from Rob Rossi at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

We have witnessed the Penguins transform from overmatched postseason newbies to early-arriving Stanley Cup contenders, then champions, then underachievers, and now standard-bearing back-to-back winners arriving at a franchise-record 12th consecutive tournament that offers hockey immortality.

We are living in the greatest days for hockey in Pittsburgh. The distinction will remain true even if the Penguins are unceremoniously bounced early from the upcoming playoffs as the past four two-time Cup champions have been. Neither the Oilers (twice) of the 1980s nor the Penguins and Red Wings of the 1990s reached a conference final in respective three-peat playoff pushes. Those clubs combined to win 22 games in four postseasons.

History is against these Penguins besting those Oilers, those Penguins and those Red Wings. So, too, is an Eastern Conference that has vastly improved over the two years during which Mike Sullivan coached the Penguins back to atop the hockey world.

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