The Pittsburgh Penguins did not have their best weekend. Even though they returned a chunk of players and their head coach from COVID protocol they were destroyed on the scoreboard. The team gave up a dozen goals split evenly between the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals.

I think the team has performed quite well this year given the circumstances, but those kind of moral victories don’t mean much when you’re sitting near the basement of the division with Thanksgiving around the corner. Historically speaking, the teams out of a playoff spot during Thanksgiving don’t have a great chance of turning things around. Obviously, it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Also, the Penguins have a unique situation where they haven’t had their real team, or anything close to it, at any point this year. The question will be how far behind will they be by the time they do get a healthy lineup?

After starting the year 3-0-2 the Penguins have gone 2-5-2 since. The underlying numbers are fine which gives this team hope, but you still can’t throw away this many points in a competitive division and not worry a little bit.

While getting back Sidney Crosby is awesome I think tempered expectations are in order. He has played like two games in six months. He is in his mid-thirties. I don’t think this is as easy as him flipping the switch like it used to be. It won’t shock me if he somehow goes on a tear, but it is reasonable to think based on the lack of action, injuries, and age that he has a lot, perhaps unfair, pressure on him to perform and stop this stretch of losing.

The Penguins will have Buffalo on home ice this Tuesday. They need to start earning some points or it will get late early this year.

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