Everyone or mostly every hockey analyst out there knew that the Penguins would lose to the Rangers. What they did not know was that the Penguins are giving everything they've got against the best team in the East despite not having defenseman Kris Letang, Olli Maatta, Derrick Pouliot, and Christian Ehrhoff. You can throw in Pascal Dupuis in there too.

Even though the Penguins lost this series, there are some positives to take out of this series. The first one is the play of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. I have been critical of him at times especially during the Flyers and Islanders series but now I have more faith in him then ever. He has played the best hockey of his career this season and the best hockey in the playoffs since the 2009 Cup run. If Fleury wasn't standing tall and giving the Penguins every chance to win this series, they'd have been  crushed. Hopefully this play will carry over into next season as well.

Despite the injuries on defense, I've found that Taylor Chorney and Brian Dumoulin were very good this series. They were called up only days before the series and have done everything they can to move the puck up the ice. They're facing the deepest team in the league and they've kept their heads above water which is something I did not expect from them. They left it all out on the ice too. No one knows for certain if one or both of them will play on the Penguins next year or stay down with the AHL Penguins but they're showing that they can play at the NHL level. 

This was the closest five game series I've ever watched in my life. The Penguins will be a better team next season then they were this season I can guarantee that. It's been fun to watch the Penguins these playoffs since they really had no expectations to go anywhere. Next season it's going to be a lot different when everyone is healthy. Mike Johnston's system works and it's going to look amazing next season (assuming he stays) when all the injured defenseman are back.