The old saying "you can't win em all" is often used as a form of solace, but that is hardly the case for Tuesday's loss to the Rangers. Maybe you can't win em all, but you also won't win many in outings like that.
All in all, I don't really think the Penguins played a bad game. Is that fair to say? I mean, I'd love to say, "Let's forget about that second period for a second and look at the rest of the game," but that would be a bit unfair. After all, if you eliminate that one period it's a Penguins shutout, which seems somewhat amusing to consider when you see how the game actually ended.
We've seen the Pens do this rally stuff many times - hell, we've seen other teams do it to us too. That's just the way it goes sometimes and tonight, unfortunately, it did not go Pittsburgh's way. The Rangers capitalized at the most opportunistic times. That's how you win, and that's what New York did. Pittsburgh took only two penalties in the second period which, when compared to the whistle-fest in the first period for both teams, seems a bit controlled. However on both of those penalties the Penguins' penalty kill was unable to get the job done, sacrificing two goals and allowing the Rangers to build some momentum. And really, for New York, the second period ended like it started. PP goal to kick it off, two goals in the middle and another tally with the man advantage to close it out.
And yet, Pittsburgh still made a game of it. A Rangers friend of mine actually said, "The Rangers got lucky," but I don't think that was really the case. Like I said, they made the most of the opportunities they created on at least two of those four goals (we're talkin power-play here). But even on the other two - John Mitchell's goal and Brad Richards' goal - the Penguins' defense gave them all the space they wanted in the slot. Untouched, wide open and all the net to work with. Can't afford to do that all the time, and the final score is an indication as to why.
One has to consider the presence of Alex Picard and Robert Bortuzzo. Or is it more the absence of Kris Letang? I'd lean more towards the latter when it came to conceding those two even strength goals, mainly because I don't recall either of those guys being on the ice for those. But I do recall seeing Brooks Orpik get burned on one and Matt Niskanen looking like a pylon on the other.
But hey, you win some, you lose some. Yeah, let's go with that one.