I need opinions lol. I have a struggling friend that seems to be on the wrong side of the answer lol

Cough Cough ** @mhockey91 ** cough cough

whose having a better season? Tampa. who do I think will have more post season success? Pittsburgh

Right now Tampa has a a Better Team Here are some Reasons.

1. Tampa has more depth as Pittsburgh is having trouble filling the bottom six with skilled Players.
2. Tampa has a Better Defensive Core.
3. Tampa has a Solid Starter AND a Good Backup Goalie.

I'm shocked that the Pens fan is calling for Pittsburgh to win.

@boltscharge17 give 'em hell

haha im not shocked at all by the results of this poll. but as a caps fan you should know regular season doesn't mean ****. if we were to have made a poll the last two seasons: Pitt vs Washington... it wouldve been the same results. ill even go against Pittsburgh and say the 2013 Pittsburgh vs Boston series would've revealed the same wrong prediction. or even Chicago Nashville last season. haha I remember watching Tim and Sid (Canadian sports show) and Sid said that all the first round match ups were going to be so close EXCEPT the Chicago Nashville series. he said "Nashville is the only team that doesn't have a shot" funny how that worked out for the preds! long story short... Regular season success doesn't mean playoff success at all. obviously Tampa has been better than Pittsburgh this season but come playoffs anything could happen.

They have all the right pieces for a shot at the cup. No holes on that team what so ever

many teams entered the playoffs under the assumption that they had "no holes" yet somehow parts of their game were exposed. THE PLAYOFFS IS DIFFERENT HOCKEY THAN REG SEASON!!!!!

At the end of the day, what screwed the Caps over was Holtby playing like a backup and Fleury playing like a Vezina winner on steriods. The Penguins won the series, but the Caps controlled play for 5 games at least. Everything pointed to us winning the series, but Holtby crapped the bed. Barring anything like that, Tampa will dominate the pace of play and pepper Murray with high quality chances, just like the Caps did to Fleury last year. Yes, anything can happen. But if I'm betting money, Tampa will at least own the series like Washington did last year.

I wouldn't say caps owned the series. they had more chances but they didnt OWN the series in terms of play. at the end of the day, Pitt made them pay for every mistake that they made. and in the previous meeting back in 2016, Pitt had more chances than the caps. You also have to remember that last season we were missing our 3rd most valuable player in letang. while hes struggling this year, he made a HUGE difference back in 2016 playoffs logging close to 30 minutes a game and playing exceptional in both ends of the ice. add letang onto Pittsburgh last season and their play certainly would have improved. a Pittsburgh TBL series would be very very fun to watch and I expect it would go to 7 games, at the least... it would go to 6.

I'll vote Tampa, though Boston should co favourites also.

@mhockey91 So you're basically picking Pittsburgh over Tampa because you're a Pittsburgh fan and because "anything can happen in the playoffs". That's such a cop-out answer. That basically justifies any kind of crazy playoff prediction without any kind of basis or backing.

no im saying Pittsburgh over Tampa because I truly believe that having Crosby malkin and kessel on 3 separate lines is uncontainable, theyre the hottest team in the league since Jan 1st, theyre finally playing great hockey, they're back to back cup champs, etc

wrong. Colorado and Boston are the hottest team

pens have 22 points since then
bruins have 24
colorado has 21

all 3 are the hottest teams.

Right now it's Tampa

My question would be, in what capacity are we talking. Are you considering it based on a single match between these two, a 7 games series, potential to win a cup, future of the organization....what's the guidelines?

there can only be 1/ "hottest", singular = Bruins

Bruins also played more game. And they’re in the worst division in hockey. They will fizzle out

if you watched any hockey show, it's clear, everyone hates it but it's the Bruins!!

wow. he shows up again. in a Pittsburgh/Tampa thread.
and his contribution is once again "dA brOonZ aRe dA beSt LoL".

who
would
have
thought

Right now tampa is better, if they meet in the eastern conference finals idk. I wouldn't be surprised if tampa ran them over but if pitt won who would be shocked. All i know for sure is no matter what kessel gets no credit in the win

tampa is better now. but in the playoffs, Pittsburg might even by favourites.