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There was only one game in the NHL playoffs Saturday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins escaped with a series win despite getting soundly outplayed in Game Six. Scott Cullen has stats and notes from the Islanders-Penguins series. Brooks Orpik scored in overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Islanders, taking the first-round playoff series in six games. It was Orpiks first goal since November, 21, 2011, against the Islanders. It was his first playoff goal in his 78th career playoff game. What this series showed, however, was that the Islanders werent merely trying to hang on and miraculously compete with the top-seeded Penguins. Rather, the Islanders were the team pushing the pace of play more often. In Game Six, the Isles outshot the Penguins 38-21 and for the entire series the Islanders outshot the Penguins by five shots per game (32.8 to 27.8). Nevertheless, the Penguins earned a top seed during the regular season even though their shot differential was a mediocre +0.8, but a sizzling power play (33.3% vs. the Islanders) helped the Penguins win more than their standard shot differentials would suggest. The Islanders power play, by comparison, was 2-for-20 (10.0%) in the series. In the clinching game, Penguins D Paul Martin had a goal and an assist, with a team-high five blocked shots while playing a team-leading 30:03. The Islanders got a couple of points in Game Six from LW Michael Grabner (1 G, 1 A, +2) and C Keith Aucoin (2 A). LW Josh Bailey led all shooters with six shots on goal. Islanders LW Matt Martin had 11 hits in 12:00 time on ice in Game Six, giving him a playoff-leading 41 hits through six games. John Tavares and Mark Streit led the Islanders with five points in six games, while Tavares, Matt Moulson and Travis Hamonic tied with a team-worst minus-4 rating. Bailey and C Frans Nielsen were the most snakebitten Islanders in the series, failing to score despite registering 16 shots on goal. As might be anticipated, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby were the Penguins top scorers, with 11 and nine points, respectively, but they had help. RW Jarome Iginla had nine points, RW Pascal Dupuis had five goals and seven points, while defencemen Martin and Kris Letang each had six points. Martin led the Penguins with a plus-5 rating. The overriding sense of the Penguins effort in Round One is that they relied on their superior skill too often and it very nearly cost them. They were bailed out by G Tomas Vokoun, who stopped 66 of 69 shots (.957 SV%) in the last two games, but they arent necessarily going to have a goaltending advantage when they face Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators in Round Two. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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Custom Nike Miami Marlins Jerseys .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again.This is the time of year when teams fighting for spots in the College Football Playoff might be tempted to run up big margins in hopes of impressing the selection committee.Whether that strategy actually makes a difference is up for debate.Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt, who chairs the College Football Playoff committee, says the committee doesnt take margin of victory into account.We talk about how that team has performed each and every week, Hocutt said. We talk about `Was that a convincing win? ... I believe, in certain games a convincing win can be a 14-0 score, and in other games it can be a 35-7 score. I think in the game of college football, a convincing win can vary. But in no way do we incent margin of victory.Yet that didnt stop Louisville coach Bobby Petrino from bringing up margin of victory recently when he complained about his teams position in the rankings. Maybe I made a mistake, looking back at it, he said. (Against) Florida State, we shouldve kept all the starters in and scored 80 points and done that.Louisville beat Florida State 63-20 on Sept. 17, though the Cardinals playoff hopes suffered a major blow Thursday night when they fell 36-10 at Houston.Of course, scoring 80 against Florida State technically shouldnt have mattered to the committee if it isnt taking margin of victory into account. But how do the committee members not pay attention to the actual scores of games?I think they do to some degree, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. Thats probably the best way to say it. I think they take all of it into consideration. But its a very bright group that, in some cases, it probably doesnt matter too much to them, and in some cases it does.Jeff Sagarin, who has his own rating system to rank teams, says common sense shows that the playoff committee does factor in the scores of each game. Sagarin cited the 2014 season, when eventual national champion Ohio State leapfrogged TCU to earn the fourth playoff spot after trouncing Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten championship game.Their problem is if they ever verbalize, `Oh, we look at scores, then people will castigate them for encouraging teams to run up the score, so they have to pretend they dont, Sagarin said.Sagarin says his own ratings are based on who did you play, where did you play and what was the score. His rankings at the start of this week were virtually identical to the CFP rankings, with one notable exception.The CFP rankings had Clemson fourth and Louisville fifth, while Sagarins ratings reversed the order of those two Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Those rankings were done before Louisvilles loss to Houston. Both the CFP and Sagarin had Alabaama first, Ohio State second, Michigan third and Washington sixth.ddddddddddddYou get better accuracy predicting future games when you use the score, Sagarin said. Thats all I can say about it. If people want to ignore the scores, thats their business, but the committee, I dont think they do (ignore the scores).Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose team has appeared in each of the first two playoffs, says he doesnt believe margin of victory should be factored into the CFP rankings.I dont think that beating another team by an embarrassing score really should be something that (should be rewarded) from a sportsmanship standpoint or a common respect standpoint for the other team and their players and their families, Saban said. Thats not really something that should be a part of the game.But Hocutt acknowledged the committee discusses what constitutes a convincing win. How often has the eye test come up as a way to judge a team during the playoff era? Sagarin notes the frequent references to style points.Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher recalls the example of his 2014 team that went undefeated in the regular season but only earned a No. 3 seed in the playoff behind Alabama and Oregon, who had each lost a game. Florida State played several close games that year, and committee members often referred to the Seminoles lack of game control without specifically mentioning scores.We were undefeated, hadnt lost in two years, but game control, Fisher said this week. I havent heard `game control anymore. Did that one go out of the equation?Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says he doesnt mind a scenario in which the committee considers how well a team played without specifically analyzing the victory margin. Meyer was concerned that if the victory margin becomes an ultimate measuring stick, teams might start acting ...I guess the term is very unsportsmanlike.Im hoping the committee -- I have great confidence there -- just looks at the body of work, the strength of schedule and how they played, Meyer said.The dilemma in that approach is determining how a team played without considering victory margin. That backs up Sagarins notion that scores are taken into consideration, whether or not the committee says so.Its not something evil, Sagarin said. Scores reflect what happened in the game. Thats all.---AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt, Joe Reedy and John Zenor contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Steve Megargee at www.twitter.com/stevemegargee ' ' '