And here we go again. The inner-state rivals squaring off again to move on to the next chapter of the quest for the Stanley Cup. The Penguins finished just two points ahead of the Flyers in the regular season standing, but something to consider  is that the Penguins won five more games than the Flyers who have a hefty amount of their points from taking teams to overtime. This could prove effective against a Penguins team who has played a lot of hockey over the past couple of seasons and are on the brink of possible being completely worn out. Something else to keep in mind is that Claude Giroux has had a career year attaining his first hat trick and a fulfilling achievement in modern hockey in reaching 100 points on the season, one of three players to reach the mark this season. The Flyers will look to follow his lead and build off of his success against the firepower offense and lackluster defense of the Penguins.

The Penguins haven't given us much to be skeptical about despite frighteningly high goals against the total for the season. But depending on you how you look at it, it could mean a lot or absolutely nothing. Pittsburgh heads into the playoffs with a (fingers crossed) healthy Matt Murray who struggled with health throughout to year, and his backups had to carry a lot of the workload this year which is a reason for the skewed goals against total. Not to mention, a struggle in our own defensive end of the ice. Although, that was also an issue heading in to each of the last two playoffs, so take that for what it is. Do not sleep on the offensive juggernaut of the Penguins who had three players reach the 80 point mark and had one of the most lethal power plays in the entire league. Phil Kessel lead the entire league in power play points with almost half of his points in the regular season coming on the power play. So, look for the Penguins to use the emotions of the rivalry to goad the Flyers into giving them the man advantage throughout the series.

All things considered, I am confident that the Penguins will make it past the Flyers in the first round, but at what cost? The Flyers have proven a worthy opponent to Pittsburgh and will likely fall to them in six games, but the damage that they will do to the Penguins may be costly to their quest for three straight Stanley cups.