Penguins Focused On Gaining Ground in Wild Card Race
The Pittsburgh Penguins are out of a playoff spot, but they plan on getting right back in the hunt.
PITTSBURGH - The most recent loss from the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled them out of the Eastern Conference wild card as the Florida Panthers leap frogged in the running.
With the runway running thin on the season, the Penguins’ margin for error has shrunk with every passing game, yet they now sit with a four-game losing streak.
The decline in play has come at the worst possible time; not only is there only 12 games remaining on the season, but the Panthers are showing no signs of slowing down.
“We got to start winning games here,” Rickard Rakell said. “We don’t have too many games left and we have to make another push.”
For the Penguins, their main focus will be turning the ship around at the last possible second.
In order to do that, they will have to remain focused at each game that is in front of them, but according to Mike Sullivan, checking in on the standings is inevitable.
“Everybody scoreboard watches this time of year, it’s human nature,” Sullivan said. “But, we’re focusing on what we can control.”
A similar sentiment was echoed throughout the room for the Penguins; they can’t look too far ahead and have to control what they can and collect as many points as possible.
“We just got to worry about ourselves,” Jake Guentzel said. “Get as many points as we can. Not trying to look at other teams and control our own destiny.”
Following the loss to the Ottawa Senators, it would be easy for the Penguins to feel dejected and like all hope is lost, but they are already looking forward.
Sidney Crosby noted that it hasn’t been easy lately, but it’s up to the team to keep their morale high.
“We just got to go a game at a time,” Crosby said. “Hopefully having a good look at the way we need to play as an example here tonight will change the result the next game.”
The Penguins played really well against the Senators by putting 49 shots but only ending up with a single goal.
Dylan Ferguson stole the show for the Senators in his first career NHL start.
Moving ahead, however, the Penguins have to find ways to win; there isn’t much time left and the competition is only going to get tougher.
“We’ve got opportunities in front of us here and we have to grab some points,” Sullivan said. “We knew this was going to be a fight to the end.”
The importance of every game will continue to increase and while the habit of scoreboard watching will creep in, it’s up to the Penguins to make the most of the time they have left.
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