Pittsburgh Penguins Goal is Fleury of Redemption!

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a catastrophic playoff season last year as the first signs of trouble were in their first round series win over the New York Islanders who were a prohibitive underdog and yet gave the Penguins the scare of their lives before running out of gas and being worn down by the Penguins depth. Penguins G Marc Andre Fleury cracked under the pressure and ended up on the bench at the most crucial time of the season as he was sent to a sports psychologist in the offseason to get his mind right for the current season and, most important, the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs as while the Pens made the Eastern Conference Finals last year before being rendered utterly helpless in a 4 game sweep loss to the Boston Bruins. The pressure on Fleury and the Pens will be on full blast and the huge handicapping question is whether or not they are up to the challenge, especially after a lethargic last month of the regular season.

Handicapper’s Notebook

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have had their share of problems down the stretch but they remained strong at Excel Energy Center with a mark of 15 wins in their last 20 home games as just 6 out of their last 20 home games went under the total. The Penguins saw their biggest dip down the stretch on the road with just 8 payouts in their last 16 road tilts as just 7 out of those 16 games on road ice went over the total. Pittsburgh split their last 20 games of the regular season with the NHL odds which was hardly a ringing endorsement for action on them with the NHL odds.

Prognosis

Fleury did not have a strong finish to the season was reflective of his team’s poor finish. Pittsburgh will be lacking the confidence that it has had in previous post seasons which may be a good thing but also will keep gamblers from going all in, at least in the early going of the NHL post season. Fleury’s .915 save percentage was average and far from dominant.