Remember when the Tampa Bay Lightning skated into Pittsburgh with a 7-16-9 record earlier today? No one could have predicted the Lightning's goaltender Mike Smith would shut out the league's top two scorers. No one could have predicted the former Penguins Mark Recchi would tag two assists and hardly anyone could have suggested the Penguins would muster up less than 20 shots on a lackluster defense.
And yet, all of those things happened.
If this blog were run like a newspaper, something I'd like to think is NOT the case, then I probably would have led with some sort of headline like, "Lightning jolt Pens" or "Bolts shock Pens" because apparently headlines like that are cool/witty/funny. Truth be told there is nothing funny about this loss. It's downright embarassing.
The Penguins had 15 shots on goal. Let me repeat that in case your eyes hazed over seconds ago and you didn't read the previous sentence. The Penguins had 15 shots on goal. To make matters worse, eight of those 15 came in the first period. The remaining two resulted in three and four, respectively.
Shutouts sting regardless of who delivered the blow. Shutouts on home ice sting twice as much. Yet when you factor in those two items with a team that has yet to win 10 games, it's just painful.
That about sums it up. Tonight's game was painful. It was painful to watch (albeit on DVR - much to my appreciation), painful to hear about and right now it's painful to write about.
Let me just say, I am not seeing a playoff team right now. This is not the play I expect from a team that has hopes of making the playoffs. Seriously? 2-0 to the Lightning?
And here we all were thinking Ryan Whitney's return would spark some sort of resurgence in the power play (0-for-3 by the way). So much for that.
Merry frickin Christmas.
The good: The good? Seriously?
The bad: Where does one begin?
The ugly: The shots on goal. You have to be kidding me.
Next game: Friday. Devils. 7:00.