Don't Panic

The Penguins lost, Evgeni Malkin executed one of the worst penalty shots in the history of bad penalty shots, and we got shut out.

It was weird for me, because the last time the Pens lost a playoff game was over a year ago. And, in that series, you never felt as though there was any hope. Last night, even though they were down 2-0 and hadn't had that many great chances -- although I have no idea how Staal's shot didn't go in; if he shot the puck ten times, it would've gone in the other nine times... it was actually harder to make the puck do what it did than just send it home -- I really thought they were going to pull it out.

I actually didn't give up on the idea until the empty net goal. I seriously believed they could still come back when there was less than two minutes left and they were short-handed.

You know what that means? That means that the Penguins are very, very good. I'm a bandwagon fan and I had that much faith, I was that willing to sit there and watch, confident that the Pens would come back even though logic said otherwise. You know those fuckers that get box seats at a Pirates game, show up midway through the fourth inning, then leave in the top of the eighth? I'm not that bad, partly because people like that piss me off and I don't want to be that way, partly because it's playoff hockey, but I'm a bandwagon fan. And I embrace that. The point is this: I kept watching and kept cheering last night because, not only did I believe that they were going to come back, but I was so sure that they were that I didn't want to be the guy that left with five minutes remaining that missed the awesome comeback and ensuing overtime victory.

That's a magical team right there. And, magical teams like that don't blow four games in a row. It just doesn't happen. We're back at home on Sunday and, even if we don't win tomorrow, I had the Pens in six. So there you go.