Penguins Chat: Fans Are Angry, Pens Waste Opportunity

The Pittsburgh Penguins fans were not a pleasant bunch Tuesday night. Neither was the Penguins’ locker room following another inexplicable performance and bad loss. The Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings 7-4 at Little Caesars Arena, failing to put away the Florida Panthers in the wild card race and failing to keep pace with the New York Islanders.

The Penguins no longer control their fate for the first wild card. They trail the Islanders by three points with just one game in hand but lead Florida by three points.

They could have earned a five-point lead on Florida with just eight games to play, but the Penguins’ inconsistent selves again appeared. Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel scored power-play goals. Jason Zucker and Josh Archibald scored even-strength goals.

It wasn’t that the Penguins lost, it was the uninspired effort. Further angering fans was goalie Casey DeSmith’s performance. Despite earning praise for weeks and earning the start with recent exemplary play, DeSmith allowed a couple of soft goals in the third period and drew the ire of fans.

Oh, the sea was angry, my friends.

Join us for the Penguins chat. In order, readers sounded off on (and got my reactions, explanations, agreement, and disagreement): There was a lot of anger directed at Penguins GM Ron Hextall, followed by a question about Mike Sullivan’s grasp on the team, goaltending, assertions that it would be better to miss the playoffs, and some flak for Bryan Rust and Mikael Granlund.

After I recorded in the home studio, I noticed we can improve the sound a little bit. So, the next one we do will have a more “radio” sound.

Enjoy.