The Pens have maybe or three guys that are fairly notorious hitters. Glass, Bortuzzo and to some extent Neal. They aren't a very gritty team. When they try to act like one they get their butts handed to them.....remember Philly 2 years ago? Boston last year?
The BJ's, a younger, fast and bigger team are putting it all out there on the ice. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Like I said in the other thread they've already exceeded expectations this year and anything beyond this series would be gravy to to them.
Meanwhile the Pens have all the pressure on them.....highly skilled, highly ranked and highly paid team that hasn't been all that everyone thinks they should be and is expected by may to be the SCW team year in year out, despite the statistical improbability of that.
But to answer your question, I think the Pens need to be able to absorb the hitting and ignore the after the whistle bullshit. Since the Philly debacle 2 years ago I think teams are all trying to repeat that by getting under the Pens' skin and into their heads. Not saying they shouldn't hit and hit hard when the opportunities are there. That shouldn't be their focus though.
