Chirps from Center Ice

Seven points out, nine games to play. You can read it on their faces, hear it in their voices and see it in their body language. When the biggest thing to look forward to is a uniform dedicated to pizza this Saturday, you know that you have reached the end of the line.

–

I want to take a comment from the YouTube I pulled this from on these five:

Can we pause a moment to let this sink in? Tom Petty (already a world-wide star on his own), George Harrison (a freaking Beatle for God’s sake, as well as successful on his own), Bob Dylan (THE Bob Dylan, troubadour for an entire generation), Roy Orbison (one of the most distinctive and original voices of foundational rock in the 1950s), Jeff Lynne (the founder and driving force behind ELO, the successor to the Beatles) – five epic-level musicians in a room recording tunes. We will NEVER see the like again.

Let that serve as this weeks Quote.

Anyway, the Penguins are finished. They are still not mathematically eliminated (yet) but after blowing a lead against Lehigh Valley Saturday and then laying an egg against a team they had to beat in Hartford, it’s curtains on the season.

Like the song says above, “It’s all right…”

The Setup

First place and Calder Cup Finals favorite Providence stops in Wednesday, a trip to Allentown Friday and then Syracuse at home Saturday.

I can see them winning all three games. Providence lollygags through a Wednesday road game in Pennsylvania and loses 3-2. Lehigh Valley plays Jekyll and Hyde again and loses 5-0 and then the Penguins beat the Crunch in a shootout.

Does that put them closer to a spot in playoffs? Sure! Is it enough? Probably not!

So where do we go from here?

I have no idea. They are cooked. I said this weeks ago. Their coach probably won’t be around next year despite having another year on the contract. Message isn’t getting through. Maybe it is, and the players aren’t talented to execute that message. But you don’t fire players, you fire coaches.

J.D. Forrest hasn’t earned the privilege of returning, in my opinion. But, if you are given three flat tires and an engine only running on five cylinders, you aren’t going to get far either.

Defenders are awful, wet behind the ears, or just checked out. Forwards are the same way. It’s hard to have a bunch of role players carry you to wins week after week. Who is their best prospect? Yeah, I don’t know either.

But again, it’s all right. Just ridin’ around in the breeze. It’s all right.

Who’s running the show?

Jim Curtain and Jordan Deckard are here Wednesday with Patrick Dapuzzo and J.P. Waleski on the lines.

I don’t have Friday or Saturday’s crew yet.

Looking ahead…

Charlotte at home next Wednesday, then they hit the road to Providence next Friday and Bridgeport next Saturday and then play a makeup game against Laval on Easter Monday.

Give us a bold prediction…

Pens will be eliminated from playoffs for good by the middle of next week.