“Beating the best to be the best” working both ways for Pens

The aforementioned mantra has been used throughout all sports for decades. Despite their recent hot streak, it’s a mantra that isn’t being used in the Penguins favor this season.

Every hockey fan, writer, and blogger has obviously used the phrase “defending champs” to describe the Pittsburgh Penguins since they hoisted the Cup last summer. It’s been discussed ad nauseam ,in fact, that it’s almost become a blessing and a curse for the Pens.

Last season’s cup run was no fluke. In fact, it was purely textbook. The front office addressed each major need, on the coaching staff and roster, and the players responded with insatiable urge to win each night.

The Penguins were forced to defeat their biggest rival, the Philadelphia Flyers, the best team in the Eastern Conference, a dangerous, Alex Ovechkin-led Capitals team, and the defending champions, the Detroit Red Wings, who broke the Penguins young hearts in the Cup Finals a year ago.

That team knew that in order to prevent history from repeating itself, they would have to  rise their game to a new level and defeat teams that, in many ways, were simply better than they were. The Penguins played each game with a killer instinct that made each opponent in their way a target.

But now with the target placed on their shirts, the defending champions are making the textbook run look like an afterthought at moments.

The Eastern Conference is a top heavy conference. Even the most anxious Thrasher fan will tell you such. Most believe it is a conference built on the success of three or four teams, Pittsburgh included. I say five. To exclude Ottawa from this short list would be a disservice to their solid play this season. To round out the remaining teams on said list will be : Buffalo, Washington, and New Jersey.

Here are the Penguins records against the other four best teams in the East :

Washington Capitals – 0-1-1

New Jersey Devils – 0-5

Buffalo Sabres – 2-1-1

Ottawa Senators – 2-2

As you can see, the Penguins have failed to establish a winning record over just one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference. And even their lead over the Buffalo Sabres is simply a single regulation win. Still, predicting the Pens to best Buffalo in a seven game series wouldn’t be a lofty aspiration.

Two more games will be played against the Capitals this season, both within the final eight games of the regular season. Pittsburgh has proven that defeating Washington in the post-season is a possibility.

The Ottawa Senators will be Pittsburgh’s most likely draw if they fail to win the Atlantic Division, something that should be Pittsburgh’s only focus right now. If they do this, their regular season play against the Sens is a moot point, ultimately.

Last night’s loss to the New Jersey is the catalyst for concern. The Penguins haven’t been involved with knockdown drag-out fights like they have with the aforementioned opponents. Nor has Pittsburgh simply failed to come up short in key situations against New Jersey. In fact, The Devils have made the champs look like, to put it bluntly, the chumps.

In their five games against each other this season, including last night’s 3-1 loss in Newark, the Devils have outscored the Penguins a whopping 17-3. Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Sergei Gonchar have all failed to register a point against New Jersey this season.

In five days, the two teams will play their final contest of the regular season, with the Devils having an opportunity to sweep the Penguins and come within a game of retaking the division in the process. If the Penguins can accomplish the same task against New Jersey, it will take a late season collapse for the Penguins to lose the division.

Acquiring the #2 seed in the East would ensure the only likely scenario the Penguins would see New Jersey in the postseason is in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Penguins record since the Olympic break is 4-1-1, a very respectable record. But this season’s defending champs have yet to be battle tested in the regular season by the league’s and succeed consistently.

In the coming weeks, that will change. In the ensuing two weeks, Pittsburgh will play seven games, only two of which will be at home in Mellon Arena. The next three games on the Penguins schedule will all be on the road to complete their current five game road trip.

In the final full week of March, the Penguins will play the Flyers, Capitals, and Red Wings, much like they did in the playoffs last year.

Pittsburgh has a chance to both seize their season in it’s pivotal moment, and let it slip through their hands and begin the playoffs ice-cold.

The Penguins become known as the best by rising to the challenge in moments like these. Each of their Stanley Cup runs was defined by the throes of March.

If the team is still the NHL’s elite and not an afterthought, it will become very apparent soon.

- Side Note : I will be making an appearance on The Hockey Guys podcast tomorrow from 2pm to 4pm. Make sure you listen in at www.thehockeyguys.net .