By Haley Williams
This week the Penguins attempted to come back from a two game losing streak. There were tears of joy, there were tears of sorrow, and there were two games on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Feb. 14, the Penguins had a Valentine’s date in Pittsburgh with the Florida Panthers. The night started out with an uneventful first period, but things really started to get spicy in the second. The Panthers opened scoring at 4:28 into the period, and then scored again just 30 seconds later. A Florida power play would gain them another point, plus one more 13 minutes in, bringing the score to 4-0 Panthers. With five minutes left in the period, Bryan Rust was able to put one past Sergei Bobrovsky and get the Penguins on the board, but they still had a three goal deficit to overcome. The Panthers would score again in the third period, bringing their lead back up to four points. Despite one more goal from John Ludvig, the Penguins were unable to close the gap. Pittsburgh fell to Florida, 4-2. My God, this game made me miss Evan Rodriguez.
On Feb. 15, the Penguins traveled to the windy city to face off against the Blackhawks. Just 15 seconds into the first period, captain Sydney Crosby tipped one in for the Pens. 12 minutes later, Reilly Smith put another point on the board, bringing the Penguins lead to 2-0. In the second, Chicago was able to put a snapshot past Alex Nedeljkovic and cut the Pens’ lead in half. Pittsburgh would not let that stand, however — another goal from Crosby in the third put the Penguins back up by two, and a last minute empty netter from Rust widened the gap further. In the end, we were treated to a beautiful Peng-win, 4-1.
This week feels like an excellent summary of the Penguins this season overall. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. When they’re on, they’re SO ON. But this team just isn’t on often enough! You can’t rely on the goalie alone to keep pucks out for a full 60 minutes — the rest of the team has to put in the work to keep it at the right end of the ice. Stop blaming the goaltending! The best parts of the team this season are the goalies and Crosby! As far as I’m concerned, nearly anyone else can stay or go. Who cares? Things are so jacked right now that a lot of people are worried the Penguins are going to lose Jake Guentzel to a team that actually has a shot at the playoffs, some people are saying that this team is going to miss their last shot at a postseason with Crosby on the ice, and some people (randos in Instagram comment sections) are saying it’s time for head coach Mike Sullivan to go after nine years with Pittsburgh, though I’m not sure if it’s that serious, or if Sully can really be blamed for a lot of these problems. But something certainly needs to change. How about we start by trying our best during all of the games, instead of just some of them? Thanks guys!
This week, the Penguins get to stay in Pittsburgh for all three games: On Sunday, they’ll face off against the LA Kings, then the Islanders on Tuesday, and the Canadiens on Thursday. Let’s go Pens!
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