Penguins vs. Flyers: Penguins Prove Crosby and Malkin Don’t Need to Carry Team

January 19th, 2013 by Nicholas Goss Leave a reply »
The impressive depth of the Pittsburgh Penguins was on full display in their 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Saturday's season opener, and the team proved that it can be successful without sensational performances from superstar forwards Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

Depth is the most important part of any championship-caliber team, especially in a shortened season when players get fatigued easier than normal because of the shortened 48-game schedule played out in just 99 days.

The Penguins struggled defensively against the Flyers in last year's first-round playoff series loss, and this aspect of their game was much improved in Saturday's win.



Special teams were a huge issue for Pittsburgh in the playoffs. The Penguins allowed the Flyers to score on 12 of their 23 power-play opportunities in the six-game series, but were able to kill all five of Philadelphia's power-play chances on Saturday.

Veteran defenseman Paul Martin, who was awful in the playoffs last year, played the kind of shutdown defense that the team expected from him when he was signed to a five-year, $25 million contract in the summer of 2010.

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
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