First-round exit humbles Pens
The Pittsburgh Penguins never stopped believing they could beat the Philadelphia Flyers.
Not when the Flyers won the first three games of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series. Not when the Flyers raced to a quick lead in Game 4.
Not even in the waning moments of Game 6, when an unlikely comeback died in a surprisingly one-sided 5-1 loss.
The Penguins began the playoffs eyeing a second Stanley Cup title in four years. The journey ended before it began. Again.
A year ago, the Penguins had excuses when they fell to Tampa Bay in seven games in the opening round. Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were out. Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson played the series of his life. Pittsburgh was worn down after grinding for months without their two superstars in the lineup.
Not this time. Pittsburgh started the playoffs at full strength only to get outplayed and — even worse — outclassed by the Flyers.
Goaltender Marc-andre Fleury was erratic, the special teams were abysmal and the resolve Pittsburgh showed while winning 51 games during the season missing for long stretches.
“We put ourselves in a pretty big hole,” Crosby said. “We pretty much had to play perfect hockey to get back in the series and did a pretty good job until today . . . Just, when you put yourself three-zero, it’s pretty tough to get back in.”
Pittsburgh never could. There’s a reason only three teams in post-season history have climbed out of 3-0 deficits to win a series. As the Flyers celebrated Sunday the Penguins filed slowly to the dressing room to ponder another spring that ended far too early.
The NHL’S highest scoring team pumped in plenty of goals against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh scored 26 times in six games. In most series, that’s plenty.
Philadelphia scored 12 power-play goals in the series, a franchise playoff record. No matter how many defencemen the Penguins dressed or how many adjustments coach Dan Bylsma made, the Flyers had an answer.
“It’s not a good feeling and the guys are definitely going to remember this feeling,” Pittsburgh centre Jordan Staal said.
Staal’s sentiments were a familiar refrain throughout the dressing room of a franchise that looked like a burgeoning dynasty not so long ago.
Pittsburgh made consecutive Cup finals in 2008 and 2009, winning it all three years ago.
Three straight springs have produced dismal results.
Two years ago, they fell to Montreal in the conference semifinals. Last year, the Lightning stormed back from 3-1 down. This time the Penguins even had the advantage before squandering an early three-goal lead in Game 1.
Now the question becomes how much longer the core will remain intact. Crosby and Staal can become free agents after next season.