Fast-finishing Pens face Isles in first round
Kris Letang has never missed the playoffs during his 15-year career. Still, the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman knows not all postseason opportunities are equal.
“Sometimes you have that feeling inside you like ‘This year is a good year,’ like you have a good team,” Letang said.
Something Letang believes this edition of the Penguins are following an eventful regular season in which they navigated a stream of injuries to highprofile players on their way to their first division title in seven years.
Good vibes in Pittsburgh, however, can vanish quickly, particularly when the New York Islanders are involved. The Islanders swept the Penguins in the first round two years ago. A rematch awaits on Sunday when Pittsburgh hosts New York in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz, who has won each of his last two series against Pittsburgh, cautioned against drawing a direct line between what happened in 2019 and what will happen over the next two weeks.
“It seems like a decade ago, that playoff series,” Trotz said. “I thought [the Penguins] played, probably, consistent play through the whole year. They had a tough schedule at the start, and they were able to battle through it. They got a good hockey team, there’s no question.”
The Penguins won six of the eight meetings between the two clubs during the regular season, including all four at PPG Paints Arena. The results, however, could be a bit of a misnomer. Five of the games were decided by just one goal.
And for all of Pittsburgh’s star power, it’s the Islanders who have put together deeper playoff runs lately. New York advanced to the second round in 2019 and reached the Eastern Conference finals in the bubble last summer.
“You know it’s going to be hard, but you know that if you go out there and do your job and play the way that you know to play that you give yourself a chance to actually do it,” Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck said. “That creates, you know, a fire in guys when you know you’ve got the team to do it and all you have to do is go out there and do it, and you give yourself a chance.”
PRESIDENTS TROPHY
Even though Colorado and Vegas finished with 82 points, the Avalanche earned the division crown and the Presidents’ Trophy — awarded to the team with the best regular-season mark — because ofmore regulation wins. This was the first time the Avalanche have captured the Presidents’ Trophy since 2000-01, when they went on to hoist the Stanley
Cup.
The Avs clinched the West Division and the top overall seed in the NHL playoffs with a 5-1 win over Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“We achieved the first goal we had this year,” said Mikko Rantanen, who assisted on both of Jost’s scores to give him a team-best 66 points (30 goals, 36 assists). “Everybody knows what the next box is, so we have to start working on that.”
The journey begins Monday with a first-round series against St. Louis, which wound up with the fourth seed in the West.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
A Canucks 4, Oilers 1: Matthew Highmore scored twice in the third period to help Vancouverwin at Edmonton. Travis Boyd and Bo Horvat also scored and Thatcher Demko made 31 saves.
J.T. Miller added two assists.
Adam Larsson scored for the Oilers in their regularseason finale. Mikko Koskinen made 37 saves.
Edmonton will open the playoffs Wednesday at home against Winnipeg.
Connor McDavid had an assist to finish the season with an NHL-leading 105 points.