The War of Pennsylvania has found its victor. Pittsburgh topped Philadelphia in six games, with each win being pretty decisive. The smallest margin of victory in the entire series was a 4-2 win by the Flyers to force a game six. In all four of the Penguins victories, they outscored the Flyers by a total of 25-6. The series entirely was not the close tight battle that many thought it would be, despite it going to six games.

The Penguins scored 28 goals in just six games in their decisive series against the Flyers. Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel sit on top of the playoff league lead in points at 13 a piece. Guentzel, himself scored four goals in the Penguins 8-5 elimination victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. At times, it did look like the Penguins struggled against Philadelphia. The 5-1 loss in game two proved to be one of the Penguins’ worst performances of the entire season. In which, they lost Patric Hornqvist to injury. They bounced back as per usual with this Penguins team that is backstopped by Matt Murray. Murray has a career record of 10-1 now following a loss in the playoffs. The one time he lost two in a row in the playoffs he followed it up with two straight shutouts to seal a Stanley Cup victory over the Predators last year. Game six against the flyers, which saw an eight goal outburst form the Penguins, came at a time that Pittsburgh was playing without Evgeni Malkin, who himself has been an offensive force in the playoffs. Crosby and his teammates now look ahead to another series against an all too familiar opponent.

Three straight years of second round playoff excitement that only fans of the Penguins and Capitals can complain about, but mostly Capitals fans. Two straight years the Penguins have came out on top in, what seems to be now a yearly tradition; the two teams meeting in the second round of the playoffs. Don’t get it twisted, none were easy victories for the Penguins. The Capitals have proven maybe to be the most formidable opponent the Penguins have seen in their two Stanley Cup runs.

Both teams have made changes to their roster since their last meeting in the playoffs, and noticeably a different defense core in Washington. No more Karl Alzner, no more Nate Schmidt, no more Kevin Shattenkirk. This could have attributed to the Washington Capitals no longer being the top regular season team in the league, as the honor was stolen this season by the Nashville Predators. Another note about the Capitals, they are actually pretty hot right now. After falling down 2-0 to the Blue Jackets in the first round, they have won four straight to eliminate Columbus. They could also be a pretty tired team because the majority of games played between Columbus and Washington went into overtime, so they didn’t have an easy ride here.

The Capitals will be looking for a cliche “third time’s a charm” victory over the Penguins, but Pittsburgh is determined to continue their utter dominance over Washington that has gone on for almost three decades now.