Last year's Flyers series did a number on us. It psychologically damaged us in so many areas. One of those areas involves not having any confidence in the Pens heading into a playoff series. We got to get over it sometime. This series should do the trick.

Here is what we know. The Pens are a better team on paper and on ice. We also know that the Islanders aren't your typical 8th seed. They were another win away from drawing a first-round opponent like the Capitals. But they didn't get that win. They didn't get that extra point in the standings, wherever it was during the regular season, to get out of the 8 spot, and they are now standing on the tracks of the Pens' train, and it's not gonna be pretty.

With our final mention of the Flyers series, we'll say you'd have to be pretty obtuse to completely ignore it. If it's a fluke, it's a fluke. Only time will tell.

And you'd have to be equally obtuse to ignore how much better the Penguins are than the Isles. This series won't be a cake walk, but the better team wins a series 100% of the time.

The Blues were killing a double minor in OT. Steen picked John Quick's pocket.... game.

That is last year's winning entry from Michael Pope. 

* The two missing players were Brodeur and Brian Campbell

Jeff Carter's goal in Game Six paved the way to victory. A rare 20-point bonus for scoring the Stanley Cup clinching goal. Jeff Carter, bro.

Rinkotology closes at 7:55pm tonight. Great turnout so far this year. Click here to sign up. 

-- The TSN parody of The Hangover:

Endless Darren Dreger GIFs to be made from that.

-- The Big Screen is back. Have fun with parking, though. [ Pens.com ]

-- CapGeek Twitter rankings and a list of everyone you should follow. [ CapGeek ]

-- Good stuff from GTOG on the Isles/Pens. [GTOG ]

To recap, the top two fears we've identified have little to do with the Islanders: a Fleury meltdown and a PK disaster.  The actual Islanders-based reasons that might make you afraid have their own flaws: John Tavares has never played a playoff game and is probably the 3rd best player in the series; Matt Moulson is Matt Moulson and we're not really going to get overly worked up about that; and Evgeni Nabakov has playoff experience the same way Dan Marino had playoff experience

Yep.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

From John N...

TWEET OF THE YEAR

Honestly I don't care if you are gay or straight as my teammate. As long as you don't listen to Nickelback. #courage

— Dustin Penner (@Dustinpenner25) April 30, 2013

Obviously this isn't the complete history of the two teams playing against one another, but here are some key moments in Penguins/Islanders history.

We said it last season after the loss to the Flyers, and it's a no-brainer to mention it again now. That series changed us. For as far back as we can remember, there has never been a time where our guts were ripped out like that. The enthusiasm everyone had going into those playoffs was destroyed. People were wiping away tears while shaving their beards. It shook us to our very core. Never again, we said, would we look at the playoffs the same way.

And now here we are. As fun the regular season was, this was the bright light in the distance. It took a whole year and ton of shit to get back. 

Let's go.

If you're looking to donate some money to a great cause, consider pledging for Lowell's playoff manliness in the Pens' Beard-A-Thon. He has a goal of raising $1,000 for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. If you want further incentive, Lowell's one of the better kind of people you'd ever want to meet.

Head to his beard page.

48 GIFs that tell the story of the Pens season.

All after the jump, this post may take 30 years to load