PITTSBURGH VS WASHINGTON
PPG PAINTS ARENA – PITTSBURGH, PA
7:30 PM EST. NBCSN
PITTSBURGH LEADS SERIES 3-2
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Just like a year ago the Pens had a chance to close out the Caps in game 5 but an inspired and desperate effort from Washington forces a game 6 tonight in Pittsburgh.
It’s funny how quickly thoughts and feelings can shift in a short series. Before game 5, Crosby was on his way back and the Pens looked poised and ready to eliminate the Caps again and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Lose one game and all of a sudden we’ve got, “The Pens are lucky to be ahead,” “Goaltending finally caught up to them,” “Every game in the series should have played out like game 5.”
Please miss me with that bullshit.
The facts are that the series is 3-2. That there’s a home game tonight. That the Pens, for as poorly as they played, still held a 2-1 lead in the 3rd period of game 5. Pens in 6 still means you gotta lose twice.
Game 6 will probably look like the rest of them, but winning ugly is a lot better than losing pretty.
Lines: Pretty much status quo for the first time this series. Daley is absent from morning skate as well as Dumoulin. If Daley doesn’t go tonight expect Roo Weedle to slot in his place, which is fine.
Pittsburgh:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Malkin-Kessel
Sheary-Bonino-Rust
Hagelin-Cullen-Kuhnhackl
Dumoulin-Hainsey
Cole-Schultz
Maatta-Daley
Fleury-Jarry
Washington:
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Ovechkin-Eller-Wilson
Winnik-Beagle
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Carlson
Schmidt-Shattenkirk
Alzner
Holtby-Grubauer
I think sometimes it’s still easy to forget how much Letang means to this hockey club.
I think in each game, Pens have had a stretch of play where absence of 58 really shows. Sometimes they get thru it. Sometimes not so much.
— TELL THAT TO KANJIKLUB (@stoosh10) May 7, 2017
Respect.
It’s pretty remarkable to sit back and look at where this team is in spite of all the injuries and adversity they’ve had to overcome to get here. During the playoffs it’s hard to sit back and smell the roses but don’t forget to do that once in a while because hockey fandom is a cruel and unrelenting beast.
Tonight is as good a night as any for some hugs and handshakes.
Pens in 6.
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