As it turns out, the New York Rangers were little more than a speed bump for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens dispatched their division rivals in just five games, lighting up all-world goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for 15 goals over the course of the series, with a half-dozen of them coming in Saturday’s decisive 6-3 victory.
With that kind of offence, there was obviously no shortage of contributors, but one who might surprise those who didn’t follow the series closely is much-maligned right wing Phil Kessel. Kessel, who scored three times and added a trio of assists in the five-game series, has a reputation as the kind of player who doesn’t really help his team win. It’s a reputation he has the opportunity to slay for good in these playoffs.
If he does, it would undoubtedly surprise a lot of his critics.
When Postmedia polled a sample of NHL players earlier this season, eight of 28 (29 percent) named Kessel the most overrated player in the game. Mike Brophy of the Hockey News described the Kessel trade as “addition by subtraction” for Toronto and claimed he “often demonstrated ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
NHL Playoffs Roundup: Phil Kessel Quieting Critics as Dangerous Penguins Advance
April 23rd, 2016 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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