Fact or Fiction – NHL Playoff edition

1. The lack of a true faceoff expert will hurt the Pens’ chances against a good faceoff… 1. The lack of a true faceoff expert will hurt the Pens’ chances against a good faceoff team like the Senators.

Nick LaMantia: Fact. I have been on record saying that the trade of Dom Moore was not a good one for the Penguins. They have no one who can win a big faceoff when it counts. He was their top faceoff guy and now Erik Christensen is. He wins faceoffs 56 percent of the time, and no one on the roster who has taken a significant amount of draws has a mark better than 50 percent.

Dan Fiore: Fiction. We all know Pittsburgh isn’t the best faceoff team in the league or in its conference. Or even in its division. But, the Pens made do with the talent they have. Sidney Crosby has been doing fairly reasonably in clutch situations while Christensen and Maxime Talbot have picked up some of the slack from the Moore trade. While the Pens are worse off than before Moore left and still far worse than other teams in faceoffs, I don’t think it will hurt them enough to cause concern.

2. The Pens’ first-round matchup will go at least 6 games.

NL: Fact. The series with Ottawa will be a strong, physical series that will heavily depend on goaltending. Both teams match up pretty well against each other in the hitting and offensive departments, but the team whose goaltender decides to be top notch will win.

DF: Fiction. While I do agree that Ottawa does match up well with Pittsburgh, Ottawa has a great deal of pressure on it. While most sportscasters are picking the Senators, the Penguins will have an advantage, as Ottawa is no doubt feeling the sting of losing 3-1 in the season series against a young and rising Pittsburgh team. The Pens have shaken up Ray Emery enough times in the teams’ four games this season that they can continue to rattle him in the playoffs. I also think the Penguins can win at least one of the first two games played at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, bringing a win back to Pittsburgh where they can no doubt use the home-ice advantage to win the next two. I’m saying Pittsburgh will win in game five at Ottawa. 3. An Eastern Conference team will win the Stanley Cup.

NL: Fiction. The West is too powerful. It has too many high-caliber teams in it like Anaheim, San Jose and Nashville. Nashville is big down the middle with Peter Forsberg and Jason Arnott, but I think the loss of Steve Sullivan will hurt them. And Anaheim doesn’t have enough offensive power to win 16 games, so my pick is San Jose.

DF: Fiction. I’ll have to agree on this one. There are just too many great teams in the West. When I look at the Eastern Conference teams, I can only think of two teams that’ll end up in the finals. With the West, however, you have some of the more experienced players distributed throughout with a healthy mix of young talent. The competition alone makes the conference all that much better.

4. Marc-Andre Fleury is too inexperienced to be a playoff-contending goalkeeper.

NL: Fiction. Although Fleury hasn’t played in any NHL playoff games, he still has played in numerous Junior and World Junior tournaments. He does have a knock on him for being soft in big games, but with his much-improved style and backup Jocelyn Thibault and goaltending coach Gilles Meloche’s nurturing, Fleury will be better than OK.

DF: Fact. I’m not saying Jocelyn Thibault should start in net or anything, but Fleury makes me worry. He has been known to make huge saves in clutch situations, but let’s not forget all the small, easy goals he’s given up as well. He’s still a very young and inconsistent player, and I just hope he can stay focused long enough to gain some much-needed experience in the first-round games.

5. The Pens’ offense will be enough to carry them through the playoffs.

NL: Fiction. While their offense is almost unmatched throughout the league, the Pens’ defense is the main kink in their chain. Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are top-pairing defensemen, but the rest of the players on D would be fifth or sixth guys on any other playoff team. The offense is fine how it is, but the games will hinge on Michel Therrien’s defensemen and how they play.

DF: Fact. The offense has to be the driving force of this team. We’ve seen what happens when Crosby and Evgeni Malkin don’t stack up any points. While defensemen like Whitney, Mark Eaton and Gonchar will have to play the kind of games they have been playing recently, the Pens will live or die by their offense. The defense only has to play consistent and not make stupid errors.