Penguins Need Finishing Kick

Step into the WABAC Machine with me, if you will. Actually, not all the way back. Just to April 11, 2015.

The chase for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference had come down to the final day of the regular season. Fighting for their very playoff lives, the Penguins were taking on the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center. A very bad Sabres team…one that finished dead last in the overall standings with 54 points.

Yet a victory was anything but a gimme. In the throes of a prolonged skid, the Pens were 3-9-2 over their previous 14 games. Netting a paltry 24 goals over that span, the offense had virtually dried up. In the process, a 15-point lead over Ottawa had evaporated as well.

Our guys had to win.

Riding a pair of goals from Brandon Sutter and a 28-save performance by Marc-Andre Fleury, the Pens staved off the lowly Sabres, 2-0, in thoroughly forgettable fashion. Indeed, our boys slogged through most of that crucial contest as if they’d woken up late from their pre-game nap. Which may have been true…I believe it was a matinee game.

“We sure made it interesting,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby afterward. Truer words were never spoken.

Back to the present. It seems our current bunch is in a very similar spot…needing a big win over a foe that’s out of the running to clinch a postseason berth. Judging by a mostly uninspired 4-1 loss to red-hot Detroit on Tuesday night, we appear to be flatlining at precisely the wrong time. Much as the 2014-15 squad had under Mike Johnston.

Even the records are eerily similar. The ’14-15 squad finished 43-27-12 with 98 points. The locals presently hold a 43-26-11 mark with 97 points…virtually identical. Both clubs skated without Kris Letang for a stretch, among other high-profile players.

The ’14-15 team had Ottawa and Boston right on its tailpipe. We’ve got Carolina (two points back) and Columbus and Montreal trailing by three apiece. Each club, along with the black and gold, has two games remaining.

Of course, the solution is simple. Win and we’re in.

Might not be as easy as it sounds. While we’ve been treading water of late (4-3-2 in our last nine), tonight’s foe…the Red Wings…have been positively on fire. They’ve won six in a row and eight out of nine.

Worse yet, they’re a fast, energetic team with nothing to lose. They’re riding a wave and playing with abandon. The Pens have faltered all season long against teams that possess speed and vigor.

There’s a sinister irony in all of this. In 2009, we brought the final curtain down on the Motor City’s burgeoning hockey dynasty. For all intents and purposes, Detroit hasn’t been the same team since.

Think they wouldn’t love to throw a wrench into the proceedings and have a hand in preventing the Pens from making the playoffs? Or at the very least…delaying them from getting in?

Irony number two. Guess who happens to be an assistant coach for this Red Wings squad. Yep, former Pens skipper Dan Bylsma, catalyst if not architect of our ‘09 Cup triumph.

Of course, our guys can wipe away the drama by simply doing what they’re built to do…score goals and win big games.

Unfortunately, that may be more than a little problematic given that Evgeni Malkin and Letang (game-time decisions) are on the shelf and several big guns have gone silent.

Since he’s the straw who stirs the Pens’ drink, we’ll start with Crosby. With no goals in his past 10 games “El Sid”…in the midst of an extraordinary season…has turned ice cold at a most inopportune time.

Ditto Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist (one goal each in their past nine games). Notoriously streaky, frequent first-liner Bryan Rust has a lone tally in his past 11.

The homestretch is a lousy time for the well to be running dry. To put it bluntly, if our gunners ain’t a gunnin’, we’re in a peck of trouble. We need for them to score.

Let’s hope the big boys dial it up a notch and pace us to a playoff-clinching victory. They’re way past due.