We saw it at the beginning of the NBA season with the Boston Celtics. The Celtics were the perennial bottom dwellers in the Eastern Conference before a blockbuster trade brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helping the Celtics return to the forefront of the NBA elite. The Celtics have had their problems, but have been money at home if you play them with your NBA picks.
 
We have seen this turnaround phenomenon occur again, this time in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was a franchise that once had the likes of  Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux on the ice at the same time, yet the team seemed to fall off after falling short of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996. The franchise was struggling to even keep the team in Pittsburgh.
 
And as I wrote at the beginning of the NBA season, I’ll write it again now, at the end of the NHL season. What a difference a year makes!

Scoring phenom and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has shined this year and has really become his own force in the playoffs. Adding to “Sid the Kid’s” magnetism is the play of the Penguin’s center Evgeni Malkin who has been on a tear during this season’s playoffs, adding to the woes of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals. Malkin has scored twice for 12 goals and 15 assists in 17 career games against the Flyers and Philly has spent the first three games chasing him around the ice like Wile E. Coyote chases the Roadrunner – with nearly the same results.

Equally as impressive as Malkin’s offense, has been Pens defense anchored by goaltender Marc Andre’ Fleury and his 1.98 goals against average through four games. A lot of experts were predicting a high-scoring Eastern Conference Finals hoping to cash in on the high-powered sticks of Crosby and Malkin to cash in on OVERS with NHL picks. Contrary to this prediction, the Penguins have been able to slow down the tempo of each game in this series after jumping out an a commanding early lead. The young Penguins team has been playing with a maturity and a sense of urgency to get their club into the finals for the first time since 1992.

But not so fast Road Runner. Just like the Pens did against the New York Rangers they rushed out to a quick 3-0 lead, only to drop game 4 as the Flyers rallied to win 4-2, forcing a game 5 and an unlikely return trip to Pittsburgh.

In all likelihood, Pittsburgh will closeout the series on Sunday in their own barn where they are 7-0 in the playoffs and have won 15 straight, to complete the transformation that has been 26 years in the making. The Penguins have gone from teetering on the brink obsolescence to the doorstep of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Their likely Finals opponents will be Detroit which will undoubtedly give the Penguins a much tougher test as the Detroit squad has been on a tear of their own in the West.

Do be do be do, the Penguins are coming and are almost completely back.