For whatever reason, the Penguins and Senators have met an unrealistic amount of times in the playoffs. This year's series does mark the first time they haven't met in the first round.

-- And then there was Andy Sutton and his "Are You An Expert?"

So odd.

Our top five moments:

We just can't imagine a universe that will have Marc-Andre Fleury starting Game One of the Senators series. "We" in the sentence represents Derek and Adam. Rick, on the other hand, is all about Fleury.

Our preference for Vokoun boils down to some simple facts.

-- The man just won a series for you. He came in, settled everything down, stopped routine shots, and did exactly what was anticipated of him when he was signed last summer.

-- If Fleury starts and melts down, what have you accomplished? At some point in this run the Pens will need Fleury again. Why force it?

-- There is a precedent for this scenario. Something has stuck with us ever since we uncovered it five years ago. Read on as we repost something from our old Blogspot days.

Still no word on Game 1. Bruins/Leafs and Caps/Rangers seventh heaven tonight.

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We saw the Pens reaction to Orpik's goal. Now here is some fan reaction.

-- At the big screen

that via The Freakshow.

-- From Shane Ramos:

"Just wanted to share this reaction vid from a Pens bar in San Francisco. My buddy Mark had perfect timing and had the cameras rolling when Brooks Orpik nailed the game winner. Props also go out to my other buddy Jesse for pointing out the stunned Isles fan in front of the bar. Gotta love it when the bartender (guy in baby blue shirt) stopped serving beer for a second to join the hug pile. Definitely exercised the 1993 demon. Gotta love Penguin OT winners. Love the blog!!! Go Pens!!! "

So awesome. If anyone has any others, send them our way.

Good Listens and Reads

-- TJ nailed the Isle prediction, and he brags about it. [ T.J. McAloon ]

-- Twitter's reaction to the Bruins' plane getting delayed last night. [ reddit ]

--  The Royal Half crushed the Blues Eulogy. [ Puck Daddy ]

GIF OF THE DAY

Toronto after Kessel's goal:

Unbelievable.

We totally forgot this was even an award.

From the NHL:

Shero made the seventh season of his tenure in Pittsburgh an active one. Unable to sign Jordan Staal, he traded the third-line center to the Carolina Hurricanes for his replacement, the solid Brandon Sutter, and also acquired backup goalie Tomas Vokoun. And then at the NHL Trade Deadline, he acquired forwards Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow and Jussi Jokinen and defenseman Douglas Murray without surrendering a player off his current roster. Despite sustaining injuries to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, the Penguins never stumbled and finished atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Marc Bergevin of the Montreal Canadiens and Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks are the other nominees.

Game one in the Penguins/Senators series will take place on Tuesday at 7:30. From the NHL:

The 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Semifinal round starts Tuesday, May 14, with a doubleheader, the National Hockey League announced today. Game 1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinal series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators will be played at 7:30 p.m. ET at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh and the Western Conference Semifinal between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks will start at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.

Additionally, Game 1 in the series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings will be Wednesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET at the United Center in Chicago.

The remainder of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Semifinals schedule, including dates, times and national television coverage for the entire round, will be released after the conclusion of tonight's games.

More via Josh Yohe on Twitter:

Looks like Game 1 Tuesday and Game 2 Friday. Game 3 is Saturday if Leafs lose tonight and likely Sunday if Leafs win.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) May 13, 2013

It looks like there could be back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.

Shockingly, that random ticket site was wrong. Who would have ever thought that??? The rest of the information it listed was SO accurate!

Props to @KenPhillabaum for finding this. Take this with a grain of salt since they have Game One being at Scotia, as well.

There's a Pittsburgh Power game Saturday night at CONSOL.

HERE WE GO. The psychological warfare has begun.

Some tweets we get from #Pens fans are profanity filled. That's classless - it's just a game. You are embarassing your city, team & players.

— Eugene Melnyk (@MelnykEugene) May 13, 2013

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.

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