After a couple of days off to bask in the glory of their thrilling 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins get back to work tonight with a visit to Detroit for the second of three games this season against the Red Wings. The first and last time these two teams met was all the way back on December 28, one of those now very familiar collapses by the Penguins. Pittsburgh roared out to a 4-0 lead in the first period, with two power play goals (including one by Jeff Carter!) and a frustratingly rare pair of primary assists from Kasperi Kapanen. But Detroit clawed its way back into the game, eventually tying the game with just over three minutes to play in regulation with a power-play goal by former Penguins David Perron, and the Red Wings would go on to win in overtime 5-4.
Long ago, in a blawg far away…
WE “jacked” Perron with Princess Leia’s doo, no clue why.
At the time the win put Detroit back in fourth place in an Atlantic Division that has been two worlds pretty much all season long. The top three – Boston, Toronto, and Tampa Bay – have been more than five points ahead of everyone else since around mid-December. Meanwhile, the remaining quintet have all scuffled along around .500 since then, with Montreal dipping out around the turn of the calendar year. At varying points then the other four have taken turns in fourth place in the division and sniffing a chance at a Wild Card spot, but only Florida was really serious about it and their hopes are quickly fading of late. Detroit in particular has fallen a bit behind those teams still scraping at a spot in the playoffs, and it doesn’t look like they’ll quite make it this time around.
But their time is likely coming in the next few years. Depending on who you ask, the Red Wings currently have a prospect pool somewhere in the top five of the League. Going back to the 2014 draft with Dylan Larkin, Detroit has had many high value drafts, including six top ten picks in as many years. The Athletic named Sebastian Cossa the fifth-best goaltending prospect in the League while listing a further three Red Wings skater prospects in their top fifty.
Depending on how the rest of the season goes, Detroit will likely end up with another top ten draft pick this summer, further building their stockpile of prospects and assets. And, in case all that wasn’t enough, they’ll have nearly $32.5M in cap space to work with this summer to fill 8-10 spots on their roster. Their future looks great for them, and dangerous for the rest of us.
Nope…
Two Gamedays ago I pointed out that the Penguins need to sweep their remaining games against non-playoff opponents to stay in the hunt for the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and stay as far away from a first round matchup against a nightmarish Bruins team. As of this writing they sit one point behind the New York Islanders for that spot with one game in hand, but the Islanders hosted the New Jersey Devils last night so Pittsburgh could be as many as three points behind but with two games in hand. I saw the suggestion that the Penguins have a difficult time at Little Caesars Arena but they have won their last three games visiting Detroit, but ultimately the point is that tonight’s is one game Pittsburgh can’t afford to lose before they head home to host Nashville, Boston, and Philadelphia in the second half of the week.
DO IT … AGAIN