Things are not going well for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the month of April. So far they’ve had four games and they are 0-4 while giving up 18 goals after today's 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals. Twice they’ve given up six goals in this stretch. If you include the end of March the team has gone 2-6-1 since the shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres. This isn’t what you want to see with the playoffs in the creeping closer and closer.
It was looking like the Penguins were destined to face off against the New York Rangers in round one. This is no longer the case. With the Capitals regulation victory today they are within four points of the Penguins with two games in hand. If the Capitals are able to catch the Penguins they would be the second wild card team and be looking at a matchup with the top seed, likely the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are currently the only team with 30 wins at home and would obviously have home ice advantage being the #1 seed.
The trade deadline is over so this is the roster give or take some health issues. It will be on Mike Sullivan to figure out how to maximize his players’ ability to have success.
The team will not have a lot of time to think about this one. They will be back in action tomorrow at 4PM against the top wild card team in the Western Conference, Nashville Predators. They need results heading down the stretch. They also need to rest some of the older players. It won’t be an easy situation to navigate. It is however the reality at the moment. An aging team getting poor results heading into a vicious postseason no matter where the finish in the standings.
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