Penguins lose to a non-playoff team

Everything was looking good for the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight from the beginning of the game .Sidney Crosby won a faceoff and beat an over-rated player to the net to score a goal to open the game.

Unfortunately from there, it went downhill for the Pens and they would go on to not score any more goals and lose the game.

Due to Evgeni Malkin (undisclosed injury) sitting out, Pittsburgh only played 12 forwards and 5 defensemen. The silver lining is that they will get to make an emergency recall and be able to have a full lineup for next game.

Losing tonight hurts for the Pens, who lose some ground on the Islanders and Capitals who both won last night. Regardless, at least they will go to the playoffs, which can't be said for both teams who played tonight.

A few more quick thoughts on the game:

• Chris Kunitz knocked the glass out of the boards so hey, Chris Kunitz did something!
• In addition to the 5 defensemen, Paul Martin took a shot off the helmet at the conclusion of the 2nd period. He'd finish the game, but played less in the 3rd period than in the 1st or 2nd. Hopefully there's no additional damage moving forward.
• Not a great night for Ben Lovejoy, who from the opening faceoff flubbed a puck and wasn't much better on the PK. Hard to tell if being down a man is just pushing players too thin or what, but the Pens need better performance.
• Still no comebacks for the Pens when losing after 2 periods this season. Not a big deal since they staged a 3rd period comeback recently, but when losing 2-1 coming into the 3rd tonight, it could have been a chance to have a first. But it wasn't.
  
• Meh, get em next time.