Penguins Q&A: Taking the Penguins to the Woodshed

NEWARK — The Pittsburgh Penguins did not simply lose to a better New Jersey Devils team Tuesday at Prudential Center. The Penguins embarrassingly no-showed, never getting into the game, and compounded their effort by allowing more than a half dozen odd-an rushes.

New Jersey beat the Penguins 5-1, and Penguins fans were demanding blood by the final horn. The loss allowed the Florida Panthers to leapfrog the Penguins into the final wild card, and it meant the Penguins gave up their game in hand on the New York Islanders, whom they trail by one point.

And you can read my column where I compared the Penguins to a boxer already beaten by the fight. No, I did not provide cover for anyone in the Penguins postgame.

You can also see the raw locker room video with Bryan Rust, Kris Letang, and Mike Sullivan on the Pittsburgh Hockey Now youtube channel.

Almost as a matter of therapy, we did another postgame Q&A and comment. Many of the submissions centered around firing Ron Hextall. Is it possible to resurrect this team and surround Sidney Crosby with more talent in the offseason? Will Mike Sullivan change systems? And which Penguin’s salary would I remove if given a choice?

Readers were also apoplectic over the lack of effort.

Check out the latest Q&A and thorough, brutally honest accounting of the team in the first 10 minutes.