SAN JOSE, Calif. -- First game on this cross-California trip for the Penguins was a laugher, the second one enough to make one cry, and this third one ... as a great man once spoke, should have all concerned winding their watch.
Because it's time to get real.
"Obviously, that was a tough game for us," Rickard Rakell was saying after a energetic, brisk practice Monday afternoon at the Toyota Sports Performance Complex in Los Angeles, after which the team flew here for the Tuesday night faceoff with the Sharks at SAP Center.