“He made some good saves,” Crosby said of Mrazek. The Penguins captain was snakebitten, which can happen to even the best of players. He placed eight shots on goal and was denied by Grade-A saves from Petr Mrazek on no fewer than four occasions.Īt one point, with the Penguins trailing, Crosby slid on both knees toward the blue paint of the goal crease in a valiant attempt to whack a loose puck behind Mrazek. Neither he nor Letang has ever known anything else.Ĭrosby has, but the Penguins haven’t missed the playoffs since he was a rookie.Īfter scoring two goals and recording an assist in a ‘had-to-have-it’ win in Detroit on Saturday afternoon, Crosby was the Penguins’ best player against the Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Malkin trailed off talking about how the Penguins hope to still play in the postseason. We try to play hard, but it’s probably …” “I don’t know? The league’s young, maybe they play so hard, it’s like a new generation is coming. Still, Letang has provided 11 goals and 39 points in 63 games. Letang said recently he hasn’t performed to his top level, but Malkin referred to his friend’s “tough year.” Letang missed time because of a second stroke and the death of his father. They weren’t the problem for these Penguins. Crosby, 35, has scored 33 goals and 91 points. Malkin, 36, has scored 27 goals and 82 points. Malkin, who scored on a power play early in the third period to pull the Penguins even at 1-1 on Tuesday night, noted that he hasn’t missed a game. Also, though, they believed another Stanley Cup run - Malkin, Letang and Crosby have won three titles with the Penguins - was possible. Malkin and Letang re-signed with the Penguins last summer in part so they could end their NHL careers with the same franchise to which they were drafted. “Coach always says ‘two points in October is huge,’ you know? It’s, like, two points in November, December helps us in April.” “We (needed) to play better all year - 100 percent,” Malkin said. He talked of an “up and down” season and lamented that the Penguins didn’t “play better” or “play smarter” until their past four games. He made no excuses for the “tough loss” to the Blackhawks. “We should win here at home,” Malkin said at the beginning of a nearly three-minute grim assessment of the Penguins’ season. He hoped for some “magic” on Wednesday night - referring to the Penguins needing a regulation loss at home by the New York Islanders against the Canadiens.Įven a loser point by the Islanders would slam the door on the Penguins’ league-best postseason streak of 16 consecutive years. 420 points percentage.Īfter losing to the Blackhawks on Tuesday night, a dejected Malkin sat at his locker stall inside PPG Paints Arena and spoke in almost a hush. 716 points percentage against such opponents probably won’t be enough to overcome awful results against playoff teams, against whom the Penguins are 16-23-5 - a. Overall, the Penguins are 24-8-5 against teams not ticketed for the postseason. That looks like a fairly strong record until considering the Penguins lost in regulation at home to the Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens and against the Red Wings in Detroit over the past month. The Penguins went 10-3-2 against those nine clubs in the past 49 games. 490 points percentage that is better than only nine clubs. But starting with a 4-3 overtime home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes two days later, the Penguins have gone 21-22-6 - a. They held the NHL’s ninth-best points percentage (.656) through Dec. Substitute “in the third” for “in the second half,” and Letang could just as well have described the Penguins’ stunning season. ![]() “I think in the third we kind of got frustrated and kind of imploded.” “We had an opportunity to get up in the scoring, and we didn’t. “We missed so many chances,” Letang said. Letang lamented the Penguins failing to score through 40 minutes despite 24 scoring chances, including eight of the high-danger variety, as tracked by Natural Stat Trick. “We missed a big chance,” Letang said, alluding to the Penguins having again lost control of their Stanley Cup playoffs destiny.
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