One team looked young, fast, hungry, vibrant, skilled and clearly on the rise.
The other team ... didn't.
The Penguins' 5-1 loss Tuesday night in New Jersey was a changing-of-the-guard game if I've ever seen one. And we've all seen one. It's the night your delusion bubble finally bursts, the night you fully realize that a talented, younger team has indisputably overtaken an older, accomplished one. And it can be awfully painful to observe.
The Penguins were these Devils once, doing layup lines on opposing teams. Toying with them. Torturing them.
That was a long time ago.
I don't want to overdo it on the Devils. Who knows where their journey goes? I'm focused more on the Penguins —and the fact that one Marc-Andre Fleury could be one who does them in on Thursday, but more on that in a minute.
Torch passings happen all the time in sports, although I think of dramatic examples like the moment it became clear that the Michael Jordan Bulls had finally lapped the Bad Boy Pistons. The moment you knew things would never be the same for Detroit.
Sure, the two-time champion Pistons would hang around for a bit. They'd win some games and battle their way into the playoffs. But they were done as a viable contender. Kind of like these Penguins, who have not won consecutive games in regulation since late February and have not won three games in a row in regulation since mid-December (and haven't won four straight in regulation at all). They can no longer impose their will on teams with a fast-paced, in-your-face style. Not with any kind of consistency, anyway. This all feels very futile.
A dejected Mike Sullivan spoke of details and "making better decisions" after the loss Tuesday. He must know it's not really about those things anymore. The fact of the matter is that his players simply aren't good enough.
The Penguins also haven't won a playoff series since 2018, although they skated circles around the New York Rangers for much of last year's first-round series only to be undone by Jacob Trouba's elbow and some literal minor league goaltending. For all we know, that might have been the last legitimately good team of the Sidney Crosby era.
I've been one of the last holdouts this year, waiting for this club to finally get healthy and perhaps prove its mettle. But it's the oldest team in the league. It's not going to get healthy. It might still sneak into the playoffs, but only for a cameo, and only if other teams falter. With four games left, and two spots available, the Penguins are a point behind the Islanders and Panthers and lose tie-breakers to both. That is the predicament in which they find themselves.
Well, that and the fact they owe Mikael Granlund, Dan Petry and Jeff Carter — a combined 105 years old and looking every bit that age— $14.375 million in total next season. But that's a story for another day.
This is a disaster — and guess who's coming to town Thursday night to possibly turn out the lights?
Fleury and the Minnesota Wild. That's who.
The Wild have been alternating goalies by the game for a month now, and it's Fleury's turn to play. In some ways, it would be downright poetic. Fleury was the first-round phenom back in 2005-06, the last time the Penguins missed the playoffs. He had a long and storied career here before the Penguins understandably moved on, seemingly rich in young goalie talent.
Fleury, however, has outperformed the Penguins since leaving town. And if he doesn't play, an even more agonizing scenario could unfold. Penguins fans might be forced to watch the goalie who could have been their future bury them. Filip Gustavsson, a prospect Jim Rutherford included in the ill-fated Derek Brassard trade, wound up in Minnesota and is second in the NHL in save percentage (.932). He is only 24 and might be a wonderful alternative to the unreliable Tristan Jarry, who is likely to leave Pittsburgh with zero playoff series wins if the Penguins do not sign him this summer.
Though a loss could prove fatal, the Penguins would not officially be eliminated Thursday. In fact, they'll be favored to win their final three games — at Detroit, home against Chicago and at Columbus. And there's some full-circle feel to those final two games, as well.
The Blackhawks and Blue Jackets are in tank mode for generational talent Connor Bedard (the Hawks had a horrible win against Calgary on Tuesday), just like the Penguins once were positioning themselves to land Fleury, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
A long time ago.
