When great expectations fail to live up to their perceived potential, there's an inevitable wave of backlash. In the NHL, this just comes with the territory, though it's played out on a much bigger stage.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are painfully learning this lesson after they were swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final. With a star-studded team made deeper by a successful round of negotiations at the trade deadline, the Penguins entered the postseason as the Eastern Conference's No. 1 team while scoring more goals than any other team in the NHL.
After getting through some minor difficulties posed by the New York Islanders in the quarterfinal round, the Penguins seemed to have it together as they defeated the Ottawa Senators in five games to earn the ECF berth. But four games later, Pittsburgh was on the outside looking in, mustering together just two goals over the four games against Tuukka Rask and the Bruins.
The NHL's highest octane offense went cold at the worst possible time in the series and with their season now over, Pittsburgh will look for answers to understand how it all went wrong.
It ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Derek Wolff
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June 8th, 2013 by Derek Wolff Leave a reply »
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