Pittsburgh finished tied for first in the Atlantic division with 106 points and was missing Sidney Crosby for half the season and Evgeni Malkin for just less than that. With Malkin coming back with a vengence – impressive in the pre-season so far- and Crosby saying he’ll play again this year, the sky is the limit for the Penguins.
Only 10 points separated the San Jose Sharks at the top of the division from the Dallas Stars at the bottom last season.
Buffalo rookie Tyler Ennis scored his first and second career playoff goals, including the overtime winner as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Sabres now lead the best of seven series 3-2 as the series shifts to Buffalo for the pivotal game six, Sunday at 3pm.
Ennis buried a rebound off Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton’s pads to end the game 5:31 into overtime.
Ryan Miller earned his second shutout of the series to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 1-0 series-tying win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the HSBC Arena on Wednesday night.
Nikolay Zherdev’s first career playoff goal at 16:44 of the second period held up as the game winner to give the visiting Philadelphia Flyers a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
For the ninth time in playoff history, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres will face each other for the right to advance in the quest of Lord Stanley’s mug.