Can the Pittsburgh Penguins catch the New York Rangers for the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs? A few weeks ago it seemed nearly impossible, but the Penguins are riding a season-high eight game winning streak and have crept to within four points of the Rangers. The Penguins have two games left with the Rangers, March 15th at Madison Square Garden, and April 5th at CONSOL Energy Center. Those two games notwithstanding, the Penguins face a rather grueling final portion of their schedule. They will play 15 games in 28 days to finish the season and of those games, only three are against teams that are currently out of the playoff race; the Islanders twice and Buffalo once.
Meanwhile, the Rangers face a grueling home stretch of their own. They too will play 15 games in 28 days, however, the quality of their opponents is significantly less than the Penguins’ foes. The Rangers still have games against bottom-dwellers like the Islanders, Hurricanes, Avalanche, Sabres, Maple Leafs, and Wild. While the Rangers seem to have the decided edge in strength of schedule, or lack thereof, the Penguins do have a wild card in that Sidney Crosby is set to retur ...
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Article written by Vince Comunale
Can the Pittsburgh Penguins Catch the New York Rangers for the East’s Top Seed?
March 9th, 2012 by Vince Comunale Leave a reply »
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