After having an incredible shortened season the Penguins were the team with the best record of 36 wins and only 12 losses. With this record the Penguins won the Eastern Conference and were able to get home ice advantage for the playoffs.
The first round of the playoffs featured the number one ranked Pittsburgh Penguins against the number eighth ranked New York Islanders. The New Islanders came on strong at the end of the year to make it to playoffs.
The series started off in Pittsburgh, where there was a lot of anticipation on both sides. The Penguins started off the first game with incredible offensive power and scored three goals in the first period alone. Then the next period the Penguins scored two more goals and shut down the Islanders offense for the rest of the game.
With a 5-0 victory the Penguins took a one game lead in the series. The next game the Penguin’s continued to start out of the game with a three to one lead. However the Islanders were not counting themselves out of the game yet. With a strong second period they were able to tie the game up and then with a final goal in the last period the Islanders scored one more to go ahead. They were able to hold off the relentless Penguin attack and tie the series up with a win.
Now the series shifted from Pittsburgh to New York. The third game of the series started off with two goals by the Islanders then the Penguins were the ones that were forced to make a dramatic came back and they did with two quick gifts. Then the third period was back and forth with the Penguins eventually coming out on top.
On May 7th was the fourth game of the series with the hopes of extending the Penguins lead in the series. Both the Penguins defense and their goal tending were sloppy throughout the entire game and it hurt them. Despite the fact that the offense was able to score 4 goals they could not keep up with the 6 goals that the Islanders scored on the Penguins defense.
After the win in game four the Islanders have tied up the series and it is two games to two games. This tie in the series is unexpected and highly exciting for fans.
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