedded to the latter and would like to see Blueger hold a spot ahead of him.

The bottom line? We can’t play it fast and loose against these guys. If we do, they’ll burn us.

I have other concerns as well. The Islanders aren’t goony tough, but they’re big and physical and they’re very effective along the wall and in traffic, where we’re comparatively weak. If we can’t win puck battles on a reasonably consistent basis, we can’t win games.

All of this can be alleviated to an extent if the Pens pay attention to detail and play smart, which they’ve done more frequently in recent weeks. Don’t try to force plays (Geno) at the Islanders’ blue line that aren’t there. Dump the puck in, as coach Mike Sullivan has preached while prepping his troops for the series. Be patient and wait for opportunities.

Dazzling numbers aside, neither Lehner nor Greiss are the second coming of Georges Vezina. The Pens enjoy a huge edge in top-end talent. Despite recent difficulties, guys like Crosby, Kessel and Malkin know how to finish when they have a goalie at their mercy. So does 40-goal man Jake Guentzel, already a storied playoff performer at a ripe, young age. Guys like Hornqvist and Bryan Rust have proven postseason track records, too.

At the far end of the ice, Murray has quietly regained his Cup-winning form. If Sullivan can resist the understandable but misguided urge to force Olli Maatta into the lineup at the expense of Gudbranson when everyone’s healthy, I don’t have any huge worries about our defense.

Hunger is a key, too. I’m hoping with all the new additions, we’ve got some fire back in our collective bellies. Can’t win without it.

My predication? I’ll gaze into the future by observing the past. After winning back-to-back Cups in the early 1990s, the Pens were knocked out in the second round the following spring by the Islanders. Poised to bounce back in 1994, they instead endured a shocking first-round upset at the hands of the Capitals, who employed the unusual practice of rotating goalies.

Sound eerily familiar?

I think we’ll break with tradition. Can the Penguins beat the Islanders? Yes. In six games.