Thanks For Playing: Pittsburgh Penguins

Last night in Pittsburgh, the Penguins were defeated in Game seven by the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. The loss allows Montreal to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and brings an end to the season for the Penguins.

Today we will take a look back at how the Penguins got here, what went wrong, & where they go from here.

How they got here:

Pittsburgh finished with a record of 47-28-7. That was good for 101 points & 4th place in the Eastern Conference. Sidney Crosby led the Penguins in goals (51) assists (58) & points (109). Not a bad year for the captain of the Penguins.

The Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators in six games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals before bowing out against Montreal in the next round.

What went wrong:

Honestly, I am still trying to figure out what happened to the Penguins this series. They were able to win the 1st game of the series before both teams started trading wins back & forth leading us to game seven last night.

Once game seven started nothing went right for Pittsburgh. Crosby took a boarding penalty ten seconds into the contest. Twenty-two seconds later Brian Gionta tipped the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury and Montreal was up 1-0 before Pittsburgh could get settled in.

Dominic Moore scored on a wrist shot later in the period to give Montreal a 2-0 after one. Montreal continued their scoring in the 2nd period when Mike Cammalleri scored his 12th goal of the playoffs on a snap shot to make it 3-0.

Travis Moen then was able to get around Sergei Gonchar and score a short-handed goal to give the Habs a 4-0 lead. That would be the end of the night for Fleury who was pulled for Brent Johnson.

Pittsburgh was able to pull within two goals before the end of the 2nd but Gionta struck again at ten minute mark of the 3rd period, scoring a Power Play goal to give Montreal a 5-2 lead.

At this point all that was left to do was wait for the season to end and to remember all the great moments that took place at the Mellon Arena as this ended up being the final NHL game there before the Penguins move into the Consol Energy Center next season.

In the end, Crosby & Malkin were held scoreless. Fleury played his worst game of the post-season & Gonchar played this game seven with the same intensity as you would play game seven of a preseason game in Wilkes Barre, PA.

Where they go from here:

Despite this loss the Penguins are still an elite team. The core of this team is in place and more likely than not they will be contending for many Stanley Cups for years to come. The loss to Montreal shows just how hard it is to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

One big decision is what to do with Sergei Gonchar on defense. Despite the bad game last night, he has been a key part of the evolution of the Penguins from a lottery team into a Stanley Cup contender.

However he is 36 years old and with most of their core players locked up they may no longer be able to afford him. What they decide to do with Gonchar is one thing to keep an eye on this off-season.

Another thing to watch is the play of Fleury. His play this post-season was less than spectacular but he did win the Cup last year and played well back in 2008 when he helped lead the Penguins to the finals. I'm curious to see how he bounces back.

This loss may be a surprise but this is only a bump in the road for Pittsburgh. This loss will only bring back the hunger the Penguins were lacking this post-season. I'll be surprised if they don't contend for the Cup next season.