No major changes for Penguins after three-peat bid falls short

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t expect the sting from their second-round National Hockey League playoff exit to fade any time soon.

They also don’t expect it to compel general manager Jim Rutherford to give the roster a thorough makeover after the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions’ bid for a three-peat ended at the hands of Washington.

If anything, the setback has given Sidney Crosby and company a chance to put their run atop the league in perspective.

No team in a generation had won consecutive Cups until Pittsburgh did it last spring. The Pens went as far as the 1999 Detroit

Red Wings and Mario Lemieuxled ’93 Penguins in their own respective quests for a three-peat.

“I think it definitely allows you to appreciate how difficult that was. But also to know we were that close to moving on, too, that’s the difficult part,” Crosby said Wednesday as Pittsburgh packed up for the summer.

“I think it definitely gives you a greater appreciation how many times it could have went the other way on a pretty good run.”

The margin is always razor thin in the playoffs. And the Penguins somehow found a way to land on the right side of things through nine playoff series across three springs.

Against the Capitals, however, the bounces — and often the energy — went the other way.

Twice Pittsburgh blew a thirdperiod lead in regulation — something that never happened during the regular season.

Goaltender Matt Murray was usually crisp but not dominant. The scoring depth that made the Penguins an impossibly tough out vanished this time around. Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel did not register a point at even strength against Washington.

Derick Brassard — brought in at the trade deadline to be the third-line centre role Nick Bonino filled so capably in 2016 and ’17 — was a nonfactor.

The Penguins downplayed the notion they simply ran out of gas after playing more hockey than any other club over the past 32 months.

Maybe, but there’s ample proof the NHL has caught up with the team that built itself on lightning quick aggression when Mike Sullivan took over as head coach in December 2015.

Now Pittsburgh will spend the off-season trying to get that extra gear back. “We’re a good team,” Rutherford said. “We’ll have a chance to win again-that.”