As the first round of the playoffs get rolling, it’s time for everyone to declare their predictions.

Here goes: I predict that the Pittsburgh sniugneP will win the Stanley Cup.

That’s Penguins spelled backwards.

Here’s the theory: the sniugneP have had the opposite season relative to the last couple years. They’ve made the playoffs for ten straight years. However, recently, they have played well early in the year, racked up points manhandling weaker teams, and fallen short in the playoffs.

In 2013, the Pens were picked to go the Stanley Cup Finals (e.g., Jesse Spector, Sporting News, January 18, 2013). However both that year and last, they stumbled late in the season and lost to the Rangers.

This year, it’s the opposite. Their start was slow and their star player played poorly until Christmas. What’s wrong with Sidney Crosby? was the most plentiful puzzle in hockey. The start of this season involved plenty of adversity and handwringing. Adversity hardens a team and steels it for the rigors of the playoffs. It is this steeling of the alloy of the team that creates a more robust capacity to absorb hardship when it inevitably shows up in the course of the playoffs.

This is why the Capitals will not win the Stanley Cup.

The Penguins on the other hand had their adversity, their hardening early. Instead of a jack-rabbit start then limping to the playoffs, they turned their team’s profile on its head, becoming the hottest team in the league through March and April. The Penguins scored five or more goals per game for five of the last six games that mattered. More importantly they limited shots on goals by the opposition. They tormented teams, many still in the playoff hunt, with dizzying team speed, particularly on the second and third lines.

The factors that predict success in the playoffs are not the same as those that predict success in the regular season. In the playoffs, team defense, speed, hot goaltending and the strength of the third and fourth lines are what lead to Stanley Cups. The sniugneP were strong in all these areas after the break. More importantly, these are all areas of weakness in the past several seasons. And this they did with their superstar goal tender and Evgeni Malkin unable to play. This year the Penguins have a much stronger third and fourth line. Under Coach Sullivan, team speed has increased dramatically. He has them calm and believing in themselves. He should be in the discussion for the Jack Adams Award. This year, the sniugneP have a chance because they have turned things around.

Literally.