BleacherCoaches.com

Yeah, but if you look towards the future, I would rather philly have to go through at least 1 round of playoffs before playing them. That way they wouldn't be as fresh and maybe have more fatigue and injuries. They are the kind of team, with the kind of players who will intentionally go after the Pens with intent to injure. NJ doesn't play that style of hockey the Pens would get past NJ with relative ease and minimal problems, much like they did against Ottawa last year in the first round.

Pens are 4-2 against the Flyers this year and 3-3 against New Jersey. New Jersey also has the best goalie in hockey history so I'm not convinced the Pen's would run all over Jersey.

playoffs are a different story abpk... philly is so physical and will hit you every single play of the game. NJ doesn't play that style of hockey. Neither match-up is ideal; however i think NJ is the BETTER match up due to the fact that they've struggled lately and they're not gonna beat up the pens as much as the goon squad out of philly would.

Two of the 3 losses to NJ came in OT. And the Pens only lost 1 game to NJ when Brodeur was in net. Heres a break down of the games

Oct. 11
2-1 OT Loss
Shots 49-15 NJ
WG Brodeur
LG Fleury


Nov 29
4-1 Win
Shots 35-30 Pit
WG Sabourin
LG Clemmensen


Dec. 10
4-1 Loss
Shots 32-27 NJ
WG Clemmensen
LG Sabourin

Dec. 26
1-0 Win
Shots 37-18 NJ
WG Fleury
LG Clemmensen

Jan 30
4-3 OT Loss
Shots 43-16 NJ
WG Clemmensen
LG Fleury

Apr 1
6-1 Win
Shots 37-25 Pit
WG Fleury
LG Brodeur

So you kinda can see it laid out this way, but when the pens were losing, Clemmensen was in the net. And when a goalie is only facing an average of 25 shots per game, while the Pens goaltenders were facing an average of 36 shots per game, they are almost always gonna be putting in more goals.

I am not saying I would rather play Philly, either. I would rather play New Jersey or Carolina (which is the other teams down the stretch that it appeared they may play). However, I do not see Philly being good enough to beat the Pens 4 times. It will be a very physical series and the Pens will take some bumps and bruises out of it. Getting the Flyers now may be beneficial because the Pens are completely healthy and if they were to meet them in the later rounds that would not be a guarentee.