CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins' regular-season finale in Columbus Thursday could either be completely meaningless or a must-win to make the playoffs.
The Penguins won't find out which one it'll be until around 9:30 Wednesday night.
The Penguins did have their fate in their own hands entering Tuesday's game against the Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena. All they had to do to secure a playoff spot was beat the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, and none of the rest mattered. After dropping Tuesday's game by a 5-2 margin, their fate is back out of their own hands.
The Panthers clinched one of the two remaining wild card spots on Tuesday night. It's down to the Islanders and Penguins for the last spot, and the Islanders have a one-point lead on the Penguins in the standings. The Islanders wrap up the regular season at home against the Canadiens on Wednesday, and if the Islanders get even just one point in the standings out of the game, it's over for the Penguins. The Islanders would clinch a playoff spot.
The Penguins need a regulation win out of the Canadiens, then a win in any fashion themselves against the Blue Jackets on Thursday.
For now, it's a waiting game. They're preparing for Thursday's regular-season finale as if it's going to be meaningful hockey. Wednesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex was business as usual as a result.
Players acknowledged the disappointment they had over blowing the opportunity to secure a playoff spot by their own effort.
"I would say that we could have scored," Mikael Granlund told me of the loss to the Blackhawks,. "That's one of those games that I feel like we were pressing and trying to get something done. We didn't get the lead. The third period was a tight game and we let up a couple of goals against. It was a disappointing night."
Still, the mood on the ice and in the locker room afterward wasn't that of a team that believes they just threw their shot at the playoffs away. The feel of this practice was that of any other practice before a game. The format was the same, with skills drills at the start, followed by five-on-five work and then special teams work. Players stayed out on the ice after for their own individual work. The mood was even pretty light at times, with players laughing like usual during some moments before and after practice.
"We'e hopeful that we're going to play a meaningful game, and we're game-planning for that," Mike Sullivan said after practice. "We're not out of the playoffs until we're out of the playoffs. We've got to operate under the assumption today that we have meaningful hockey in front of us. We've got to have a substantive practice, we have to get something out of it. Then we have to go to Columbus and we're hopeful that we'll play a meaningful game in Columbus."
Still, the uncertainty that comes with relying on the Islanders to lose in regulation Wednesday night has the Penguins a little uneasy.
"It's not a great feeling," Sidney Crosby said. "I think it's just a situation where you have to make the best of it and prepare the same way, and hope that we get another chance."
It's a sentiment that echoed around the locker room on Wednesday.
"We're disappointed with last night, obviously," Drew O'Connor said. "But we're still in it if we get a little help. Some of that is out of our hands. All we can do is prepare for Columbus and hope for the best tonight."
"All we can do is prepare for tomorrow," Granlund said. "We'll see what happens tonight. That's all we can do right now."
The Penguins got a gift from the Capitals Monday when they beat the Islanders and put the Penguins' destiny back in their own control, a gift that they squandered away with Tuesday's loss. The Penguins need another gift from the Canadiens tonight in order to keep those playoff hopes alive. If they get that gift, they'll work to not squander that one away.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• There was full attendance at practice, everyone was a full participant. Alex Nylander is included in that -- they didn't make him drive across the turnpike again just yet.
• Nick Bonino didn't take line rushes and was only rotating in for half of the penalty-killing work. Sullivan said after practice that Bonino hasn't been cleared to play yet.
• O'Connor slotted back in on the third line. Sullivan said he would anticipate O'Connor being a game-time decision Thursday, but O'Connor was a little more forthcoming in regard to his status.
"I'm cleared to play," O'Connor said. "It's up to the coaches at this point. But I'm fully cleared. I'm hoping to be back in the lineup tomorrow."
O'Connor said the injury was a "small thing" related to the high hit he took in the game against the Wild.
• Marcus Pettersson was reunited with Jeff Petry on the second defense pairing. Dmitry Kulikov was the odd man out. Sullivan said he would anticipate Pettersson being a game-time decision Thursday. Petterson sounded encouraged.
"The body's good, it'll be good to get playing again," Pettersson said. "I know the rules are that I have to get cleared by the doctor and then it's a coaches decision at the end of it."
• The Penguins put Mark Friedman on waivers after practice. If both Bonino and Pettersson are going to both play Thursday (which seems unlikely, based on Bonino's participation in practice) then the Penguins would need to send Friedman and Nylander down to clear cap space. If Bonino isn't going to play then nobody has to be sent down.
• These were the lines and pairings used:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Ryan Poehling - Mikael Granlund
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
(Nick Bonino, Alex Nylander)
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Jan Rutta
Dmitry Kulikov-Mark Friedman/Chad Ruhwedel
• The first power play was Kris Letang, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rakell
• The second power play was Jeff Petry, Granlund, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust and Jeff Carter
• Granlund has one goal and four assists in 20 games since the trade, primarily in a third-line role with penalty-killing duties. That's a big dip in production for him after putting up nine goals and 27 assists in 58 games with Nashville, though he was in a top-six role with the Predators. I asked Granlund Wednesday how he feels about his play here since the trade with the lack of scoring.
"It's a role I've been playing," Granlund told me. "There's a lot of defensive responsibilities, PK and all that. I'm kind of happy with how I've done in those situations. Obviously, you'd like to get scoring and all that too, but you always have to remember the role you're playing and the situations you're out there. I think I've done a good job. You'd like to give even more to the team scoring-wise, but we'll see what's going to happen."
• This could be the first time ever that both Crosby and Malkin play in all 82 games. When asked about the significance of that, Crosby said "I'd take 81 and a playoff spot, to be honest with you." He noted that sometimes they haven't played a full 82 because they're in a playoff spot by this time and rest the last game.
• The Penguins need a regulation win out of the Canadiens tonight over the Islanders. Here were the Canadiens' lines/pairings in their morning skate:
Mike Hoffman - Nick Suzuki - Joel Armia
Sean Farrell - Jonathan Drouin - Denis Gurianov
Rem Pitlick - Jake Evans - Brendan Gallaghe
Michael Pezzetta - Chris Tierney - Joel Teasdale
Mike Matheson - Justin Barron
Joel Edmundson - Chris Wideman
Johnathan Kovacevic - Frederic Allard
Sam Montembeault starts
• These were the lines/pairings the Islanders used:
Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Josh Bailey
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise - J-G Pageau - Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho - Scott Mayfield
Samuel Bolduc - Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin starts
• If the Penguins miss the playoffs, this would only be the second time since Wilkes-Barre/Scranton became their AHL affiliate in 1999 that both teams missed the playoffs in the same year. The only other time that happened was 2001-02. The Nailers also missed the ECHL playoffs that season, and they're out of a playoff spot this year as well.
