Thanks For Playing: Pittsburgh Penguins

Each spring 16 NHL teams play for Lord Stanley's Cup. At the end one team is left holding the cup while the other 15 teams can only think of what could of what might have been.

This is about one of the 15 teams who wasn't so lucky.

Pittsburgh Penguins:

How They Finished: 49-25-8 106 points
2nd in Atlantic Division, 4th in Eastern Conference.

What Went Wrong:

The Penguis lost Sidney Crosby to a concussion in January & Evgeni Malkin to an ACL injury in February. Despite the injuries Pittsburgh was able to clinch the 4th seed and home ice in the 1st round.

What they weren't able to do was close out the Tampa Bay Lightning when they had the chance.

The Penguins lead the series 3 games to 1 but were blown out at home in Game 5 by a score of 8-2. They then went to Tampa where they lost 4-2 setting up for a Game 7.

In Game 7, Dwayne Roloson stopped all 41 shots he faced and Sean Bergenheim scored the only goal of the game giving Tampa a 1-0 win and the series four games to three.

Injuries didn't cost the Penguins the series because they played so well this season after both Crosby & Malkin went down. What cost Pittsburgh this series was going 1 for 35 on the Power Play. If you squander that many opportunities it will catch up with you eventually.

Where Do They Go From Here:

Where the Penguins go depends on the health of Crosby & Malkin. Malkin resumed skating last week and I'm guessing he will be ready for next season.

Crosby is a little harder to predict because of the symptoms from his concussion. He was skating with the Penguins near the end of the season but was not taking any part in contact drills.

The Penguins have about $3.6 million in projected cap space. They are set in goal and on defense. The only big money forwards they have to decide on are Alexei Kovalev, Pascal Dupuis, & Max Talbot. I don't think they will bring back Kovalev and I'm not sure they can afford to keep both Talbot & Dupuis while upgrading the team via free agency.

This season the Penguins did learn is they can compete & they can win without their two best players. The question is whether they can be a Stanley Cup contender without either one. That's a question they hope they don't have to find out the answer to.