Penguins Postgame: This Can’t Continue

In one of the great cheesy late 1990s movies, Bruce Willis and his band of misfits who rocketed to space on a top-secret space shuttle to save the planet from an asteroid must radio to NASA that their mission has failed. Armageddon has a happy ending as the crew saves the day but the Pittsburgh Penguins are searching for that hero.

They may have to make the same call, “Prepare the (fanbase) for bad news.”

The Penguins lost their third game in a row, losing to the Florida Panthers 5-2. This was perhaps the worst of the three. Their power play was dreadful, registering one shot in three attempts. Their pushback was non-existent. And they fell further behind in the playoff race.

Read More: Penguins Sending Message; They’re Done.

Fans at PPG Paints Arena booed the hapless power play. Also, Jake Guentzel suffered an upper-body injury in the third period. Coach Mike Sullivan, who was at a loss to describe the game, said Guentzel was being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

It was a bad night as a comet is heading straight for the Penguins’ season. They’re 11 points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for third place with only four games in hand. They also trail the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card by seven points, with only two games in hand. There are four teams between the Penguins and a wild-card spot, and three of them have higher winning percentages.

Dan Kingerski tries to break it down, but even he has a simple conclusion: They look like they’re done.