Penguins’ Crosby, Malkin are eager for postseason

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin spent last spring watching their Pittsburgh Penguins teammates try to carry on without the injured stars, a burden that became too much during a seven-game loss to Tampa Bay in the opening round.

The memory of the long ride down the elevator from the press box to the quiet dressing room following a listless 1-0 defeat in Game 7 is why Crosby never considered shutting it down this season despite a 15-month battle with concussion-like symptoms and why Malkin became arguably the best player in the world while playing on a completely rebuilt knee.

It’s also why neither player is eager to engage in a war of words with rival Philadelphia in the run-up to Pittsburgh’s first-round meeting with the Flyers starting tonight.

The opponent is almost immaterial to two players used to writing “playoffs” on their calendar every season in ink, not pencil.

“I think, if anything, you just appreciate being in the playoffs even more,” Crosby said. “It’s not an automatic thing.”

Neither is getting past the first round for the NHL’s most potent team.

Pittsburgh enters the postseason with the league’s best record since Jan. 1 and a roster eager to bookend the Stanley Cup the Penguins won in 2009. They’re healthy. They’re surging. And they’re wary.

They should be.

The Flyers won four of the six meetings between the two teams this season and are 5-1 at Consol Energy Center since it opened in 2010, the lone loss coming in a meaningless regular-season finale last Saturday.

Not bad for a team rebuilt on the fly.

Philadelphia traded popular veterans Jeff Carter and Mike Richards following a second-round loss to Boston last year, yet barely missed a beat.

Newcomers Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek became instant contributors. Former All-Star Jaromir Jagr showed his tank wasn’t empty at age 40 after spending three seasons playing in Russia. Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov signed a nine-year contract worth $51 million to give the position some stability and overcame a shaky start to be “a rock” according to coach Peter Laviolette.

“They play a similar style, they have depth,” Crosby said. “I don’t see a lot of differences.”

Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux thinks “it’s going to be a rough series.”

“It won’t be easy. They want to win as bad as us,” said Giroux. “We’re a young team with a lot of energy and we’ve got to make sure we go out there and make sure we outwork the Penguins. It’s going to be a tough one.”

One in which the Flyers will need to rely heavily on Bryzgalov to win.