HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
I wouldn’t say they’re meaningless per se. By any stretch of the imagination, they’re a good stress test against some stiff competition. So, while we shouldn’t get bent out of shape over one bad game, multiple bad games on the road trip should be showing us some areas for improvement.These downer games are indicative of nothing if they don't result in a playoff miss.
We proved that last year when we got utterly dominated by the Rangers in the regular season and then outplayed them in 6 of 7 games, scoring 29 goals.
Went cold into the playoffs too, but probably played at their highest level in a series since 2017.
Even if the worst case scenario happens and we only get like 2 points or something on this whole western swing, the Pens will recover later.
Anyone who is capable of being honest with themselves knows this deep down. I don't see a shred of evidence that we'll finish anywhere below 4th. The Metro's just not that special.
I’m not sure how to take a game like this except that basically if we see this happen multiple times in the season, it’s a locker room/bench issue that we should address. As it stands for now, it’s just a disappointing loss; they’re not all going to be great games.