PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – “This is awful to be honest.”
Pens alternate captain Kris Letang Tuesday morning before the Pens host Columbus Tuesday night at 7p currently 10 points out of the division and the wild card with 23 games to play.
“It was our job from the beginning of the year to put ourselves in a good spot & we didn't,” Letang said. “Now we are here today & have to deal with this. But at the same time, it is within reach & the goal is the same."
A similar optimism from defenseman Marcus Pettersson Tuesday telling 93.7 The Fan saying if they find their consistency and identity they are not done. There are still a lot of competitive people here.
“We are not out of it yet,” Pettersson told The Fan. “We are going to keep scratching and clawing. We have to show some resiliency in here and just take it one game at a time. We are in the mindset that we got to win every game.”
“The mindset is we’ve got to do everything in our power to get two points,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “That’s what we are doing. We understand the circumstance we are in. We got to put our best game on the ice.”
Pens are hosting the only team below them in the Metropolitan Division, Columbus, tonight at 7. Letang said every game is important until the end after trying to turn the page to three straight losses on the road.
“I would say we should have grabbed points on three of the four games on the trip, but we didn’t,” Letang said. “We know we can play. We know we have all of the talent in the world, but we have to put it on the ice and get the result. That’s what we have to do tonight.”
“We got to put our best game on the ice,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to make sure we bring the necessary level or urgency and compete level and collective effort to give us the best chance to win.”
“There are a lot of teams involved,” Pettersson said. “A lot of teams play each other. We got 20-something games left and we are definitely not out of it.”
Guentzel here
As of Tuesday morning forward Jake Guentzel is still a Penguin. He was skating during warmups as he recovers from an upper-body injury and is eligible to return on March 10.