PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Two weeks ago on March 25, the Penguins had lost eight out of 10 and the last loss in that stretch, they blew a 4-0 lead. Even the biggest Pens fans had washed their hands of post-season hopes. Now just 14 days later, the Pens are a point out of a playoff spot.
Pens are at Toronto on Monday night as the Maple Leafs have already clinched a spot, but still have the motivation to catch Florida for second in the Atlantic Division or make sure they stay out of the top Wild Card.
It was following a 5-4 loss at Colorado where the Pens blew a four-goal lead that really sent most off the playoff edge. Seemingly out of it, they would bounce back against the second-place Hurricanes two days later and have points in seven straight games with six wins including on the road at the Rangers, Devils and Capitals.
“I give the players credit,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “We are trying to stay in the fight. We are trying to focus on the game in front of us. I give the players a lot of credit. I just think their determination, their persistence, their commitment just to stay with it. I think they are determined to stay in this fight.”
“Continuing to battle and fight and find ways,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. “That’s been our mentality. We had a few games we weren’t happy with around the deadline. I think we were able to move by those and focus on the game in front of us.”
Crosby has been a leader in that regard. He’s always led by example, but over the seven-game streak, the Pens captain has six goals and six assists. Also on fire, his long-time teammates. Evgeni Malkin has four goals and six points in the last three games. Kris Letang has points in six straight games.
“They’ve shown how competitive they are and when the stakes get high, they play their best,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to win Stanley Cups if you best players don’t have those attributes. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but they see an opportunity with this group. They are going to do everything they can to help us have success.”
It's all contributing with key goals from Michael Bunting, Lars Eller, Erik Karlsson is coming off a three-assist game. Rickard Rakell seems like a different player now. Then there are rookies/young players stepping up-defenseman Jack St. Ivany, forwards Valtteri Puustinen and Jesse Puljujarvi.
“What I love about the group right now and most recently is even the players that don’t end up on the scoresheet are helping us win, if that makes sense,” Sullivan said. “They are helping us win by doing a lot of the little things-puck battles, wall play, blocking shots, faceoff responsibilities, making us hard to play against, defending hard. To a man, our group is committed to defending hard, being hard to play against.”
“Guys are hungry, we have a lot of blue-paint goals recently.”
“We are in a fight here and it’s fun hockey to be a part of,” Bunting said. “It’s exciting, the adrenaline is going.”
Crosby notes it’s just about continuing to play this game. Essentially, they’ve been in the postseason the last two weeks and have elevated their game. Now it’s about continuing that trend.
“What we have to do hasn’t changed for a while now,” Crosby said. “Our game has been pretty good. We just got to continue to go a game at a time. That has served us really well. That approach has gotten us to this point and we need to continue that success.”
“We are in a good place, right,” said goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who will start against Toronto. “We still have a long way to go. We can’t be satisfied, we have to keep working and keep pushing.”
It’s gotten them back in serious contention. Will they capitalize on the opportunity they’ve created?