Letang: The Penguins’ dedication to winning is undeniable
CRANBERRY: Following Wednesday’s practice for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Sullivan was asked a few straightforward questions.
His responses were also.
A better response in Arizona, given the way the Vegas game concluded, was what you were hoping for?
A: In agreement.
Is there a reason you didn’t understand it?
A: Not at all.
Sullivan didn’t go into further detail in either response, but the directness with which they were delivered said probably more than any extra words could have.
The pain of the Penguins’ two-game slump through the West didn’t seem to have lessened much, four days after they let a 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 loss in the third period in Las Vegas and two days after the sequel was a completely lackluster performance in a 5-2 loss at Arizona.
Not that it should have, given that the Penguins appeared to be building on their thrilling 3-0 victory over Seattle to prepare for the trip, and that performance continued for the first forty minutes against the Golden Knights.
Winger Drew O’Connor stated, “That Vegas game hurts the most.” “It’s difficult to leave it without at least gaining some insight.”
That seemed to be the general consensus in the locker room on Wednesday, presumably due to the fact that the Penguins barely managed to earn a crushing defeat against the Coyotes. Focus and intensity barely seemed to flicker above a flatline for many of them.
“We can play better; we didn’t like how we played,” Sullivan remarked. “In order to improve, we must ensure that we adopt the proper mindset.”
Undoubtedly, the outcome against the Coyotes was not the reaction that many had been hoping for following the Las Vegas late-game explosion.
“I anticipate the best from us,” Kris Letang stated on Wednesday. “I won’t tell lies. Although I never enter a game expecting the worst, that is exactly what transpired. You may have thought you wanted to recover from a difficult third quarter in Vegas and win two crucial points, but we were absent.
That’s a pretty harsh, but accurate, summary of what happened in Tempe.
Letang, however, was unwavering in his belief that the Pittsburgh Penguins’ collective dedication to going above and beyond to win is unquestionable.
He declared, “We’re in this business to win.” “I don’t see any guys in here who don’t want to win, or who don’t seem interested in doing so.” Every night they give it their all. Do we commit errors? Indeed. Do we occasionally lose sight of the strategy? True? There isn’t a single guy in this room who isn’t game for that, though, when it comes to willing and winning. Yes, without a doubt.
The Penguins are five points out of the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference playoff field because they returned from the road trip with nothing but dirty laundry and, probably, a few doubts.
Before the Penguins play Florida on Friday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena, that lead may widen even though they still have one to four games in hand on the 11 teams that sit ahead of them in the East. Obviously, those are meaningless unless the Pittsburgh Penguins manage to extract a few points from them.
Additionally, the Penguins must act quickly to raise their level of play from where it has been for the previous four periods, considering the number of teams that are ahead of them in the standings.
“We are aware of our potential as a strong team when we play well,” O’Connor remarked. “We simply need to ensure that we bring that each and every night.”
Should they fail to do so, the questions will only multiply and get harder. Furthermore, they will not accept simple, one-word responses.
