My fellow Pittsburghers have to respect the Red Wings. Last year a lot of you didn’t and the climbed up on the Penguins too fast for the Penguins to recover. This year is no different. Are the Penguins better than they were last year at this time? No doubt about it and no disrespect to Marion (I have a better chance to win the Cup in Detroit) Hossa. But if the Penguins had kept Hossa they would not have Satan, Fedotenko, or Guerin. There is also a possibility that others might not be around either like Brooks Orpik. In all honesty the Penguins had no room for another $7 million player on their roster. The Red Wings did. Alone he makes them better.

Despite the bumps and the bruises that are evident on every Detroit player you cannot downplay that they know how to win and have been doing it so far this post season. Remember, the Penguins won their second Stanley Cup with injuries and Lemieux playing with a broken wrist. So don’t think that injuries will mater.

Some of their players might be older, but age is not always a factor. Last year a lot of people thought that the older Red Wings would not be any serious match for the young, fast Penguins either and look what happened.

There is still a battle left in this war and to win the Penguins will have to draw upon every sound strategy ever implemented on the battlefield to come out on top. The most important of those is never underestimate your opponent and make them play your game. Don’t play theirs. That is where respect comes into play. Because if you respect your opponent you will not allow them to gain an unnecessary upper hand and take advantage of your foolishness.

Yesterday Chicago not only looked defeated, but played like a defeated hockey club racking up senseless penalties and allowing Detroit to pretty much have their way with them up and down the ice. All in all the Hawks took 16 penalties including three game misconducts as they self-destructed in front of the home crowd.

Now with the Redwings up 3-1 in the series and Pittsburgh up 3-0 over Carolina, both teams look to be on the verge of a rematch. When was the last time that happened? I think it was 76-77 and 77-78 when the Canadiens beat the Bruins in consecutive years.

However comebacks do happen. Although from what I saw out of Chicago, it would be more than a miracle for them to rise up and win the series which would spoil a rematch. More likely, yet still improbable, is for Carolina to find itself and beat the Penguins. But the odds favor another show down between Detriot and Pittsburgh.

The schedule for the Eastern Conference finals has been set. The match up will feature none of the division champions of the conference with Boston, Washington and New Jersey all hitting the golf courses already. Instead the showdown features two teams who each needed grueling seven game series to get here; the 4th seeded Penguins and the 6th seeded Hurricanes.

Each team eliminated one of the top two seeds in the East in the last round to advance.

The schedule features, for better or worse quite a few days off compared to the more typically every other day schedule for hockey.

The match up starts Monday, April 18th. Then the teams have two days off before resuming on Thursday, April 21st. Then one day off and a game on the 23rd. Then two days off again until game 4 on the 26th. Then another two days off until, if necessary, game 5 on the 29th.

Talk about stretching things out!

Perhaps it was a fitting end to a tight series after all, a series in which each team held the lead at some point during the previous six games but a series that, let’s face it, was only headed to Game 7 because of one man. And no, that man’s name is not Alexander Ovechkin. Without Simeon Varlamov the Capitals would never have been in this situation with a chance at literally stealing a series from the Pittsburgh Penguins after being over matched night in and night out, period after period.

I joke about Alexander Ovechkin being overrated. There is no denying that Ovechkin has one of the best shots in hockey.

There have been a lot of predictions about how Game 7 would shake out. Would the lack of experience among the Penguins in such an elimination game be a factor? Would the Capitals make another comeback and win yet another deciding game like they did in Round 1? How many goals would Crosby and Ovechkin score and who would be the secondary scorer that would be the hero? Could Fleury elevate his game after a lack luster series? Could Varlamov steal yet another win? Would Gonchar be back in the lineup? All these questions started to be answered at the drop of the puck.

No. No. Two, one and Geurin. Yes. No. YES!

The first period started out back and forth. Then it happened. Ovechkin behind the Penguins defense got the outlet and bared down on Marc-Andre Fleury. Ovechkin dragged the puck across in front of the net and flipped it towards the goal. But Fleury flashed leather and every Washington fan behind the net was half way out of their seat before they realized that there was no goal on the play.

That is when the Penguins took control.

Morrison took a slashing penalty to put the Penguins on the power play. Gonchar prowled at the blue line with puck on stick. Wristing it towards the net the puck bounced out to the skate of Crosby. He kicked it to his stick and swatted it into the net.

1-0 Penguins.

Off the face off, the Penguins won control and stormed into the Capitals end again. Just eight seconds later it was Craig Adams that put the puck through the wickets of Varlamov.

2-0 Penguins.

Then came the second period. 0:28 in Crosby lead the rush and pushed the puck to the high slot and the stick of Billy Guerin.

3-0 Penguins.

About a minute and a half later Letang ripped a puck that got stuck in the net behind Varlamov.

4-0 Penguins.

That was all for Varlamov at that point as the Penguins finally got to the rookie and chased him from the net. In came Jose Theodore.

At 11:37 of the second Jordan Staal showed that it did not matter on this night who was in goal for Washington. He scrummed for a puck in front of the net in traffic and BOOM …

5-0 Penguins.

In the waining moments of the second Fleury misplayed a puck behind the net, Ovechkin picked it off the wall and wrapped it into an empty net.

Yawn … 5-1 Penguins.

Enter the third period. After a double minor for high sticking where Laich took the lumber to Crosby’s face, Crosby walked in late on the first of the two and beat Theodore for his second of the game.

6-1 Penguins.

Laich would add another goal a few minutes later to make it 6-2 but somewhere between being down 3-0 and 4-0 the Capitals just lost all will to win.

The Penguins played excellent in front of Fleury who was not test all that much. They allowed only 5 shots in the first, 7 shots in the second and 9 shots in the third. 21 shots is not enough to beat the Penguins.

I have been saying this for the last week since getting a look at Varlamov in the first two games. He’s good. But he is not good enough to steal a series against a team like the Penguins. He tried valiantly though.

Now the wait to see who wins the Boston Carolina series begins. I’ll be watching tomorrow night eagerly.

After being beaten up and down the ice in Game 5 and falling behind 2-0 despite having played well in the first period of Game 6, the Penguins buckled down and defeated their cross state rivals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Things would get worse before they got better though.

Knuble (2) and Lupul (1) both beat Fleury in the first period and Briere (1) added a power play goal early in the second to extend the Flyers lead to 3-0. But Fedotenko (1) and the Penguins answered right back scoring 0:29 later to make it 3-1. Eaton (2) added another goal two minutes later to make it 3-2. Eaton swatted the puck out of mid air in front of Biron with the shaft of his stick and then into the net and already has two goals in the playoffs for a defenseman now known for his scoring prowess. But as the saying goes, good things happen when you stand in front of the net.

Crosby (3) then evened the score late in the second, also batting a puck out of the air and behind Biron who began to look like the goal tender the Penguins spanked in Game 1. The Penguins mustered an amazing 20 shots on net in the period.

In the third it was Sergei Gonchar (1) at 2:19 that put the Penguins up for good with a long shot that found the upper corner of the net and Crosby (4) added an empty netter after several furious attempts by the Flyers to tie the game and great saves by Fleury and good defense by the Penguins.

The win earned the Penguins the right to advance to the next round against an opponent to be determined as the league awaits the results of the remaining first round games.