Stanley Cup Playoffs: Pittsburgh Penguins Get It Over With, And Maybe It’s For The Best
By Matt Gajtka
Apr 24, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) and New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) shake hands after game five of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers defeated the Penguins 2 – 1 in overtime to advance to the next round. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
If you squint your eyes and tilt your head, it’s possible to convince yourself that the Pittsburgh Penguins could have – should have – at least forced a sixth game in their first-round series against the New York Rangers.
Hey, get a couple bounces in overtime and the Pens would have had a chance to eliminate the Rangers on Sunday afternoon at Consol Energy Center, right?
All of that may be true in the aftermath of a series that saw five consecutive one-goal decisions, four of which were claimed by top-seeded New York. Especially after Marc-Andre Fleury dueled Henrik Lundqvist to a draw in the goaltending battle and the Pens limited the high-scoring Rangers to 11 total goals, it’s difficult to believe the flightless fowl are heading home for the summer.
On the other hand, it’s completely predictable this edition of the Penguins didn’t make the NHL’s final eight.
Despite a torrid start under first-year coach Mike Johnston, illness, injuries and perhaps an ill-conceived trade or two weakened the team to the point that it needed to beat league-worst Buffalo on the final day of the regular season to even make the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Counting the postseason, the Pens lost 15 of their final 20 games, scoring just 34 goals in the process. Playing a more possession-based system, Pittsburgh was as good defensively as it has been since Kevin Constantine was coach, but even in this low-scoring NHL era, you still need to score to win a championship.
Clearly, this Pens team didn’t have much of a shot at taking home a trophy, but there’s no rule that said they couldn’t pull off at least one upset before the season was over.
Despite being without difference-making defensemen Kris Letang and Olli Maatta, to say nothing of the talented Christian Ehrhoff and Derrick Pouliot, the Penguins were a well-timed goal or two from making the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers sweat.
Speaking of Constantine, he was behind the bench the previous time the Pens faced the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed in the first round. In 1999, the Penguins barely squeezed into the playoff field, drawing the Devils in what became an epic best-of-seven series.
Led by a hobbled Jaromir Jagr, those Pens rallied from 3-2 down in the series to topple New Jersey before falling to Toronto in the second round. For a brief moment this year, it felt like Pittsburgh might get a chance to enjoy a similar unexpected triumph for its hockey team.
But would that have meant anything more, beyond an extra week to 10 days of playoff palpitations?
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For a franchise that has no qualms saying its primary goal is a championship, does it matter if it gets eliminated in the first round or the second?
Those aren’t necessarily questions for outside observers to answer, but that level of expectation is what the Penguins have fostered in this city, for better or worse.
In its compromised state, this team was a huge longshot to challenge the eight playoff wins that the 2013 team accumulated, still the Pens’ most in a single spring since winning it all in 2009.
However, with Fleury having reached age 30 and star centers Sidney Crosby (27) and Evgeni Malkin (28) creeping closer to that number, 2015 will go down as another prime year for that trio without as much as a conference title, let alone a Stanley Cup.
Maybe it’s for the best they got it over with quickly this time.