Blues Charge, Topple Penguins, 7-5, in Finale
Way back in the day (I’m talkin’ late ‘60s and early ‘70s) the Penguins and Blues were protagonists in one of the fiercest rivalries in hockey. Games between the non-kissin’ expansion cousins were often wild ‘n’ woolly affairs, the Pens’ 10-4 thrashing of the Blues on November 22, 1972, a prime example.
Well, Bugsy Watson and the Plager Brothers have nothing on the present day Pens and Blues.
During last night’s season finale at the Enterprise Center, the Pens rocketed out to leads of 3-0 and 4-1, only to watch them evaporate in the face of a stinging Blues onslaught.
The silver lining? Our goal-getters included kids Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes (who got two), as well as hulking Elmer Söderblom, who made road kill of Blues defender Tyler Tucker before beating Jordan Binnington with an extraordinary power move.
The bad news? Some deplorable defensive play by our bottom two pairings. In fairness, at least some of their struggles were likely due to unfamiliarity with each other. However, if he hadn’t already done so, Ryan Graves seemed to permanently punch his ticket to Palookaville with a series of misreads (and misdeeds).