from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
Where was this much of the season?
Strong goaltending. A conscientious defensive effort. Excellent special teams. A little secondary scoring. A shutdown third period.
All of it added up to one of the Penguins’ better performances and better wins of the season in, arguably, the biggest regular-season game of the Sidney Crosby era.
The Penguins kept a pulse in the playoff chase by beating Minnesota, 4-1, Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. The only bummer about the evening was that Florida and the New York Islanders also won. The Penguins still trail both teams by one point with three games remaining for all three clubs, which are fighting for two postseason spots. The Penguins have to make up two points on either the Panthers or the Islanders to make the postseason for a 17th consecutive season. They lose tiebreakers to both teams....
They haven’t won consecutive games since March 11 and 12. They will play at Detroit Saturday against a Red Wings team that crushed it, 7-4, on March 28.
And even if the Penguins win that game and their final two against woeful Chicago and Columbus, will it be enough? They need to pick up those two points on Florida, which finishes with games against Washington, Toronto and Carolina, or the Islanders, who finish with games against Philadelphia, Washington and Montreal.
Sullivan is looking only at his team’s game at Detroit.
Control what you can control, right?
“I don’t think they’ve seen our best,” Sullivan said of the Red Wings.
Time for the Wings on Saturday to put the Pens out of their misery
Wings own NYI's 1st round pick. The Isles sit 1 pt above Pitt for the last wildcard spot in the East. Therefore--go Pens.
Give me one of picks 14,15, or 16 with the ability to move up 10 spots vs 17 or worse any day of the week.
What Ive said the last couple of days, the hangman is sizing the noose, but he hasnt put it on them yet. Losing the tiebreaker it will still only require one night of a win with a loss in regulation by either Florida or NYI.
Huge huge game in Detroit Saturday.
Yep, the Wings get to play their one 'playoff' game tomorrow.
If there would be a silver lining for Detroit with a regulation time loss to Pittsburg, it is they could possibly jump over, i.e. fall below, Ott and StL to the number 10 lottery spot. As it sits, Detroit is out of contention for the #1 pick. Having 30 or 35 bingo balls out of 1000 isnt very good odds, but it literally is better than zero. They currently only have a 2.9% chance at Fantilli or any #2.
Yep I'm hoping we lose to Pittsburg (just this once) to get back into the lottery and also give the Islanders less of a chance at getting a playoff spot which would hurt our 1st rounder with them.
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