While it appeared as though the Pittsburgh Penguins had the chance to make life even more uncomfortable for their in-state rival Philadelphia Flyers, and move closer to achieving history, it wasn’t meant to be.
The Flyers eliminated the Penguins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory on Wednesday evening at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, halting what appeared to be a historic comeback in the making for Pittsburgh. The Penguins had fallen behind three games to none, but were one goal away from knotting the series at three wins apiece and forcing a decisive Game 7 back in Pittsburgh later in the week.
However, the heroic performance by Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs, making his third straight start, was ruined thanks to a seeing-eye shot from defenseman Cam York with just 2:28 left in overtime; his shot through traffic eluded Silovs on his glove side just past his shoulder.
What Does The Future Hold For Evgeni Malkin And Kris Letang With The Penguins?
One of the questions that Crosby was naturally asked was his thoughts on the futures of longtime teammates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, with whom he won three Stanley Cup titles.
Malkin is a pending unrestricted free agent, and Letang’s career is clearly on the downswing.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words, honestly,” Crosby said. “It’s something that we probably have just gotten used to, but I think they’re like family. That’s the best way to describe it. We’ve had some great wins, some tough losses like this. Ultimately, though, that’s a long time that we’ve played together. Just so appreciative for the opportunity to have played with them as long as we have. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
The Penguins Were One Shot Away From Tying The Series
After a dramatic 3-2 win in Pittsburgh earlier in the week, the Penguins managed to force a Game 6 back in Philadelphia. Try as they did, thanks to the strong performance in net by Silovs, the Penguins ultimately fell one goal short.
“Especially in the second half of that game, and in overtime, we had some really good looks,” Crosby said in the dressing room afterward. “We were a shot away from going back to Pittsburgh for Game 7, it just comes down to bounces sometimes. Putting yourself in that position is tough, but we all had a belief that we could dig ourselves out of it. It’s just unfortunate we fell behind in the series.”
I think, you know, we understand the expectations coming in and that sort of thing. I don’t think that takes away the sting from this one anymore, but we have time to look back at the season, and there are a lot of things to like. So, I think that’s probably the reality of it, but I think right now, while it’s still fresh and how close we were, we had an opportunity to get back in the series, but it just didn’t work.”
Attention now turns to the Penguins’ offseason plans involving both Malkin and Letang.
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