They thought there'd be another chance.
They always think that, and not without cause.
Only now, after this …
… after that stunning, soul-crushing scene at 10:33 p.m. Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, it’s more than conceivable that these Penguins, that this entire era of championship-caliber hockey in our city, is on the cusp of closing down. Of running out of chances.
Sorry. I’m sure that doesn’t settle the still-churning stomach. But there it is.
And there it was: Islanders 3, Penguins 2, double overtime.
And there it’ll be: Game 6, Wednesday night, back on Long Island, staring at elimination of a scope that'll transcend any simple playoff outcome.
Because these chances have been frittered away for far too long now. And the time to face that reality — really face it — will be defined, at least from this perspective, by how the rest of this week plays out. Meaning win both Games 6 and 7 … or else.
I don’t know who’d go. Or who I'd want to see go. I’m not about to advocate for anything like that until it’s time.
But here’s what I do know:
• This franchise is now in a 4-14 playoff funk unmatched in its history.
• This roster, one that's forever been founded on offense, has now topped three goals in a game once in that same span. That came in the 5-4 victory in Game 3 of this series. In the 13 games over those past three playoffs, Sidney Crosby's got three goals and three assists, Evgeni Malkin's got two goals and five assists in 11 games. Sid's last game-winning goal came in 2016, Geno's in 2017.
• This first-round failure, should it come to pass, would be the third in a row. In 2020, that came to the Canadiens, the 24th seed in an expanded 24-team tournament. Now, it's coming after an East Division title.
That's not light evidence. That's got to be taken seriously, and here's betting it will be.
Brian Burke, the new president of hockey ops, already made clear his dissatisfaction with this roster way back in February in panning its lack of size and intimidation. He's always been kind of a one-note choir with this stuff, and I'm sure he wouldn't have let it go even if the team would've proven him wrong. But it hasn't.
Ron Hextall, the new GM, has a record of building with youth. It's always been his preference. And though he certainly did well to stay fair and patient with this group, then with the awesome addition of Jeff Carter, he'll want to apply his imprint sooner rather than later, and that'll mean more prospects, more draft picks.
Check that: He'll need to apply that imprint.
Think it's a coincidence that this team went through an entire 56-game regular season without once surrendering a third-period lead and now, when the intensity's peaking, that's happened three times in this round already?
Think it's a coincidence that, on this night, the Penguins skated circles around the Islanders in the second period -- 20-4 in shots on goal! -- only to look empty-tanked in the third?
Think it's a coincidence that Malkin pretty much punted on the sequence that began Josh Bailey's OT goal?
Not once but twice?
Oh, I won't deflect blame from Tristan Jarry. A freeze-frame painfully illustrates that this was a gaffe so grotesque and so ill-timed it'll go down in the Pittsburgh pantheon of playoff awfulness:
NBC SPORTS
I mean, that puck going up the middle of the ice ... I still can't process that it happened. I really can't. And heck, I'll bet even Bailey can't.
At the same time, good luck trying to explain what Geno might've been thinking seconds before that when he barely budged to reach for this bank pass by Jason Zucker:
It's likely he couldn't have collected that cleanly ... but to just let it go?
This isn't soccer. Hockey teams don't usually utilize their keepers in a reset way, to say the least.
Now watch this, from the moment Bailey gets his gift:
Herculean effort there, huh?
Kasperi Kapanen, the fastest man on the rink, reaches with a one-handed/whatever poke. Mike Matheson, maybe the second-fastest, tries his own poke. And Malkin, who owned the best position to make a play ... yeah, another poke.
Remember all those times Jim Rutherford would complain, after all those other playoff losses, about his team losing its 'hunger?' And how it wasn't always readily evident what he meant by that?
It's this. This is what he meant.
Once that puck's on Bailey's blade, every individual in gold needed to have the following switch flip: Wow, that's our season right there. Everything we've done, everything we've worked for, everything we're still hoping to achieve ... that guy's carrying in on his stick. And I've got to do everything in my power to stop that.
Watch it again. Tell me that's still a culture with a winning playoff mindset.
Or ... is it one that defaults to believing there'll always be another chance?
Now just watch Geno again. And tell me, particularly after seeing him buzzing all over the rink for the first two periods and wristing home a wonderful goal, that he's got anywhere near enough left to make a difference -- no, the difference, as is expected of a superstar -- over another 16-win triumph.
I could do this all day:
That's New York's first goal. Jake Guentzel's covering back, and he gets inside-outed by Anthony Beauvillier on the rush. But watch Sid. I'd never question Sid's effort, but I would question the countless times I've seen in this series where he's moved or gotten up slowly.
Is Sid hurt?
Is Geno's knee still hurting?
Or are they just both in their mid-30s, where this is the new norm?
Or ... do they default to believing there'll always be another chance?
Here's New York's second goal, by Jordan Eberle:
Sure, I hated Jarry's pokecheck, too, but not nearly as much as the ease with which Brian Dumoulin, two-time champ, forfeited possession down low. All that's needed from him there is an authoritative tap toward a nearby Letang, or a hard wrap that continues the puck's existing path. Neither does any harm.
But look at that body language.
To pull up like that and get bodied by 5-foot-9 J-G Pageau, of all people?
With a one-goal lead in a Game 5?
Hey, what's the urgency, right, when there'll always be another chance?
The other end of the rink is where I'd argue the Penguins were guiltiest of all on this front:
Carter's never met a shot he didn't like ... but he passed this one up to try to set up Jared McCann. If that's a goal -- as it's been quite often when Carter shoots -- we're not having this dialogue.
When a team generates 85 shot attempts to the opponent's 43, it should win that game with a comatose goaltender. In terms of possession, this was outright dominance. But within those 85 attempts were an outrageous 22 misses, and that doesn't account for all the occasions -- like above -- in which someone thought there was a smarter option than shooting.
Why?
Always another chance.
Go ahead and rip Jarry. Bury him 7 feet deep for all I care. This game's his fault all the way.
But be sure to then ask what's gone awry for four full years now.
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Jason Zucker and Evgeni Malkin pursue a wide shot behind the Islanders' Ilya Sorokin in the third period.
• Ilya Sorokin was very good: 48 saves is no joke.
As Eberle put it, "Pittsburgh and the crowd on him, he stands tall. You need good goaltending if you're going to win, and we definitely have that."
No doubt. But I'll stay fixated on the 22 shots Sorokin never had to save. If even one of those is taken and gets by him -- the way Bryan Rust's 55-foot unscreened slap shot did -- again, different dialogue.
• No Mike Sullivan won't switch goaltenders. That'd be absurd. Casey DeSmith isn't even skating, and the current backup is Maxime Lagace, owner of one NHL start in 2020-21 and zero playoff starts ever.
Sullivan and his players showed nothing but support for Jarry afterward -- even while acknowledging the error he'd made -- with the coach saying, "We'll rally around him."
They will. They should. They've got no choice.
• Given the possession imbalance, I asked Sullivan what he liked about his team's broader performance.
"Yeah, I was really proud of the team," he replied. "I thought we played a really solid hockey game. All four lines were going, all six defensemen, Tristan made a couple of big saves for us ... I thought we played with some swagger, we had confidence, we were on our toes, we played a speed game. It was unfortunate we didn't find the net a little more often."
He paused.
"We've got to put it behind us. We've got to win one hockey game. That's what I said to the players after the game. We've got a lot of leadership that's been through a lot of experiences in this league, especially in the playoffs. So we'll just keep this thing in perspective. We'll go to the Island, and we'll put our best game on the ice."
• Letang offered something that might raise an eyebrow: "Obviously, the result was not what we wanted, but I think we made a statement. That's the way we need to play going in their arena. I'm pretty confident that, if we play the same way, we'll get the result."
No, they didn't seem down. Any of them.
Other than maybe Jarry, I'd suppose, but he wasn't available for interviews.
• I was rough on Sid, Guentzel and Rust after Game 4, but they definitely ramped it up for Game 5: When on the ice at five-on-five, they accounted for 24 of the 36 shots attempted.
"I thought they dominated possession, dominated territory, had a significant amount of scoring chances," Sullivan answered when I brought this up. "They're playing hard. I thought this was their best game. I thought this was our best team game. And they led the charge."
• There was nothing more predictable about this scene than when, after Eberle tied the score, the crowd crawled into a cocoon until the OT goal. It was sheer terror in the interim, everyone awaiting the inevitable.
I get it, though. That's the recent history. Five straight losses in playoff OTs. Seven of the past eight, with only Chris Kunitz doing any interrupting.
All I'll add: The Penguins are infinitely better off playing Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum. And I mean that. Because a lot of those scenarios I described above, where chances are taken for granted, don't apply anywhere near as much in a hostile setting.
• My pick of Penguins in six is toast, but this isn't done. It's not like they won't realize what's at stake.
Maybe this time it'll resonate.
