Tim Benz: After Penguins’ costly loss in Detroit, Casey DeSmith's comment resonates

What Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith said about Tuesday night’s 7-4 loss in Detroit was 100% true.

“We didn’t miss the playoffs because we lost tonight,” DeSmith said after the defeat.

Indeed. Technically, Casey, that’s accurate.

In fact, the Penguins (82 points) still hold the Eastern Conference’s second of two wild-card positions. So the club certainly still has life.

Plus — and I think this is where DeSmith was really going with that quote — if the Penguins do miss the postseason, it won’t be just because of Tuesday’s result.

There are still eight games left to go. Therefore, blame can eventually be assigned elsewhere, if one of the East’s most inconsistent teams bottoms out over the next two weeks and misses the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

Or if a squad such as the Florida Panthers (79 points), Buffalo Sabres (77 points) or Ottawa Senators (77 points) finally get their act together enough to grab the Penguins by their tail feathers and secure the final playoff spot.

But chances are DeSmith meant if his team does fail to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2006, they can look back at many other reasons why aside from Tuesday’s loss.

No doubt.

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There was dropping a 6-4 contest at home to the lousy San Jose Sharks right before the All-Star break. There was a seven-game losing streak in November and a six-gamer a month later. There have been multiple third-period blown leads that resulted in allowing at least one (if not two) points to get away.

There have been two losses to Ottawa, a recent 5-4 come from ahead blunder against the Montreal Canadiens and an ugly 5-4 overtime failure to Detroit just after Christmas that featured the Penguins falling despite initially holding a 4-0 lead.

So, DeSmith is spot on. If the Penguins do fan on the playoffs this year, there will be other losses and other reasons to identify as bigger reasons why than just stewing over the loss in Michigan Tuesday.

But, wow, did it hurt.

The Penguins scampered from behind twice in that game and took an “L” anyway. They rallied from 3-0 down. Then again from a 4-3 deficit. Yet a third comeback would’ve been necessary after the Penguins fell behind 5-4 during a third penalty kill.

DP's 17th. pic.twitter.com/GIQfs2ohyJ

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 29, 2023

That goal made it 5-4. It was scored by David Perron. The second of three the ex-Penguin would rack up in the third period for his eighth career hat trick.

“I overslid. It went through my five-hole. That’s one I have to have. A huge letdown for me in a big moment. That one doesn’t feel good,” DeSmith said.

Again, credit DeSmith for accuracy. He wasn’t good enough on that shot. Nor was he on Perron’s third goal a minute later.

A @budlight celly fit for a hat trick! pic.twitter.com/9Nr6kvbR33

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 29, 2023

Nor was he good enough in general.

Head coach Mike Sullivan gave it the “we win as a team, we lose as a team” routine in an effort to deflect blame from DeSmith after the loss.

Similar to his goalie, the coach was spitting the truth. The team wasn’t good enough collectively in the defensive end. It had a bad start and a worse finish. It allowed two power-play goals and was outhit 18-6.

But, much like DeSmith’s logic, Sullivan’s did little to mollify the result. It almost made you feel worse. It was another ill-timed collective loss, in a very winnable game, to a non-playoff team when the Penguins are scrambling like crazy to make the playoffs themselves.

And any efforts to explain away why these things keep happening are becoming more maddening than the losses themselves.

So maybe the Penguins shouldn’t bother trying to explain them away if that happens again Thursday against the Nashville Predators or Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Should the Penguins manage to emerge from those two games with anything less than four points — with a nightmare matchup against the juggernaut Boston Bruins in between on Saturday — they will perhaps become a non-playoff team themselves.

That won’t make anyone feel any better either.