East Division round one predictions: Pittsburgh vs Long Island

The NHL playoffs officially kickoff later this evening with the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins opening up the festivities for Saturday's lone playoff contest. If you'd like to see my prediction for that series, click here.

With 3 postseason games on the docket for Sunday, starting early with the Pens and Isles at 12:00pm ET, I figured it would be best to start pumping out these predictions prior to the start of each series, so that way, when I look back on these predictions in a couple of weeks and do a first round recap on my picks, everything will have been done legitimately! So without further ado...

East Division: 1st place Pittsburgh vs. 4th place Long Island:

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins led the East Division after a razer-close race with the Washington Capitals, both finishing the season with 77 points, though the Pens made more regulation wins, with the tiebreaker falling in their favor.

The Pens were up and down to start the 2020-21 campaign, but after GM Jim Rutherford stepped down from his role in Pittsburgh at the end of January, former Flyers GM Ron Hextall and veteran GM turned Sportsnet analyst Brian Burke took were brought in to help right the ship, with Hextall becoming the Pens' new General Manager and Burkie taking on the role of President of Hockey Operations in the Steel City - and right the ship they did.

The Pens had an otherwise forgettable February, but were one of the absolute hottest teams the rest of the way, going 12-3-1 through the month of March, 10-4-1 in April and 4-1 to close out the season in style this month.

Sidney Crosby, 33, led his team in scoring with 62 points in 55 games, making this the 16th-straight season where Sid "The Kid" has finished a season with a point-per-game or better.

The Penguins are absolutely loaded with offensive skill, with Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Kris Letang and the newly acquired Jeff Carter all playing key roles for the club, while Jared McCann, Kasperi Kapanen, Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker provide plenty of secondary scoring. Simply put, this is a very deep team from an offensive perspective.

The Pens are going to be eager to put last year's postseason flop against the Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round behind them and turn the page with a much more concerted effort against the Isles.

Long Island

The Islanders did falter a bit down the stretch, but have shown us time and time again how game they are and how they are capable of defending well, taking away time and space and shutting the door as effectively as any team in the league.

There was a stretch between February and March this season where the Isles went 14-2-1 and had many pundits calling them a legitimate cup contender - and for good reason.

While the Isles may not be bursting at the seams with star power, they have found great success with their "win by committee" approach, with every member of the team playing for one another and never quitting on a play. That, and of course, Mat Barzal putting the team on his back when he needed to, like the human-highlight-reel that he is.

The Isles have gotten quality goaltending this season from both veteran Semyon Varlamov and rookie Ilya Sorokin, with each showing that they have the potential to steal a game - or in this case, hopefully a series.

Prediction:

While the Pens seem like a no-brainer to take this series to a lot of people, a few things really stick out to me. First, the tandem of Varlamov and Sorokin is really, really good. Second, Barry Trotz is quite possibly the best coach in the National Hockey League. Lastly, the Isles seem to have more bangers and grinders at their disposal and we all know how those guys tend to give a little bit of an edge in the postseason.

If there's any team in the East Division that has a chance to stun the Pens and grind out a win in 6 or 7 games playing safe, uneventful hockey, it's the Isles - and that is my prediction.

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