The - matchup in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, one that the Penguins thanks to , was supposed to be a showcase of some of the NHL's top talent.At times, it was.But you wouldn't know it to look at a lot of the numbers at the end of the series.It was a series that featured two generational stars ( and ) that have been the two best players in the world for the past decade, and five of the top-20 scorers in the league during the regular season: Crosby, , Ovechkin, and .Those five players combined to score two goals in the six-game series, both coming from Ovechkin. That list does not include , who would have easily been a sixth player in the series in the top-20 if not for a late-season injury. If you add him, those six superstars combined for three goals (Ovechkin with two, Malkin with one) in the series.But it doesn't just end there. Add to that group and seven of the biggest names in the series combined for only eight goals in six games, with only six of those goals coming at even-strength. Three of in of the series.A lot will be made of this in the coming days, weeks, and months.In Washington, Kuznetsov and Backstrom will face heat for the team losing (anybody that tries to blame Ovechkin is completely out of it and should not be listened to). In Pittsburgh, Crosby and Malkin will be told going into the Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning that they have to "step it up" and play better for their team to have a chance of winning.We will make too much out of all of this.Superstar players are held to an unreasonable expectation. And this is especially true in the playoffs, at least when it comes to their production on the stat sheet.At the risk of repeating an argument I have made here more than once (it is one that is worth repeating), goal scoring in the NHL is not a consistent thing for individual players. But because the superstars are paid the most money there is an expectation that they to do it on a consistent basis. If they don't, they face heat and when the Louis Head Jersey team falls short because "they are paid to score goals."Just score. Find a way. Fight through it. Do something.It is not that easy.The best players in the league score goals in bunches where they go on a brief hot streak for a few games. They get paid top dollar because of those bunches. It is that ability to elevate their play over a stretch of games to a level that 95 percent of the league can not ever reach that makes them so valuable. The player that scores five goals in three games, then goes five without one, then scores four in two games is worth more and is more valuable and makes a bigger impact on a team than a player that scores exactly one goal every fourth or fifth game.It is those short-term bursts that can single-handedly lift a team to wins.Those streaks, unfortunately, do not happen all the time because the NHL is not set up for the best players to consistently dominate the way we want them to or expect them to. When they don't, it leaves an awful lot of time for those players to get left off the scoresheet entirely, which is when they start to hear about having to "step up." It does not nece sarily mean they are playing poorly. It usually just means the puck is not going in the net for them. It is a reflection on a league where the winning team is only scoring three goals on an average night.There will be dry spells over the course of an 82-game season.Sometimes it happens in the middle of December. Sometimes it happens in May.For example, let's look at the top-15 playoff goal scorers since the start 2005-06 postseason: Henrik Zetterberg, Daniel Briere, Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Sharp, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Marleau, Johan Franzen, Alex Ovechkin, Jeff Carter, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Ho sa, Jonathan Toews, Joe Pavelski, and Corey Perry.That is a heck of a list. The fact they are all on there shows they are fantastic players and goal scorers. There are 22 Stanley Cup rings in that group.Every single one of them has had stretches in the playoffs of at least five games or more where they did not score a goal (Ovechkin, Carter and Briere are the only ones that do not have at least stretches of five or more games). Malkin is the only that has not had a stretch longer than five game (though, that will change if he does not score in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final this year). Kane's longest playoff drought is seven games. Toews has four eight-game droughts, including two different nine-game droughts in the same postseason (one of them was 10 games).So why does this happen? Very simple.The competition gets tougher.Not only is it the streakine s of goal scoring in general, but when you get into the playoffs you are also dealing with significantly tougher competition every single night.Every team is good. Every team (well, the overwhelming majority of them) can defend and have great goaltenders. You do not get that occasional game against the other team's backup goalie, or a game against one of the bottom defensive teams in the league or a team at the bottom of the league standings. Then you get into the matchups themselves. When you face the same team for two straight weeks you can run into a situation where one team just has the right matchup to shut somebody down.Take the New York Islanders for example.In the first round John Tavares, their franchise building block and one of the best players in the league, was an unstoppable force for them and pretty much the single biggest reason they beat the Florida Panthers. He went on one of those hot streaks mentioned above and had nine points (five goals, four a sists) in only six games. He seemed to be a part of every big goal and every big play. They do not win that series without him playing at that level. Without him being as good as he was, they are done in round one.But he was never going to keep scoring 1.5 points per game for the rest of the playoffs because, well, that is just not realistic for any player in any era of the NHL, but especially in this one. He also had to face Victor Hedman, , for five straight games.The result: A four-game stretch with zero goals, zero a sists, and only eight shots on goal.Tavares did not suddenly stop being an impact player between the first and second rounds. He did not suddenly lose his ability to be "clutch." The puck stopped going in for him in large part because he had to go up against a top team with a goalie that is (Ben Bishop) and individually face a player that is probably one of the five best defensive players in the entire league (Hedman). And, because like all star players, his production will run hot and cold from time to time.This is why depth matters. Getting back to the Pittsburgh-Washington series, a big part of what happened there was the top players pretty much canceled each other out, which is something that happens quite a bit in most playoff matchups.You have superstar players that go head-to-head every night, and even though they might not be considered shutdown players or Selke Trophy forwards, because they are so darn good they can match each other and not allow the other to gain any kind of an advantage. They can pretty much play to a tie game every night, whether it's by keeping each other off the board entirely, or matching each other goal for goal.At that point, it comes down to depth. That is where Pittsburgh had the advantage against Washington. It is not something they have had in recent years. That meant when Crosby or Malkin would get shut down in a playoff series, the team would have almost no chance of winning because their third and fourth lines were made up of pluggers and grinders that could not make any kind of a difference. Now they have , , , and speedy, talented young players like and making up that group. It is a game changer, and it allowed them to beat the Presidents' Trophy winning team while getting just a single goal from Crosby and Malkin.This should not be seen as a negative on the two stars or a sign that they need to be better.This is how it is supposed to work.The NBA is a superstar league. The team that has the best player on the floor has the best chance of winning of every single time because there are fewer players on each team that contribute to a single game (probably nine or 10 on a given night) and the best players can play a significantly larger portion of the game. They make a bigger impact.Superstars do not have that type of impact in the NHL.In the NHL, you need contributions from 18 skaters and a goalie every night. The best players will typically only play a third of the game (probably a little more if they are defensemen). It takes more than just one or two superstars to win.When the Blackhawks were winning their three Stanley Cups in six years, Kane and Toews were not scoring goals every night. There were long stretches where they did not score at all.The same is true for the Los Angeles Kings with Anze Kopitar (in 2014 he scored one goal in their final 19 playoff games), and it was true for the Penguins themselves in 2009. Because those teams had complete rosters that could make up for that, they were able to win.A lot of times those stars that aren't scoring are taking on the toughest matchups every night and creating an opening for the players on the third and fourth lines. That is why the teams that have that best depth are the ones that will make the deepest runs every time.The sooner we recognize that fact, and the fact that the best players are going to stop scoring goals for lengthy stretches from time to time, the better we will all be. Daniel Castano Jersey