Penguins Playoff Update: Rootin’ for Ovy

I’ve been watching the Boston-Washington series with great interest. Before the playoffs began, I alluded to the fact that I hoped they’d pound the daylights out of each other in a long, punishing seven-game set.

So far, I’m getting my wish. Each of the three games have gone to overtime. Last night’s contest went to double-overtime. The Bruins won, in part, due to miscommunication on the game-winner between Capitals d-man (and ex-Pen) Justin Schultz and goalie Ilya Samsonov. But I digress.

It’s been an extremely physical series. The bitter rivals have combined for 275 hits over three games. Last night’s affair was downright vicious. The Bruins, in particular, seemed intent on taking a piece of the Caps at every turn, and not in a gentle way. We’re talkin’ seek-and-destroy, hit-to-hurt type checks.

Smash-mouth hockey at its best (or worst).

As rugged as the Caps are, and let’s face it, any team that boasts Tom Wilson, Brenden Dillon, Garnet Hathaway and Zdeno Chara can inflict some pain, my sense is they would for the most part play down to the Penguins’ level of physicality.

Not Boston. Where the Caps rely on a handful of guys to do their dirty work, it seems everyone in the Bruins’ lineup employs a physical style. With fire-starter Brad Marchand leading the way, I don’t think they’d go easy on our Pens. Just the opposite, in fact.

A quick analysis of regular-season hit totals seem to bear that out. Over our last five games against Washington, the Caps averaged 29 hits. Over the last five with Boston, the Bruins averaged 38.

That’s why I’m pulling for Alex Ovechkin and the Caps. (The playoffs make for strange bedfellows.) I want no part of the Bruins.

Why am I making such a big deal about this? Skilled, fast and deep as we are, I’m worried about our ability to physically withstand one round of playoff-style hockey, let alone four. Watching Jake Guentzel take a beating in Game 2 sent chills down my spine. And the Islanders aren’t an especially nasty team. They just finish their checks as a matter of course.

The Bruins on the other hand are chippy, edgy and mean.

I’m not alone in voicing my concern. In a commentary on the Tribune Review, Mark Madden suggests the Pens are ill-equipped for playoff hockey. Shelly Anderson on Pittsburgh Hockey Now also noted the punishment Guentzel’s absorbed and raised the issue with coach Mike Sullivan.

As he’s wont to do, “Sully” downplayed the notion that the Pens might be in over their collective heads, physically, while expressing his admiration for the way Guentzel plays through the abuse. If he’s concerned about Jake getting hurt, he kept it to himself.

Not that we’d expect anything different. Just play.

Back to my original point. Are the Pens built to endure the rigors of postseason play?

I’d like to say yes. But at this stage, the jury’s still out.