Dave Molinari/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This time, it is different.
This time, the Penguins are not on anyone’s shortlist of Stanley Cup favorites.
Except their own.
Maybe.
This time, they’re widely viewed as long shots to win a game, let alone a series.
This time, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that the Penguins not only will be crushed by the New York Rangers in their first-round playoff series, but also will be lucky to avoid relegation to the American Hockey League.
It’s not just that the Penguins earned the fewest points of any of the 16 teams in these playoffs, or that the Rangers collected the most.