When the Pittsburgh Penguins traded for St. Louis Blues Center Maxim Lapierre they cited him as a “playoff performer”. Guys like me that cover this team on a regular basis were quite underwhelmed and unimpressed by Lapierre throughout the remainder of the regular season and doubted that he could have a positive impact in the post season.
However, in the first two games of this playoff season Lapierre has done nothing but impress. He has shown tenacity, toughness, skill, and the ever-so-coveted grit. And, yes, he even looked pretty darn good in the advanced stats world in Pittsburgh’s game 1 loss.