If there's one thing this series has taught us, it's to never predict a playoff series ever again.

It wasn't your run-of-the-mill 1 seed vs. 8 seed matchup even before the series began. In a regular 82-game schedule, this Isles team may have been overtaken by the Flyers and/or Devils by the end of the regular season. Coupled with the huge logjam at the bottom of the East, the Isles weren't your typical 8 seed. They could've easily been a 5 seed.

However, the Pens' juggernaut had everyone (including us) looking at this matchup as a walk in the park. And it was anything but. The main thing no one could have foreseen was the collapse of Marc-Andre Fleury, forcing Bylsma's hand to make the move no NHL coach wants to make in the middle of a playoff series.

In came Tomas Vokoun with the series tied two games apiece, and he rose to the occasion, stopping 66 of 69 shots on his way to a 1.41 GAA and .957 SV%. Goalie stats and goalie play in general are largely dependent on how the defense performs, and there are people who will vehemently argue that the Pens closed out this series due to the defense getting smarter. We just can't buy into that. Sure, the defense played tighter. Sure, Bylsma made some other noticeable changes like getting away from the long stretch passes for a bit and making some crucial lineup decisions. But the fact remains that Tomas Vokoun was routinely making saves on shots that had been going through Fleury. Case closed.

But for the moment this isn't about the pending goalie controversy sweeping the Pens' fan base. It's about a burial of the New York Islanders.

Join us:

Pittsburgh might be a tough city to hate. The U.S. steel industry is dying a slow death, and so is the city itself. But even that is little joy for me. It gets not even a little reprieve from my hatred. Pittsburgh has seemingly time and time again ruined whatever sport I was watching at the time. The little victory joys for me as a fan seem to be far too spread out.

We don't got much. But we got the second round. See ya, brah.

RECAP:

Here is video from the TSN feed of Orpik's goal:

Mobile-friendly link here.

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Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders
Penguins Lead Series 3-2

ROOT, NBCSN, MSG Plus, TSN, RDS - 7:00 pm/et

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Uniondale, NY

Tonight there are two radically different outcomes available: 1) The New York Islanders start cleaning out their lockers and planning their summer vacations, or 2) The Pittsburgh Penguins return home to play a game seven that hardly anyone thought would happen.

Which outcome will it be?

The Penguins can dominate the Islanders. They did so in game one and again in game five. But after they rolled over the Islanders in game one, they fell apart in game two and gave the Islanders life. Will the same thing happen tonight? The Islanders have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They have no margin for error and they'll come out with everything they have, because they have to. They'll give everything they have tonight because, if they don't, they'll have no tomorrow. The Penguins will have to match their level of desperation. They'll have to look at this as an elimination game as well. Can they ignore the buffer of a 3-2 series lead and end it tonight or will this series go the distance?

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Mike Colligan delivers a monster piece here.

This year, the unit struggled throughout the regular season, (killing at only 80 percent, 25th in the league), but has been an underrated strength for the Penguins so far in their matchup with the Islanders (88%).

 

So what do all of these numbers mean?  Why the Jekyll and Hyde act?

Assistant coach Tony Granato has directed the penalty kill for years and the system rarely varies from night to night.  Even the personnel — Craig Adams, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke up front; Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, Kris Letang on defense — is pretty much the same as its always been.  The Penguins lost penalty killers Jordan Staal and Zbynek Michalek in the offseason, but both players were big reasons the PK unit failed in prior playoff campaigns.

One explanation is goaltending.

It is a great breakdown. Go here to read the whole thing,  Colligan: How Does the Penguins Penalty Killer Work?