Penguins' latest Final appearance seals dynasty status
Before the puck drops on the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the Pittsburgh Penguins can thank their opponents for helping them gain a clear advantage in playoff wins in recent years.
The Nashville Predators swept the Chicago Blackhawks en route to their Western Conference championship, allowing the Penguins to build quite a gap between them and the next most successful team since the NHL adopted a salary cap coming out of the 2004-05 lockout.
Most playoff wins in NHL's salary cap era:
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) May 26, 2017
Penguins 87!
Chicago 76
Anaheim 70
Detroit 68
San Jose 64
This run, centered around Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, has also eclipsed the success achieved during the reign of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
Just to follow up:
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) May 26, 2017
66/68 won 81 playoff games and went to two Finals in 11 years.
87/71 have 87 wins now and four finals in 11 years.
The Blackhawks do have three Cup wins in that time as compared to only a pair for Pittsburgh, but this will mark the Penguins' fourth appearance in the Final dating back to 2008.
The Penguins, however, can become the first team to post back-to-back Cup wins in the salary cap era, but either way, they've definitely already achieved dynasty status.