I suppose like so many other Penguins fans, my attention was riveted to the “Scores” page of NHL.com last night. Eyes fixed on the Capitals-Flyers and Red Wings-Canadiens games.
Of course, we needed the Caps and Wings to lose to keep our playoff hopes alive.
For a while, things seemed to be going our way. The Canadiens held a 4-3 lead over the Wings as the final minutes ticked off the game clock. On the far side of the state, the Flyers and Caps were knotted up at 1-apiece.
Perfect.
Then, with three minutes to play and totally out of the blue, a red EN (empty net) indicator flashed next to “Flyers.”
What the…? Has John Tortorella lost his mind?
Alas, it the beginning of the end for our playoff hopes. Mere seconds later the score updated. Capitals 2 Flyers 1.
Noooooooooo!
Still bewildered by this sudden and unforeseen turn of events, it suddenly dawned on me that the Flyers weren’t merely in a position to play spoiler. They needed a regulation win to keep their own faint playoff chances alive. That’s why Torts pulled his goalie.
Although my heart sank, there was still time. Maybe that little pain-in-the-butt, Travis Konecny, would even it up for Philly.
I turned my attention to the Red Wings-Canadiens score. Still 4-3, Habs. I watched with no small amount of anxiety as the final minutes interminably drained from the clock.
The countdown stopped with seven seconds to play. It froze again with three seconds left. This can’t be good, I thought.
It wasn’t.
Bleeping David Perron, who couldn’t hit the green side of a red barn when he played for us, scored for the Wings with five friggin’ seconds to go to send the game to overtime.
Crestfallen, I turned my attention back to the Capitals-Flyers game. I watched in horror as FINAL replaced the countdown above the score…still 2-1. The grim reality struck with the force of a Brooks Orpik bodycheck.
The Caps…playoff bound.
Our Pens…pfft.
Morbid curiosity made me follow the Red Wings-Canadiens game to its inevitable conclusion. The Wings triumphed as well.
I felt so badly for our players, who rallied so valiantly in the closing weeks of the season only to come up short. None more than Sidney Crosby. His efforts to carry us to a playoff berth…otherworldly. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another player, at any age, play such detailed, inspired hockey for so long a stretch.
I so wanted Sid to be rewarded with another crack at the playoffs. No one would’ve been more deserving.
So close…and yet so far.
As our fate really began to sink in, I began to catalog all the missed opportunities and blown leads. In particular, the 5-4 come-from-in-front overtime loss to the Avs, which oddly served as a springboard for our stretch run. And that disastrous loss to the Flames on March 2 when we blew a seemingly secure 3-1 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.
I won’t recite the whole list of failures…Gretz has already done that over on Pensburgh. But needless to say, this season was a virtual cavalcade of chances squandered. Sometimes with a disregard bordering on cavalier.
Nor do Mike Sullivan and the coaches get a pass. Yes, Sully held us together for our 8-1-3 stretch run and pushed some right buttons along the way (Alex Nedeljkovic in goal). But the utter inability of him and his staff to address and fix issues that have plagued this team over, and over, and over (and over) again for the past two seasons and longer must be accounted for. There must be a reckoning.
(There probably won’t be. It’ll be business as usual under Sully next season.)
Bottom line? We’re on the outside of the playoff picture looking in for the second year in a row.
That’s unacceptable.
Sully might have the best job security in all of sports. It’s been 6 years since the Pens won a series, and now 2 since they even made playoffs.
This one stings. Not because they missed by an inch. Because the truth is they’ve been out of it since November due to the failure to address their shortcomings by anyone in the organization. And we blew our shot at the draft lottery to boot. This might be the worst possible outcome for the season.
Two thoughts…
1 – I can’t be the only one thinking the real man behind the back to back Cups was Tocchet. We should’ve done more to keep him.
2 – Go Canes! We need that conditional pick!
Hey Nick,
Agree about our coach and job security. Unless there’s an anti-Sully undercurrent within the organization I’m not aware of, he’s a lock to be back next season.
I never intend to sound like I’m totally disregarding or bashing him. Sully’s obviously very intelligent, thoughtful and well spoken, and seems like a class guy through and through. Knows the game, appears to have a really good reputation among his peers. There’s no questioning his passion to win. I’m sure he gets more than his fair share of things right.
That said, one of my main concerns is the way he handles younger players. Unless a kid’s an obvious talent like a Jake Guentzel or a John Marino, he seems to have a quick hook. How many kids who were at a tipping point in their development wound up getting stapled to the bench…or worse…because they weren’t exactly what he was looking for?
I don’t think that’s what we need going forward, especially with our stated desire and obvious need to get younger.
On a whole, I question some of his personnel decisions. His refusal to even think about splitting up Sid and Jake contributed to us becoming a one line…or two-player…team. I also question why he got away from a rotation system in goal with Jarry and Nedeljkovic. One that worked pretty well for a stretch.
Never mind his aversion to physical players, which in fairness does appear to have softened somewhat.
The inability to correct obvious flaws is also a concern. The power play a prime example. But maybe most of all, our difficulty playing with and protecting leads, an ongoing issue for it seems like forever and one that really cost us. While I think Sully’s able to make adjustments…occasionally we’ll string together a really smart, structured game or two…all too often we seem to revert back to our error-prone ways.
I fear the players…especially our core…are all too used to him and tune him out. On his part, I think he has so much regard for these guys, it might hinder his ability to hold them accountable.
All very human and understandable. But I don’t think that helps us going forward.
I just really feel we could use a new voice and perhaps an updated system and approach that better fits our situation and the talent on hand.
Rick