Broken, Beat and Scarred.....Pens Die HARD

Today has been one of the craziest days in awhile.........I have not left this laptop since 8 am..........A lot of work done today, but also a lot of obsessing and pondering the Penguins plight. I wanted to support the previous post with some more positive thinking about the mental toughness of this Pens team..........THEY WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE HERE:
If you go back and read a lot of the experts in the preseason, the Penguins were not supposed to be Cup contenders due to the loss of Hossa, Malone, Ruutu, Laraque, Conklin, Hall, and Roberts in the offseason. The additions of Satan, Fedotenko, and Cooke were viewed as nowhere near enough to make this team worthy of a serious Cup run............

Then the season starts and you hear all of the stats about teams who lose in the Finals the season before not even making the playoffs.................

As the latter part of October and early part of November rolled around, the Pens were winning often enough, but to most folks did not have the look of a solid playoff contender..........they were lacking grit........

During the winter time, they looked HORRIBLE, and were completely written off as even a playoff team, much less a contender.................

Then they fire Therrien and hire a guy who had not even completed a full season of head coaching in the AHL..........looked like a cheap short term solution to ride out a failed season and make a longer term decision to most........and they were doomed according to most(including me).

They then lose the first game under Bylsma, and win a very lackluster 1-0 game against the Islanders, one of the worst teams in the NHL, and the headlines here were, PENS win, but season Over.................

They draw a tough Philly team in the first round, hellbent on avenging last years loss in the Conference Finals, and many experts felt that they were healthier than last year, and deeper in scoring.........Pens are up in the series 3-2, but getting blown out 3-0 in the second period of Game 6 in Philadelphia, and there was a defininte feeling that they were in DEEP TROUBLE............so they go on to score 5 unanswered goals to eliminate one of the best teams in hockey on their ice, after spotting them 3 goals...........are you kidding??

Their reward was to draw the other BEAST of the EAST according to many of the experts, and a team that had the Best Hockey Player in the Universe, right? Ovagkin.....and the hottest goaltender at that point...........The Pens then fall behind to them 2-0 in the series, Gonchar is hurt by Ovagkin, monuments to Ovagkin were being built and plans for the Stanley Cup parade were being made in DC. Then
Sidney Crosby decided to show the world who the better hockey player and TEAM LEADER was, and the Pens dispatched the Caps on their ice......Not much sweeter than that!!

Now the Pens draw another team that many said was the best team in the EAST, boasting the hottest goaltender in the NHL in Cam Ward........and this was supposed to be a war...........Well somebody got Dr. Malkinstein heated up, and he went on a tear that resulted in the Pens sweeping the Canes..........NOBODY predicted that.............

Finally, the Pens draw the defending champs for the Finals, and a quick start to the series would seem to have favored the Pens young legs. Despite that, the Pens dropped the first two games of the series AGAIN to the Wings, and their season was over right? After all, the percentage of teams who come back in the finals after losing the first two is something like -20 right? The Pens then take out Detroit in two straight home games, looking dominant in the latter half of GAME 4..........Well the champs acted like the Champs and bitch slapped their pesky opponents in GAME 5 and now the PENS ARE DEAD AGAIN right??????

Maybe they are..........after all, how many lives can one team have? How many unbelievable moments can one team deliver? I just dont think that they are. The images of Crosby and company watching the Wings celebrate the championship on our ice last year are burned into my brain. We have a tough, talented, proud group of players from Geno and Sid, to Guerin and Kunitz, and all the way through the lineup.........they took their eye off the prize last night and got punished by a team very capable of delivering that punishment. They are also a team that has a killer instinct, a track record of success, and believe me they smell BLOOD in the WATER. That said, the Wings are gonna run into a team with a core of young guns and supporting cast of gutsy veterans facing the elimination of their dream just short of the finish line for the second year in a row. The leadership of this team will die trying to prevent another Red Wing celebration on Mellon Arena ice and an army of 17,000 plus will do everything we can to give them the energy boost they will need. I am betting heavily that the Crosbys, Malkins, Fleurys, Staals, Guerins, Orpiks and Gonhcars on this team know that their TIME IS NOW. I expect a game for the ages, and I expect the Pens to prevail in a very hard fought battle..........but if they do not, take your moment of frustration, we all will, then DRINK to this team, they deserve it. If they prevail and take this thing to seven games, and eventually win the Cup, I for one think it may be one of the greatest team achievements in Pittsburgh sports history. GO PENS