This was one win. For two points. With three games to go. And at least from my perspective, all four of these games basically need to become carbon copies, both in outcome and in overall performance.
So, um, anyone else not exactly feeling that?
I mean, it's one thing to live in the moment and love almost everything about the Penguins' 4-1 flattening of the Wild on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. From the first minute to the 60th, from Kris Letang's latest gem of a goal to Jeff Carter's first of that caliber in forever, from Tristan Jarry finally finding peak form at one end to all involved being spared the ignominy of elimination at the hands of franchise treasure Marc-Andre Fleury, from the first line to the fourth, from the first pairing to the third, from faceoffs to forechecks to -- gasp! -- physicality ... yeah, this was worth all the applause that came down from the 18,417 on hand.
But OK, in the next breath, someone please share with me whatever expectations they've got for the next game Saturday.
In Detroit.
Against a lousy, lottery-level opponent.
Against an inexperienced roster but one loaded with faster, fresher legs that, in isolation, can account for all the difference.
Heck, as long as I'm at it, the most recent precedent for these Penguins putting together even two wins was nearly a month ago, March 11-12 over the Rangers and Flyers. And if we're talking four wins in a row, we're rewinding to late February and only two other earlier occasions. And if we're talking four consecutive strong overall performances ... yeah, we're talking about some other year.
Better believe, then, that my first question for Letang wasn't about this but about how to carry over some or all of this into Detroit:
"We don't think about what happened last time," he'd reply. "We have to just focus on the game that's coming ahead. Like tonight. Focus in the meetings on ourselves and what we need to do. It's gonna be the same thing in Detroit."
I asked Mike Sullivan the same.
"Well, I mean, I'll give some thought into that over the next 24 hours. I think our focus was on this one here tonight," he'd reply similarly before addressing losing both meetings with the Red Wings this season by an aggregate score of 12-8. "But obviously, we've got to do a better job, we've got to find a way to have success, and I know we're capable of that. I don't think they've seen our best, and so, that's what we need to bring. We need to bring our best each and every night. That's just the reality of where we're at right now."
Sure is. And the stance on focusing on the game at hand isn't just smart. It's a must, given their precarious place in the NHL's Eastern Conference wild card race, since the Panthers and Islanders both won big on this same night and, thus, continued to share a one-point fence keeping the Penguins out:
NHL
There's no edge in those remaining schedules up there. No games in hand. No nothing. Don't waste time dissecting it. Besides, there are too many buried variables -- stars being rested, backup goaltenders getting work, teams openly tanking, contenders gearing up -- without even accounting for the Penguins' overarching inconsistency.
As such, I'll repeat: They need to run the table.
And further, for a 17th consecutive playoff berth to mean anything more than extending professional sports' longest streak, they'll need to achieve that through a run of consistent overall performance that they've yet to demonstrate at any single stage of this season. Not even back during the holidays when they ran up the league's best record over a month's span.
But hey, if anyone cares to feel upbeat about this scenario, go nuts. It's a free hockey world.
Me, I'm standing by six months of precedent.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Letang have all excelled per the mid-30s standard of any sport. Rickard Rakell and Jason Zucker, both of whom scored again in this one, have been above and beyond. Jake Guentzel just hit the 70-point mark. Bryan Rust's been semi-disappointing but still has 20 goals. Marcus Pettersson, now hurt, rose up. But take everyone else, assume that each individual evaluation varies to a degree, dispense with any explanations or excuses, be sure to include players no longer here ... and that majority's become the collective persona of this team's game-day disposition. No extra fire. Or energy. Or jolt.
Just a bunch of blah.
Maybe that'll magically change over the coming week. But I'm kinda blah on that myself, to be honest.
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Sidney Crosby takes a faceoff against the Wild's Ryan Hartman.
• I don't believe the scope of the shame can be overstated if this team doesn't make it. To waste what had to be an unforeseen season of Sid and Geno playing every single game, with both producing at point-a-game paces, and then to add into it Zucker and Rakell shining ... man, it takes all kinds of GM-level bungling to blow that.
• How can Ron Hextall keep his job?
I've drawn up one scenario, just for fun: Get into the playoffs (obviously), finish ahead of both the Panthers and Islanders to gain a matchup with the Hurricanes (probably the only team the Penguins could beat in the upper half of the bracket, even though they lost all three regular-season meetings), and somehow (here's the least plausible portion) have Carter, Mikael Granlund and the rest of the bottom-six forwards carry the day. But especially Granlund. And I'm talking Conn Smythe stuff here.
• Wait, there's one more: No one who matters at Fenway Sports Group's watching any of this. Or they're too distracted by the Red Sox being swept by the Pirates.
• Flower remains loved here, and he loves right back, reports Danny Shirey from the Minnesota room.
• I broke down Letang's icebreaker for a Freeze Frame, so make the mandatory trip to that file for a visual.
• Right here, I'm going to show Carter's goal:
It's an authoritative rush by Brian Dumoulin and a razor-sharp feed from Drew O'Connor, but what's not easily picked up without being in the building is the way Carter bullied through that slot area and banged his stick on the ice to ensure O'Connor would see him. Pristine. Classic.
No idea where that's been for a year and a half, but there it was.
• Would've welcomed the opportunity to ask Carter about the sequence. Not an option.
• The other two goals were almost as nice:
Rakell on his Alexander Ovechkin-trademarked power-play blast that blurred by Fleury's glove: "Yeah, I'm trying to shoot the puck and put my areas where I'm more comfortable to put the puck on net when I get it. It's definitely nice to see it go in."
Zucker on his own one-timer, fueled by Geno and Rakell: "Team effort."
• Jarry did more than his share in stopping 27 of 28 shots, particularly since the Wild had 11 high-danger chances to the Penguins' six.
"I thought he was great," Sullivan said. "I thought he made some big saves for us. They had a couple of sneaky, really Grade-A chances with deflections in the second period. A couple of those point shots that look harmless hit sticks in the slot, and those are dangerous plays. I thought he tracked them well."
• Jarry, asked about how well the team played, might've come up with the evening's most meaningful response: "Yeah, we've got to keep it going. We're still chasing teams. We've got to bring it every game."
What he said.
• Good to see Jan Rutta back. Wasn't expecting him this soon off the latest lower-body injury, but he went hard. The advanced analytics didn't do him any favors -- Minnesota had 25 shot attempts to the Penguins' 11 while he was on the rink -- but his services are needed sooner rather than later. And again, man, he gave his all.
• Thanks for reading. I'll back back at the ballpark Friday.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Kris Letang, Penguins D
2. Rickard Rakell, Penguins RW
3. Tristan Jarry, Penguins G
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He's skating with the team.
• Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He's skating on his own.
• Forward Nick Bonino is on long-term injured reserve with a lacerated kidney. He's skating on his own.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Ryan Poehling - Mikael Granlund
Drew O'Connor - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Mark Friedman - Jan Rutta
And for Dean Evason's Wild:
Sam Steel - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Oskar Sundqvist
Brandon Duhaime - Connor Dewar - Ryan Reaves
Jacob Middleton - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Mathew Dumba
Jon Merrill - John Klingberg
THE SCHEDULE
After this game, Sullivan canceled the Penguins' practice that'd been scheduled for Friday. The team will instead just travel to Detroit, where the next game will be Saturday, 1:08 p.m., against the Red Wings.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
