Penguins Chat: Keep Starting DeSmith? Pens End Capitals’ Hopes

The Pittsburgh Penguins essentially ended the Washington Capitals season Saturday night. Sometimes it is difficult to find an interesting angle, and some nights, four stories are not enough. Saturday was one of the latter as the Penguins coughed up a 3-0 lead later in the third period, then managed to win 4-3 on a dramatic Evgeni Malkin breakaway late in the third. Further helping the Penguins’ playoff push, the Florida Panthers lost, and so did the New York Islanders.

The Penguins’ win put them three points up on Florida, just one behind New York with a game in hand, and six ahead of Washington with nine games to play. Several teams would need to collapse in the final nine games for the Capitals to have a chance.

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I really, really …. really hate 8 p.m. games.

If you want to see something really funny, look at a row of sportswriters who realize they have 11 minutes to rewrite an entire story but don’t yet know the ending.

The Penguins won, but they gave every indication it was going to be a catastrophic collapse. Get Dave Molinari’s Penguins recap.

Malkin did Malkin things. He created scoring chances. He took one of the worst penalties of the season. And then scored a dramatic goal. All in a night’s work.

Casey DeSmith was the second coming of Dominik Hasek in the first two periods and played one of his best games of the season. One of the questions submitted was directly tied to DeSmith’s performance. Should the Penguins turn to DeSmith Tuesday in Detroit and more often down the stretch?

Additional questions centered on the Penguins’ defense and if they’ll get healthy before the playoffs, and what about Tristan Jarry’s health?

Lastly, check this out — Josh Archibald dropped the gloves and then dropped Rasmus Sandin.