Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby and Co. Desperate, But Series Not Over
By Matt Shetler
When the clock hit triple-zeroes Friday night, there wasn’t much to be happy about for the guys in the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room.
Looking back at the past six-plus periods, we’ve seen a pair of blown third period leads, a whopping 12 goals allowed and a complete breakdown defensively; things totally unlike what we’ve seen from Dan Bylsma’s team throughout the course of the 82-game regular season.
If you walked away as a fan after watching Game 2 thinking the series is over, it’s hard to argue with you, but this Penguins team still has some life left in them
That’s because they’re desperate and sometimes the desperate team is the most dangerous one.
The Pens need to come out and play with that desperation for 60 minutes on Sunday and must have the mentality that this isn’t a seven game series any longer, but instead a one-game series. Nothing else matters except Sunday’s game. There’s no point in looking ahead as to what could possibly happen the rest of the series. All that matters is getting one Sunday afternoon.
It certainly won’t be easy.
Heading into Philadelphia down 0-2 and into a building where the Pens won only one of three games is a huge challenge. So is trying to steal a win in front of what promises to be a loud and rowdy Flyers’ home crowd at the Wells Fargo Center.
Of course if the Pens don’t sure up their defense and protect their goaltender a little bit better, they have no chance. As is the case if they don’t slow down Philadelphia’s special teams, which have scored both a pair of powerplay and a pair of shorthanded goals in the first two games.
Yes, desperation is in order.
They need something to bring everything together. Something to change the series around. Whether it be an overtime goal, an X’s and O’s change or something smaller, the Pens need to do something to change the series around.
Down 0-2 and going on the road is tough, but not impossible.
The Flyers stunned the Penguins in the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs under similar circumstances.
The Pens are no strangers themselves to being down a pair of games and coming back to win a series.
There was the 1991 Wales Conference Finals where they fell behind 0-2 to the Boston Bruins before rallying to not only win the series, but their first Stanley Cup.
The Pens also came from behind in 1992 and 1996 against the Washington Capitals, but more importantly, remember back only a few years to 2009 when they trailed the Detroit Red Wings 0-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals and we all know what happened five games later as the Pens would win the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history.
It’s a big mountain to climb, but clearly not an impossible one. There are some positives. The Pens have scored eight goals in two games. When they get that type of production, they should win games more often than not.
Something has to happen though. Marc-Andre Fleury may have to steal a game. They may have to get some scoring from an unlikely source.
All it takes is one bounce to go their way and this series could change in a hurry.
That bounce needs to happen on Sunday though. It’s a one-game series with their season on the line.
It’s time to act desperate.
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