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Lucic compares Pittsburgh Penguins to Miami Heat

bronandtheheat

With a recent Stanley Cup championship on their resume, the Boston Bruins aren’t heavy underdogs very often. That might just be the case against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals, however.

Bruins power forward Milan Lucic is clearly relishing the pressure being on the other team, as he told CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty that he thinks the Penguins are the NHL’s answer to the Miami Heat.

“No doubt they’re a great hockey club,” Lucic said. “In my mind, they’re almost like the Miami Heat of the NHL with all the star power.”

The Sidney Crosby-Lebron James parallels are pretty plentiful, for one. They were both No. 1 overall picks in their respective drafts, proved polarizing before championships softened some of the criticism and each player seems to add wrinkles to his game to keep defenses guessing.*

Evgeni Malkin makes a decent double for Dwayne Wade, even if “second fiddle” status seems a little unfair to such a strong player. But who’s Chris Bosh? Which player would be a stand-in for “Birdman”? So many questions.

(Hey, fans of these East teams might need some time-killing activities if the West’s second round goes long ...)

* - Among other similarities. If Crosby had better injury luck and took his talents to the Florida Panthers, it would get downright creepy.