What’s up yinz? It’s that time of year again. Spring is in the air, the flowers are coming up, and playoff hockey has begun. This season, the Pens have made it to the playoffs for the 12^th year in a row, the longest active streak in the NHL. They finished second in the metropolitan division and will face their archrivals the Philadelphia Flyers in their first seven-game series of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. A battle of Pennsylvania that might divide State College in two.

The Flyers took a last moment jump in the standings, passing up Columbus to gain the third seed and have the honor of playing against the Pens. As for the rest of the Metropolitan division: the Washington Capitals will play the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New Jersey Devils with the wild card will play the Tampa Bay Lightning. This should be a very exciting playoff round all around the league.

As for the Penguins, they will once again have to fight the Philly curse. That is that for some reason the Pens seem to struggle against the Flyers in the postseason, as in 2012 when they upset us in a game seven match. I am fairly confident this season that the Penguins can take down the Flyers in this series. For one, they have beaten the Flyers in all four games this season, enough said there. The Pen’s main advantage is their depth. They have the ability to roll out three top lines with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel and the Flyers will struggle with matching up their lines against all three of those superstars.

Another advantage that the Penguins have in their pocket is the powerplay. They finished the season with the best powerplay in the league at 26.2 percent success. On the other hand, the penalty kill is something that Philly has struggled with all season long. They finished the season ranked 29^th in this area with 75.8 percent killing success. The Flyers have a history of being very physical with the Pens, and if the Pens can maintain composure and avoid retaliation, the penalties will come in their favor. And the lethal Pittsburgh power play against a mediocre Philly penalty kill will surely result in a few goals for the good guys.

From an outside perspective, this will be a very exciting matchup to watch. The rivalry between these teams is strong and their matchups are consistently very physical. Along with that, five of the NHL’s top fifteen scorers are in this series; Evgeni Malkin, Claude Giroux, Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby, and Jakub Voracek. That should make for some exciting goals and a more offensively oriented series. Hopefully the Pens can come out on top in round 1 and be on their way to a three-peat Stanley Cup.

LET’S GO PENS!!!!

What’s up yinz! As March flies by and playoffs are right around the corner, the Penguins are in a familiar spot. They are right on the heels of Washington for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, trailing by only one point. The last two seasons (both Stanley Cup-winning seasons) the Pens finished in this exact spot. If the season were to end right now, the Pens would take on Philadelphia while Washington would face Columbus. However, we still have almost a month until then and if the Pens keep on this hot pace, they might just pass up the Capitals.

A huge contributor to the Penguins success has been Evgeni Malkin. Geno is a machine on the ice, getting points in 14 of his last 15 games. He has 39 goals and 48 assists on the season and is 2^nd in points, 3^rd in goals scored, and 4^th in power-play points in the NHL. Also, after scoring a goal and an assist against the stars, Malkin moved into 5^th place all-time for most points by a Russian-born player. This puts him high on a list of players like Alex Kovalev and Alexander Mogilny. Malkin is often an overlooked player but his talent and passion for the game have led to some great success for the Pens this year and years past.

The effect of a player like Evgeni Malkin is greatly enhanced when you put him on a team with guys like Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel. At this point, the Penguins essentially have three top lines. This creates a nightmare for their opponents because they don’t know who to match their top line against and trying to stop all three is nearly impossible. When a team can roll three lines, each being just as good as the next, they become nearly unstoppable.

Depth on the bench and in minor teams is what wins championships. The Penguins depth is incredible. Between the three superstars of Crosby, Geno, and Kessel and the plethora of young talent, they have very few week spots. First and second-year players like Brian Rust and Jake Guentzal are constantly contributing to the success by plugging the gaps in the roster. These guys are also capable of covering when the stars are injured or in a slump.

The Pens are also very deep in goaltenders. While they no longer have the luxury of two cup winning goalies on their roster, the rookies have done a great job filling the position. Starter Matt Murray is excellent but has been plagued by injuries and family matters this season. While he’s been away, Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry have done a fine job covering.

While Malkin may seem to be running the show now, he’s not the only one responsible for the Pen’s success. The entire roster of the Pens is superstar worthy and they have the potential to hoist the cup once again.

LET’S GO PENS!!!

What’s up yinz? Hope you’re all heading down the road to recovery after the heartbreaking Steelers playoff loss. The AFC championship game almost dulled some of the pain when the Jaguars came so close to upsetting the Patriots, and every Steeler fan like myself craves to see anyone take down New England. However, the Patriots, as always came back in the second half to steal the win away 24-20.

Casey DeSmith

As football comes to a close and we prepare for the final game of the season, hockey is in full swing. The Pens continue to have an up and down season, winning some and losing some. Currently, they remain a few games over .500 with a record of 26-21-5 and lagging at 5^th in the metro. Does this mean we must abandon our hopes of a three-peat Stanley Cup Season? In my opinion, absolutely not. While they may not be the unstoppable force that they were last year, the Penguins are still a solid team and are very capable of making and competing in the post-season.

Jean-Sebastien Dea

It’s no secret that part of the pens issue is the lack of production from the superstars of Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. Phil Kessel remains an exception as he is having his best season so far with the pens. However, the young talent on the team has seemed to pick up a lot of the slack and is a huge contributor to keeping the pens in the race. This emergence of young talent was very prominent in last night’s game versus Carolina. Less than a month ago Dominik Simon, Jean-Sebastian Dea, and Casey DeSmith were playing in the minors. Last night the rookies were named the three stars of the game. Dominik Simon netted the game-tying goal for the pens for his second goal of the season. The story of the night, of course, being that Dea scored his first NHL goal, which just so happened to be the game winner. Let’s not forget the fantastic goaltending by rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith, who made 35 saves, only letting one squeak behind him. He has done a great deal in carrying the load while starter Matt Murry has been absent.

Dominik Simon

The Penguins are continually one of the best teams in hockey because of their knack for developing young minor league guys into high-level NHL players. We often forget that guys like Jake Guentzel, Conner Sheary, and Brian Rust were only rookies last year. Now they are looked at throughout the league as top-tier players. Even starting goalie Matt Murray has only been in the NHL for two seasons and now is one of the most desirable goalies in the league and has two cups under his belt. Are Dea, Simon, and DeSmith the next generation of standout rookies? I can’t be certain yet but they’ve shown great promise so far and their high production keeps some of the pressure off of guys like Crosby and Malkin.

If the young talent continues to play like they are and the stars of the team get out of this current slump, the Pens can once again return to that unstoppable force that we have seen the past two seasons.

LET’S GO PENS!!

Well Yinz I have good news and bad. The bad news is our hopes of a perfect football season were destroyed by the Bears, of all teams. The good news though is we have redeemed ourselves with a nice 26-9 beatdown on the Ravens and are still a comfortable 3-1 (a better record than the pats).

This week I want to go beyond the scores and talk about the reemergence of some old time Steeler football, the legendary Steel Curtain defense. From Mean Joe Green to Troy Polamalu, our defense has been our pride and joy and is what brought us six Super Bowl championships. The past couple years, however, that shut down defense has seemed to fade a bit, letting our speedy offensive talents take over the show. This season I see a new emergence of the curtain, with a wave of young talented defensive players leading the charge.

This new wave is what brought the Steelers to be the 3^rd ranked overall defense in the league. They have allowed a meager 14.8 average points per game (2^nd in the league) and only 267 total yards on average. Compare that to a mediocre 12^th ranked defense in 2016. This rise is due to a combination of acquiring new talent and experienced players developing into their full potential.

Although we still rely on the veterans like Cam Heyward and James Harrison, the young linebackers and secondary behind them have been stellar. The big story now is the future of the Steelers, rookie T.J. Watt (Left). This kid has defense in his blood (his brother is all-pro DE J.J. Watt) and shows it. He was drafted to be eased in as James Harrisons replacement over the next couple years, but due to Harrison’s injuries, Watt has become our go-to man. It’s safe to say he’s filled this role well, already compiling 12 tackles, 2 sacks, an interception and a safety.

While T.J. Watt puts up some very impressive rookie stats, his partner inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (Right) has finally emerged to his full potential. Shazier is in his 3^rd season with the team and has been a decent backer to this point, but just decent. In 2015 and 2016 he averaged about 5.4 tackles per game. This season, he has exploded with 9.3 tackles per game. He has emerged as the team’s leading defensive player and ranks 4^th in the league with 37 tackles this season.

The emergence of young players such as Shazier and Watt as team leaders combined with the entire Pittsburgh defensive working as an impenetrable unit, the Steel Curtain will rise once again. This will take the pressure off our offensive and allow the Steelers to compete with those dreaded Patriots.

Let’s hope the Steel Curtain is enough when we face off against Jacksonville at 1:00 pm on Sunday. To much surprise, the Jaguars are no longer the 32^nd team in the league. With emerging stars as Leonard Fornette and Allen Hurns leading the pack, they have worked their way to a deserving 2-2 record, putting them first in the AFC South. The Steelers are going to have to bring their A game and be ready to shut down Fornette and his 2^nd ranked run game. I still think we have what it takes however so…

My prediction:   Steelers- 24   Jaguars- 17

HERE WE GO STEELERS!!!