This has all happened before…
In 1998 the exact same group of teams from the Eastern Conference made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The exact same seeds advanced past the first round, 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th with the 4th place team going to the finals and played of all teams, the Detroit Red Wings. In 1998 the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. The Penguins were a #2 seed the Canadiens a #7 seed. You can look at this two different ways. The Penguins were eliminated by the Canadiens that year or the Penguins are the #4 seed that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

We have a saying here at PenguinPoop that “We have more hockey knowledge in our body than you have in your entire pinky“, that just being a little humor and all, the “body” of people writing here at PenguinPoop have probably been to more Penguin games in their lifetime than any other collection of Pittsburgh Penguins’ writers on the internet. With that I give you some of our eight contributors predictions of how round 2 the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens playoff series will end up, starting with STH35 who’s been a Penguins season ticket holder for 36 years.
STH35: As the penguins head into the Conference semis, they find themselves as the top remaining seed in the East. This means that they will play the lowest remaining seed with home ice advantage. That lowest seed is the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens enter this round on a 3 game winning streak. That streak is about to come to an end. They were able to use Hal Gill to help shut down Ovechkin. Halak was outstanding in goal. They will try to use Gill to shut down Crosby. Even if that works, this is where the Penguins strength down the middle will prevail. The Capitals were not very physical against Montreal. The Pens will be. Especially the forwards. They will hammer away at the Montreal defense at every chance they get. Over the course of the series this will cause some defensive breakdowns and create scoring opportunities for the Pens. Halak will not be able to cover for all of them. The main concern for the Pens in this series will be handling the speed of the Canadien forwards. The Pens defensive corps will be up to the task. When they aren’t, Fleury will be there to stop the puck. If all else fails. The secret weapons have arrived. Malkin’s parents are here. They always manage to bring out his best. The Penguins will not lose at home in this series and will win in 5.
Phil Krundle: First off I’d like to thank Montreal for removing Washington from the playoffs so early. It’s not the the Pens would have had trouble removing them,I’m just happy I don’t have to listen to the idiot pundits talk about how great they are anymore. I watched the last four games and I saw the Capitals players bend over to block shots, but I can’t remember one that actually laid down to block a shot or pass. They just don’t have the heart needed to win. The Canadiens do. That will be the biggest obstical for the Penguins to overcome. The key to the Canadiens offense is their offensive defensemen. Andre Markov and Marc-Andre Bergeron if the Penguins can keep these two off the board the series will be over in no time. The Canadiens just don’t have a great offense. Hal Gill is a great defenseman for defending the straight up no passing Washington Capitals style, we saw it first hand last year. He will be useless against the Penguins. I see many breakaways in the Penguins future, the great Canadien goaltender Halak who had to face many long straight shots will now have to move side to side to make saves and will see much more traffic. The Penguins cycling will do in Gill and Bergeron, who doesn’t see much ice time but may have to because the Pens will wear the Habs out. Look for most of the Penguins scoring to come in the third period. Canadien defenseman Josh Gorges somehow became the most overrated defenseman in the NHL overnight.
The Penguins are going to have an easier time of it with Montreal than they did with the Senators. Because of his size stick handling and passing, Evgeni Malkin will rule the series. Though I was wrong last series because of a 3 overtime game that could have went either way, I’m predicting the Pens in 5 once again. The 1 game that the Pens will lose will either be the first one they play or the first game they have a chance to clinch.
Southside Shultzie: I’m pretty sure you all know how I stand vs teams from Canadia and especially their fans! Their pompous “it’s our game” noses in the air, their booing of our National anthem, their claiming that Canadian bacon is bacon (IT’S HAM!)! I’m also guessing you’ve all read about my last rant about the death of the “Canadian Clown” Don Cherry? Well….. take a deep breath 51st Staters and get ready watch a Royal Canadian Ass Whoopin’ x 2!!! “Oh no he’s not going to call a sweep is he?” says the drunk Habs fan as he drinks his inferior suds! Yes indeed I am! Not only that but I am going to call that BOTH Canadian teams remaining will be swept. The equation is simple, there is ZERO chance the Pens powerplay will go 2 for 32 agaaaaynnst your PK. All we have heard here on the good side of the border was how you were going contain Crosby like you did Slovechkin. To you I say GOOD LUCK! If you shadow Sid, Malkin et al will be scoring on you like you were a drunk prom queen! As for your other “Great White Hope”, I’m calling Can Yucks to be swept as well! So do yourselves a favor and wager heavily on my words! You can thank me by sending some silver polish! We are running out and you won’t be needing the stuff you bought way back in ‘93!
CANADIAN BACON IS NOT BACON!
Jean Pronovost: As we enter the second round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, who would have thought that the Penguins would be the highest remaining seed in the East with assured home ice advantage all the way through the Conference Finals assuming they win their match up with Montreal. Well, I’m here to tell you that they will be moving on to the next round. The Penguins won the season series against Montreal this year 3 – 1 although Montreal did win the final meeting of the season back in February by a score of 5 – 3. Offensively, Montreal can’t match up with the Penguins’ firepower as they scored 40 fewer goals this season. Montreal only had eight double digit goal scorers to the Penguins 11, and they only had one player, Tomas Plekanec, score over 60 points. Where Montreal is dangerous is their team speed. They’re top line of Brian Gionta, Michael Cammalleri and Scott Gomez skated circles around Washington’s defense in the opening round. The Penguins defense has to make sure they are never caught flat footed and that they position themselves correctly to beat in coming Canadian forwards to loose pucks in the corners on dump ins. Defensively, Montreal will employ the shut down pair of former Penguin, Hal Gill and Josh Georges to try and shut down the Sidney Crosby line, and if you don’t think they’re up to the task, just look at the job they did against Ovechkin’s line in Round 1. Unfortunately, in goal right now there is no comparison. No one is playing better in the entire league than Jaroslav Halak. He held Washington to three goals on 134 shots in the final three games making some spectacular saves along the way. If Fleury was playing the way Halak is now, the Penguins would ...
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