Pens continue to plummet with loss in Colorado

The horrible play continues, but are we really surprised anymore?

The Penguins carried the play for the first ten minutes or so, but the Avs were the first team on the board. Ryan Smyth redirected a blazing shot from Wojtek Wolski that handcuffed Dany Sabourin, making it 1-0 Avs. The prevailing thought among Penguins Nation: here we go again.

The Penguins horrific powerplay seemed to be on its way to another failure with four minutes and change left in the first period, as Darcy Tucker served a too many men on the ice minor for Colorado.

Suddenly, things changed.

Crosby had the puck on the left side, and sent it through the Avs' PK unit over to Malkin, who one-timed it past Andrew Raycroft with a perfectly placed snipe. What a gift it was by the Avs to give the Pens a powerplay for a pointless too many men infraction.

The Avs created a bit of traffic in front as time was running out in the first, but they couldn't get a good shot on Sabourin, and Petr Sykora.

Colorado owned a 15-8 edge in shots after one.

Sabourin tried to clear the puck out of his own end from behind his net, but his clearing attempt was cut off at the hashmarks. After a few shots, the puck bounced to Davy Jones, who beat Sabourin easily while the netminder was out of position.

Crosby evened it up a few minutes later. Max Talbot drove to the net, and pushed back the Colorado defenseman, giving Crosby time and space to solve Raycroft short side.

The Avs then made it 3-2 on a Wolski tally. The skilled forward went through the Pens defense, and Sabourin was completely out of position again, allowing Wolski to roof it.

Then, it was 4-2, as Cody McLeod tipped in a Jordan Leopold slapper.

Was this rock bottom? Every time we think it is, things get worse.

Mike Yeo was interviewed between periods by Dan Potash. Yeo had tears in his eyes, practically, maybe a sign that his firing is imminent.

Marc-Andre Fleury was brought in for the final frame.

The Pens seemed to be getting some things going, but Matt Cooke took his obligatory stupid penalty to kill the rally. Cooke saw an Avs defenseman without the puck and his back turned at the Pens' bench, so he took the chance to cross-check him in the back.

The penalty on Cooke may have been a blessing in disguise, however.

Jordan Staal scored his first shorthanded goal since his rookie season, taking the puck end to end and beating Raycroft high glove with a wicked wrister. It was a game again, but not for long.

The Pens let Davy Jones walk right through the crease, and he scored his second of the game...on the same powerplay that Staal scored on.

What a brutal team. Really, this isn't a slump. The Pens just blow. Hard.

Fleury was taken off for the extra attacker, but nothing came of it.

It's just another loss.

This is the worst Penguins team since before Crosby has been here. At least the team in Sid's rookie campaign played with some heart, unlike this sorry bunch of lazy dogs.

Crosby
Malkin
Staal
Sykora

And the rest of the team just does nothing.

This is a team full of passengers, and there is no way it goes anywhere.

Up next, we'll be getting slaughtered in Philly on Tuesday.

I'm almost ready to quit, but I just don't think I can.

Go Steelers.