On Wednesday night, we were all sent down to the deepest level of depression that we've been in a while. That feeling no doubt carried over into Thursday as you woke up for work or whatever you had to do. It was feeling very similar to that of losing your dog. Kind of felt like you've had your heart ripped out. Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Guess what? That was only game one, and it's better than happening in game two.
The Pens came out looking like the best team in hockey for twenty minutes. They looked as if there wasn't a team on the planet that could beat them in a seven game series.
What happened next give every Pens fan the right to be pissed, the right to question this teams heart, and the right to expect more.
They didn't lose because they got beat while playing their best hockey. No, they lost because they thought they had the game won after 20 minutes of playing. They let the lead go to their heads, and it cost them.
Turnovers, lackadaisical passing, and a sense of privilege cost them game 1. Paul Martin begin afraid to take a hit to make a play, pinching deep in the offensive zone and not getting back to position, killed them. The defense not moving the puck up and out, killed them. The forwards no tracking back to the net on the back check, killed them.
That is not Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, and that has to anger everyone, at least a little bit.
This Philadelphia Flyers team is not better than the Penguins. They are a team that has jumped on every mistake every team has made this year, and they did it Wednesday night.
Thankfully it was game one. Thankfully they get a second chance. Now they just have to take it.
Structurally the Pens were awful in the last forty minutes of play, and the matchup game cost them. Dan Bylsma has got to stop being afraid to put Sidney Crosby on the ice against the Flyers top line. He's done this in the past few years during the playoffs, and it's cost them games. We may not have had the two best players in the lineup, but we've had a line up that is hungry for a win if he lets them play.
This is a must win for the Penguins tonight. Can't say it any other way. Would be tough for them to take four of six from a team that they have struggled with all year.
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