Take a step back. Pens still in playoff position (by points and point %). If someone said they’d be there in mid-December, I think most fans would be okay with it.

25 comments

  1. The issue is if playoffs are in the cards, we’re going to miss it due to the points left on the table

  2. Yeah so I have some bad news. It’s way more likely that they over performed at the beginning than this last week being an abnormally. And good teams lose, but not like this. This is a historical stretch of ineptitude.

    Top 5 pick is what I’m hoping for.

  3. The problem is the nature of the dropped points.

    Even if they can close out half of those they are +5 points from where they are now.

  6. But they’ve forfeited 11 points by blowing 3rd period leads.

    By my math thst would put them comfortably in 1st place

  7. The problem is, this is being buoyed by their strong results in October. Since November 1st, they are now 6-6-7. Losing 13 of 19 isn’t a recipe for success, and even with the loser point, they’ve been playing at an 82 point pace. The problsm is quickly becoming that they are going to end in that mushy middle again. I enjoy watching this team compete as much as any fan . . . But the hard truth is this team started hot and got top five goaltending in the league for a good stretch, with horrible underlying numbers. The reality is they are closer to a 75 point team than a 95 point team, and the sooner everyone accepts that as the path moving forward, the better the long term outlook will be.

  8. Honestly I have no idea why people are whining this much.  This is a full on rebuilding year and has never been pursued by management as anything but.  The success they’ve had gives a fuck ton of hope for the future, and the failures are merely what was expected.  This team is pretty bad. 

    It’s not surprising in the least that they can’t hold a lead for shit.   They literally do not have a single defenseman on the roster that you would want on the ice in a game-winning defensive situation.  The entire defense corps is made of guys who would be stapled to the bench if there was any other option.  That’s not really anything new, either, we’ve seen this shit for years now.  

    I get that it was fun to be excited when they were winning early.  I was excited, too!  But this is not and has never been a realistic contender of a team.  You at least should’ve known that coming into the season.  

  9. Night isn’t over. Philly got a point, so they move ahead by a point with same amount of games played.

    Montreal is still playing. If they win, they move ahead of us in the standings and we are no longer in a playoff spot.

    Also as others have pointed out, we lost 3 extra points in the last four games that we shouldn’t have.

    We should have win against Anaheim, San Jose, and today. Instead they found a way to piss away the lead. Those 3 points would put us 3rd in the division.

  11. And have a kids line. And be off Jarry’s contract, which we acquired a future pick for. Overall very good start to the season.

    It still sucks to lose games, especially that we are winning by multiple goals in the third.

  12. Even the most levelheaded fan is bound to feel frustrated with five straight losses. Pens played great at Dallas and I don’t think many people fussed after that loss.

    Scoring an own-goal with a tenth of a second left felt amateurish.

    The no-show vs Montreal, whatever. Long season, it happens.

    Blowing a four-goal third period lead at home for the first time in 49 years was the low point of the season.

    And then they followed up that barf-fest by nearly replicating it. I think there’s justification for some recent angst.

  13. Ok, now take a step in to reality and admit blowing huge leads like this is a really bad look and it is ok for people to be unhappy.

  15. Youre right of course, wed all say we are overachieving in this position, but its only December. If we are really going to make the playoffs we obviously cant blow a 4 goal lead then a 3 goal lead in the 3rd period (something that is a theme with this team). I dont think many teams, esp playoff teams, can say they blew games like this for the entire season. Back to back days is just absurd.

  16. I think multiple things can be true at the same time:

    1.) the past week has been really frustrating to watch this team collapse like it has.

    2.) Given the early season predictions, we’re playing with found money. No one expected this team to be as good as it has been, this week included.

    3.) Utah deserved both points today. They were unlucky through two periods despite heavily carrying play. The Pens were extremely lucky to have been ahead at all; goals against the run of play from the drop.

    4.) If the goal is to get back to competing for a cup, they can’t let an aberration of the first three months of the season undo the building Dubas has done so far. It would be shortsighted to “go for it” this season. All of the numbers have this team punching above its weight.

    5.) The younger guys are getting a crash course in why this league is so tough. Depending on how the leadership and coaches handle this stretch, it CAN be a valuable teaching moment.

    Perspective matters. One of the more under appreciated aspects of a rebuild is the ability of management to recognize when to go for it. One would hope Dubas and crew can be sober and recognize a green patch from a genuine contender.

  18. This team HAD games in hand, and they blew it. They are not and should not be a playoff team this year. Get out of the mushy middle, and keep building.

  21. I hope they can pick up a few more wins because 50 more one-point loses won’t quite cut it.

  22. Most impressive thing about the Pens is that they have the 4th fewest regulation losses in the NHL.
    There’s no 3v3 OT or shootout in the playoffs. So it lends credence to the idea that they can hang in a series.

    But are they gonna make it? Serious doubt at this point.

  23. I’m actually pretty upset. I wanted us to go 0-82. Not like this team is ever doing anything in April and May anyways – might as well tank for the future and make the NHL furious again.

  24. Just riding out watching crosby be Crosby like I did with Lemieux – there was a few fans that knew this was an overachieving start… then we start getting “I hate this team posts” and mods calling out anyone who disagrees a Jagoff. It’s not a playoff team and that’s okay.

  25. People talking about “getting out of the mushy middle” but forgetting how many draft picks we already have over the next couple years, along with already having some high-performing prospects. Typically I would agree and say let’s aim for picks, but this team is in a position to make that not entirely a necessity. I would assume that was part of the reason Dubas structured the roster the way he did, along with Sid always wanting to compete. Lots of people were commenting on how this roster didn’t look bad enough to be trying to tank, and clearly it’s not. Aside from the very beginning of the season, this team also hasn’t had great luck with staying healthy.

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