NEWARK, N.J. — For the primary time in 4 years, it’ll quickly be a fantastic day for playoff hockey in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins clinched a playoff spot Thursday night time by beating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 to finish a postseason drought that lasted three seasons. They had made 16 postseason appearances in a row earlier than that, final lacking in Sidney Crosby‘s rookie 12 months in 2005-06, with that stretch together with three Stanley Cup titles.
It was an up-and-down season that included an eight-game skid in December and a pair of six-game profitable streaks later within the winter. Far from assured a spot within the area in late March when the Eastern Conference race was a crowded mess, they’ve received 5 of six video games since March 30.
“A couple weeks ago [we realized] it’s really in our hands [because we] play a lot of the teams in it,” defenseman Connor Clifton mentioned. “We figured it was going to work itself out, and first and foremost it’s about us and getting points and we’ve done that, so it’s been good.”
It has additionally been a shock. Pittsburgh was a 6-1 lengthy shot to qualify earlier than the puck dropped on opening night time, based on Sportsbook. This regarded like one final kick at it collectively for an growing old core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who at 20 seasons collectively are the longest-tenured trio of teammates in North American skilled sports activities.
Instead, new coach Dan Muse has made basic supervisor Kyle Dubas look sensible for hiring him from relative anonymity: 5 years as an assistant below Peter Laviolette with Nashville and the New York Rangers. Succeeding two-time Cup-winner Mike Sullivan was not a straightforward job, however Muse aced the take a look at in his first likelihood to run an NHL bench.
“He’s been great: Calm there behind the bench, and he’s just a really personable guy, easy to talk to away from the rink,” ahead Justin Brazeau mentioned. “Any time you create that atmosphere in here, it’s not too tense or anything like that. I think guys are just willing to go out there and play free.”
Center Ben Kindel, picked eleventh within the draft final 12 months, made the staff at 18. Defenseman Erik Karlsson thrived at 35. Crosby was a point-a-game participant for a twenty first consecutive season, even when it was interrupted by the harm that knocked him out of the Olympics.
Asked the place his staff’s resilience got here from, Muse mentioned: “I ascribe it to the locker room, our leadership, our captain. I think it’s these guys. I think you need to have that in order to find success. I think that stems from this locker room.”
