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PITTSBURGH Its a lock: Somewhere in Consol Energy Center on Saturday afternoon, a person in a yellow giveaway T-shirt wondered Brandon Tanev Jersey why Phil Ke sel only shows up for playoff games.Forget that he had 26 goals in the regular season; Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were the only Penguins with more. Forget that he had 59 points; Crosby and Kris Letang had him beat there, and thats it.MORE: And, most of all, forget, for a variety reasons, that Ke sels reputation before the start of this postseason was the exact inverse. People wondered why he shrunk in the playoffs despite sustained regular-season greatne s despite that he did no such thing. In 22 playoff games split between Boston and Toronto before this April, Ke sel had 21 points.Now, after another goal and another a sist in Pittsburghs 6-3, series-clinching Game 5 win over the Rangers, Ke sel is over a point per game in the playoffs for his career.This is because hes a good player. Period. Always. Sometimes hes great, and sometimes there are dry spells because thats howhockey works, especially for goal-scorers but for whatever reason, plenty struggle to understand or appreciate him.Hes a Rorschach painting, in the sense that perception of him, his personality and his game is based largely on whatever baggage the person looking at him carries.A lot of that is based on how he acts on camera. Hes uncomfortable, with a tendency to stash any Alexander Burmistrov Jersey joy he feels for either himself or other people who arent asking questions or listening to his answers. Thats his prerogative. Still, a Phil Ke sel scrum tends not to be easy for anyone involved.Phil, what about playing for the Penguins, in this situation has helped your game?I think I just always kind of play the same way. I dont change too much.Is there le s pre sure here?Obviously we got a lot of great players here, so I dont know if theres ever le s pre sure anywhere you go.Its got to be fun playing with Crosby, Malkin and Letang on the power play, right?Obviously theyre great players, so when I get a chance to play with them its a lot of fun and we got a great team here.How good does it feel to be back Bobby Hull Jersey in the playoffs again? Its been a few years.Obviously, its a good feeling. This is the best time of year. Right now, were playing well and getting wins.Thats a sample, and it says, effectively, nothing. Hed just advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since his third year in the league, and he looked and sounded like hed just played a 2-1 snoozer against the Devils on a Tuesday in February. The only obligation he has in this spot, though, is to stop short of a saulting the people asking the questions, physically or verbally. Hes fairly spotle s in that regard, so its not a problem.The point is that, if youre looking for answers from the hockey equivalent of a dog whistle, youre not going to find them. Is that a shame? Not really, and its also far from his fault; his situation in Toronto, by the end, as the avatar for a franchise that had become , was impo sible. Blame him for not helping himself, maybe, but there wasnt much help to give.He wasnt physical or quotable; if thats something that matters to you A) it really shouldnt and B) its tough to imagine any player who was simultaneously le s of both. He was just great at scoring goals and being the best part of a terrible team. , somehow, still not physical, still not quotable, but a vital and complementary piece on a team with real Stanley Cup potential. Letang was asked about Ke sels fit, and he brought up the Kings, who, after adding a similar player, had won the Stanley Cup in two of the past four years.I look at a guy like (Marian Gaborik), hes not a hard-nose guy, Letang said. Hes not a guy whos going to come out with big hits and stuff like that, but hes going to Shawn Matthias Jersey score those big goals. Phil scored a big goal for us tonight again and thats the type of player he is. Hes a clutch guy when you need a goal and hell get it.MORE: In the first period, Pittsburgh needed it. Streaking down the right wing on the power play, Ke sel beat Henrik Lundqvist with the wrister that deflected off Lundqvists own stick and into the net to tie the game at Winnipeg Jets Jersey 2. It was the platonic ideal of a Phil Ke sel goal, and weve seen it plenty of times.He can change a game with one shot, Crosby said.Since the start of March, hes done that more often; in the last full month of the regular season, playing more often with center Nick Bonino and left wingCarl Hagelin, Ke sel scored six goals he'd had four in every month but November,when he had three and totaled 10 a sists after not having a month with more than six.You can see the impact he has on our team, coach Mike Sullivan said. He's one of those guys that can be a difference-maker and he has been that for us throughout the course of the last eight weeks of our season. He's an important guy for this team and when he plays with the determination he's showing right now, he makes (us) better."For a player whose career has been so greatly defined by perception, that's one important bit of reality. In the end, not much else matters.