Sidney Crosby sat at his stall. Staring straight ahead. Speechless.
Kris Letang, clearly sensing that his captain's misery could use some company, soon scampered over next to him.
Now, I could convey here that the Penguins looked flat in falling to the Hurricanes, 4-0, Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. I could stress that they put forth only 23 shots in Curtis McElhinney's largely uneventful shutout. I could break down the couple of smallish breakdowns that contributed to Carolina's own modest offensive output.
But that, if I were betting, wouldn't describe what this team's two MVPs were mulling afterward. None of it.
Rather, it would have been stuff like this:
Not to pick on any individual -- at least not yet -- but that's Matt Cullen and the fourth line, the one that's supposed to set the model for the rest, gaining the Carolina blue line with some gusto. Cullen dishes to his left to Teddy Blueger, which is obviously fine, but Blueger blindly chips it toward the crease area, rather than behind the net where Cullen was headed or around the far boards where Garrett Wilson would have kept possession. Instead, the Hurricanes' Jaccob Slavin is handed the puck and, with teammate Greg McKegg nearby supporting him, up the wall it goes.
Too scattered. Too soft. The play heads back the wrong way.
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