My Condolences (Tampa/Pittsburgh)

My Condolences is a running group of articles looking at teams eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only one team gets to take home Lord Stanley for the summer, the other fifteen teams get absolutely nothing, except a mention in this article.

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My Condolences to the….

Tampa Bay Lightning

Wait what? Did your team not just win 62 games this year? Tampa Bay had not lost 3 games in a row this entire season, let alone 4 playoff games. Tampa was destined a playoff juggernaut since November, and rightfully so. Tampa had enough talent to win the entire thing this year, where did that talent go?

Tampa Bay lost track of who they were, Steven Stamkos had more sucker punches then he had goals this postseason, Nikita Kucherov had more suspended games this postseason then he had goals, that magic number of pucks in the net for him was 0.

Tampa Bay had a great year, and everyone in Tampa should remember that as they turn their head away from the screen the rest of the playoffs. I understand the frustration completely for this team. When asked what happened almost everyone in the locker room said “I don’t know.” Nikita Kucherov took it one step further giving the statement “This sucks” and yes it really does suck.

Tampa Bay might be the greatest chokers in the history of the NHL now, this season was written for a deep playoff run for the Bolts, and sure maybe it would have ended a bit short in the final or conference final, but no one expected them to not win a single game.

Tampa lost track of who they are after losing game 1 of the series, since being up by 3 in game 1 Tampa Bay did not lead another game at any point. The Lightning are used to playing with a lead and putting other teams on their heels, Columbus did not let the Lightning push them around. Columbus dictated the game from period 2 of game 1 until the final minute of game 4.

I am sure that the Lightning will be back to the playoffs next year, and I just want all the Tampa Bay fans out there to know this, it can only get better, adversity helps bread true champions.

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Pittsburgh Penguins

When you win back to back cups a sweep one year does not really phase you does it? Pittsburgh was running on fumes throughout the back half of the year into the playoffs. For the first time in a long time a playoff spot was not guaranteed for the Pens. Luckily for the self declared city of champions Pittsburgh was lead to the playoffs by great leadership by Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel, and when the Pens needed their star players to play like leaders the most, the stars did not show up. For the first time in Sidney Crosby’s playoff career, he was head goalless in the postseason. Crosby was a -4 and only registered 1 assist in the final game of the series. Malkin put up 1 goal and 2 assist and finished a -1 in the series.

Pittsburgh will be known as one of the most dominant teams in the NHL over the last decade, but look at the other dominant teams of the last decade, Chicago and LA. Both Chicago and Los Angeles failed to reach the postseason this year, and although things are starting to look better for the Hawks, a rebuild is in the works in LA. Pittsburgh may finally be reaching their limit with Crosby and Malkin Malkin put up 72 points this season compared to Crosby’s 100. Pittsburgh can not expect to win a playoff series without more supporting cast members.

It will be a long summer for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the last time the Pens were done after round 1 was 2015. Either this team will come back next year unstoppable or Pittsburgh may finally have to change their team and move on from the Malkin Crosby era.