The Penguins held their last on-ice practice of the regular season today, gearing up for two more games this weekend before entering the playoffs. The Penguins can wrap up the 5th seed in the East with a point earned or a point lost by 6th place Portland.
The first round opponent will be whatever team in the division doesn't win the East Division regular season title, that being either Binghamton or Syracuse. Both the Senators and Crunch, respectively, have announced that their first two home games of the playoffs will be Saturday, April 27th, and Sunday, April 28th.
With three games left for both teams and the separation between the Senators an Crunch at only one point, it's very likely the Penguins won't know their first round opponent until after the last day of the regular season. The Crunch and Senators end the season Sunday, facing off against each other in what could be for the division title.
Aside from all of that, head coach John Hynes certainly wasn't overlooking the team's last two games this weekend after practice today.
"We want to continue to play good hockey and do the right things," Hynes said. "Whether it's Game 75 or it's Game 1 of the playoffs, you want to be playing a certain way, with a certainly mentality and a certain level of execution and that's what we'll be looking for."
As for getting some of the younger guys into game action this weekend, such as recent ATO's and the Black Aces squad, Hynes seemed to be heading in a different direction, although he didn't leave out the possibility.
"Right now we're not planning on it but we'll see what happens as the weekend goes on," Hynes said. "We're going to take the weekend as an opportunity to play our team and win some games."
Farnham: A Time For Penguins To "Fine-Tune" Their Game
I spoke with forward Bobby Farnham about the last practice of the regular season:
"I think everyone is excited about playoffs coming up," Farnham said. "I think everyone has their bumps and bruises but overall, I'm feeling pretty good."
Farnham on what the team is looking for in these last two games:
"We have to make sure we are really detailed in what we do, make sure we are staying with the process we have been with the last ten games or so and ride that right into the playoffs."
Juice Boy Shootout
The Penguins ended their practice today with the 'Juice Boy' shootout. Goaltender Jeff Zatkoff was nearly declared the winner in the first round after allowing the first three shooters to score. Luckily for Zatkoff, he denied Chad Kolarik to keep the shootout rolling along.
In the end, it came down to veteran forward Warren Peters and rookie defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Peters led off the 8th round with a miss and Dumoulin capitalized, sending the team into a frenzy and pile up around the 'Juice Boy' for the playoffs....
#43 Warren Peters
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