PENS MUST PROVE ME WRONG

It’s do or die for the Penguins. Win and they keep their season alive for at least another game. Lose at home in Game Six and the Pens are off to the golf course. I do think the Penguins are capable of winning the next two. I just don’t think they’ll do it. Washington has been the better team in this series. There’s a reason the Penguins have won two Stanley Cups in a row. They’ve been there before. Now, can they do it with their backs to the wall?
• The key to this series has been goaltending. Matt Murray has been just OK for the Penguins. Washington’s Braden Holtby has been the best player on the ice, which is saying something when you have guys like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin playing every night. Murray has come up big for the Pens before. Now he needs to do it again to keep his team alive, and to show fans that the Penguins were right in keeping him and exposing Marc Andre Fleury in the expansion draft.
• Phil Kessel and Derick Brassard haven’t done much in these playoffs, but did seem to come alive in Game Five in Washington. They had better do something soon if the Penguins are going to make it to the conference finals. I still think there’s something wrong with Kessel, as he just hasn’t looked like himself. Brassard has done little since coming over in the big trade with Ottawa. It’s put up or shutout time for these two high paid players.
• Tom Wilson deserved to be suspended for three games in the Pens-Caps series. I think you could make the argument that Wilson could have easily been suspended for the remainder of the playoffs, but we all know that was never going to happen. Hits to the head that cause serious injury have no place in hockey. If guys are going to do it, and Wilson did it twice in the series, they should pay the price.
• The Pirates are a streaky team, to say the least. They win a few, and then drop a few. They were simply awful in Washington where they were swept by the Nationals. I’ve said all along that pitching is a major question mark for this team. The Buccos’ hurlers were plastered by the Nats. It was some pretty ugly baseball.
• I expected the Pirates to have their same usual problems in Milwaukee, not win the series over the Brewers. This time around the Pirates got some really good much needed pitching. It was also good to see the Pirates’ bats come alive. The Buccos need Josh Bell and Gregory Polanco to hit, and hit with power. If they do that the team has a chance. If not, it’s going to be a long year.
• Former Pirates Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton are lighting it up in Houston. Good for them. Both pitchers are having outstanding seasons for the defending world champions. Cole was positively brilliant over the weekend, fanning 16 batters on his way to a one hit performance. Morton isn’t far behind in the strikeout department. Both also have very low earned run averages. So, why didn’t this happen in Pittsburgh? I’d love to hear the organization’s answer to that one.
• Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t sound like he’s ready for his life’s work. Appearing on The Fan in Pittsburgh, Big Ben said he plans to play a few more years, and didn’t sound like he was ready to hand his job to third round pick Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State. Ben also didn’t seem thrilled with the pick, or come across like a guy who’s going to mentor the possible Steelers’ quarterback of the future. It was a good listen. Wonder if Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin were listening?