Elimin8ed

There are some things you take for granted or forget about while watching the two most offensively skilled teams throw blows at each other for 2 weeks. Some of them center around the marquee players, the Crosbys, the Malkins, but there are 20 players on the roster. This series brought out everyone's game again at the right time



1) Transformation: First on this list is the incomparable Sidney Crosby. If any Caps fan, or hockey fan, or whatever fan tells you about how AO got the better of Crosby in points, point at the goal column and repeat the lines they've been giving you the past two years. This guy can score goals. Not only can he score them, but he chooses to raise his game and bury them on the biggest stage. Almost everything he touched, every puck he shot went in. Every move calculated, every shot measured. From the drop of the first puck you saw it with that wrist shot past Varlamov. This is a guy who plays with a stick straighter than a highway in Iowa, and he has the most goals this post season. At the end of Game 6 you could see that nobody could touch him. He was going to score, it was just a matter of when and if, possibly, Varlamov would be able to steal another one from him.

Miroslav Satan is another one. He's been, undoubtedly, a huge reason this series ended the way it did. During the regular season he was a player that couldn't handle 4th line duty. I was one of those that said he would be worthless off the first 2 lines, but he proved everyone wrong and did what he had to do to make his presence felt. This is the playoffs, this is what you need to do. I remember once someone referred to Steve Yzerman as a player that could change his game and mold it to what his team needed. In the 2002 Olympics he went from play-making center to grinder and filled the role like he's done it his whole career. That's what Satan and Crosby did this series. They changed their game to boost their's and their team's shortcomings.

2. Growth: Rob Scuderi, in this series, took the step from "solid every shift" to "elite shutdown" in my opinion. There is no tougher assignment than Alex Ovechkin. He can shoot from anywhere, get it on net, and have it be a scoring chance. There's no "just keep him to the outside" or "let him take that shot" because he will score. Scuderi got on his game quickly after the first 2 of the series and got in AO's head every time they were matched up. Ovechkin got his goals, but against Scuderi he was stymied. If he and Gill can shut down Ovechkin, Semin, and Kozlov, there is no doubt they can handle Kessel, Staal, Cole, Lucic, Savard, whoever they end up facing.

Letang is my other star here. You know what you're getting with Letang. He's a defensman that uses his speedy, slippery skating style to clear his zone. There were plenty of times where he was locked up behind the net, spun, and skating directly north out of the zone and got the puck out. To add to that...he finally started shooting the puck. Now look. The left point on the powerplay is dangerous again. He now knows when Gonch passes it to me, if there isn't someone in my face I'm blasting this MF'er short side.

3. Business As Usual: Guerin, Talbot, Adams. There are no surprises with these guys, you know what you are getting and they brought it in spades. Guerin is still a sniper. With Crosby passing to him he can score at any time. On the Penguins roster there is no winger with a quicker more accurate release. Talbot's aggressive style and defensive prowess allowed Fedotenko to break out and start scoring goals again. He did all the work along the boards that needs to be done on a top 2 line to allow Geno and Tenks time and space to put pucks in the net. And Adams, everything that needs to be said about this guy has been said. His goal imploded the phone booth last night and was a sweet reward for a guy who has busted his ass since he got here. If there is a more ferocious 4th liner left in the playoffs, I'd like to see them.

The Penguins 3 stars for the series:
3. Mark Eaton: Defensive genius and goal-scoring master. He leads the Penguins with a +6 this playoffs and has certainly come into his own again after a big injury last season. You have to give it up for this guy.

2. Rob Scuderi
1. Sidney Crosby

And now it's only fair to point out who needs to get going again in the ECF:

Chris Kunitz. Your forechecking is great, puck retrieval is great, but you're playing with the best Center in hockey. Time to bury some chances.

Tyler Kennedy. Seemed like his confidence was down these past 7 games. He was really gripping the stick tight on a lot of his chances and just didn't seem to be getting to the spots he was getting to in Round 1 to light the lamp. We know he has game, he just needs to settle down and do his thing.

All in all you couldn't ask for a better finish. It was great to hear Errey and Steigy just let loose once the 6th goal went in. They knew it was over and it was their last broadcast. They were going to get every last shot in that they could and all of them were deserved and accurate.

The moment that typified this series: Crosby's breakaway goal. Some might point to the Game 5 victory or the epic save on AO in the first period, but they can't compare to Crosby taking the puck from a pressing Ovechkin and streaking down the ice to nail down the lid on the Capital's proverbial coffin. That one moment was a message from Crosby and from the Penguins to the world that this team is all business.

And business is good.

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