Why the Penguins are better then the Capitals

From Ryan Dixon at The Hockey News:

Obviously Washington can boast oodles of talent – you don’t win the Presidents’ Trophy by eight points and score 45 more goals than the next best team without good players. But a loss to the Pens in Round 2 of the 2009 playoffs and an ouster at the hands of Montreal in the opening round last April proved the Capitals vulnerable.

While Pittsburgh did lose to those same Canadiens one round later last May, the Pens also have a run to the 2008 Cup final and the 2009 Cup itself under their collective belt, no small feat in this day and age of NHL parity.

Pittsburgh, of course, has one or two talented players itself. But the Penguins’ post-season successes have steeled them to the rigors of hockey in springtime; they know how to win when it counts. Run ’n Gun will get you far in the regular season, but playoff hockey is a game unto itself. And the Caps have yet to learn how to play it.

Now, this may be Washington’s year. This could be the season Ovechkin’s sublime skills net him more than just the individual accolades he’s become accustomed to. This could be the year Alexander Semin starts going to the net and Mike Green remembers he’s a defenseman. But I don’t think so. Although Washington is still a team to beat in the East, Pittsburgh is the team to beat.

Sorry, Caps fans. But the team you watched wilt under pressure in the post-season – the one that refused to go to the hard areas of the ice and fired volley after volley from the outside – is the same one GM George McPhee, so far, has on the 2010-11 menu. And that despite more than $5 million in cap space to play with.

Yes, I know, Washington ran into the hottest goalie of the playoffs in Jaroslav Halak, but the team scored once – Once! – with the man advantage in 33 opportunities and lost to a squad that finished 26th in goals-scored with 103 fewer during the regular season. The Caps did manage 17 scores in a three-game span that series, but when the offense was silenced, the defense and goaltending was exposed.

Full story here

Well what do you think Pens and Caps fans?