The Penguins put themselves in this spot and have no one to blame but themselves

16/04/2024 14:04

They need a lot of help on Tuesday night they might not get.

Even with Monday's 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to watch and hope on Tuesday night to keep any playoff hope for their regular season finale on Wednesday night. They need to hope Montreal and Philadelphia can win their games, and while that is certainly possible, there is no guarantee that either team wins, let alone both.

They certainly did not get any help over the past couple of days.

And that is simply a reality the Penguins are going to have to accept. Because this brutal position they find themselves in is not the result of not getting enough outside help. This is the result of their own flaws and their own struggles as a hockey team over the course of an 82-game season and their own poor play.

I said on Saturday that I was not mad about the Penguins performance against the Boston Bruins.

They had to be nearly flawless for three weeks just to give themselves a chance, while also relying on a lot of teams around them struggling at the same time. For the most part, they were nearly flawless. For the most part, they got a lot of the help they needed.

Eventually they were going to slip. Eventually the outside help was probably going to stop.

The issue was not the Penguins laying an egg against Boston or Washington beating Tampa Bay and Boston.

The issue was the position the Penguins put themselves in over the first 65 games of the season.

It was a power play unit that never sorted itself out and has somehow managed to get worse, sitting in 31st place in the NHL at just 14.6 percent and has allowed 12 shorthanded goals, tied for the most in the NHL.

It was a team that lost five regulation games and two overtime games when leading after two periods.

And just looking back at some of those games should leave an ugly taste in a lot of player's mouths.

• Failing to get a point against Anaheim when you were tied with a full two-minute, 5-on-3, two-man advantage with two minutes to play.
• Not getting a point in Buffalo in late November when holding a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes to play.
• Doing the exact same thing in Vegas in January.
• Not getting a point in Calgary when they had a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes to play in regulation.
• Having a 4-0 lead in Colorado with 24 minutes to play and only getting one point.
• Having a 3-1 lead in Columbus with 15 minutes to play and, again, only getting one point.
• Blowing a two-goal lead against Detroit with eight minutes to play and allowing the Red Wings to get a point that could make the difference in making the playoffs or not making the playoffs.

Over the course of an 82-game season you are going to have a couple of games like that. At some point you are going to lose a lead or lose a game you should win. But the Penguins had a habit of doing it all season where no lead ever seemed to be safe, and the number of points they just gave away added up into a major problem that has helped put them in the position they are in right now.

That is what mediocre teams do.

The Penguins still have a chance. But they need to hope and rely on other teams to help get them there. It is possible. Nobody should trust Detroit or Washington to win any game against any opponent given the way both teams have played for most of the season, and especially lately. But if they do not get that help I am not going to direct my energy at the outside teams for not giving them enough help.

They received more than enough help over the past month. Probably more than they deserved.

The only team that did not help them enough during the season was the Penguins with their play over the first 65 games of the season when all of the above issues kept adding up. They made this bed. They have to sleep in it.