When we first heard the “Fi-re Hex-tall” chants from Pittsburgh Penguins fans at PPG Paints Arena during a 7-2 beatdown from the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 24, they really resonated.

As general manager of the Penguins, Ron Hextall assumed a job that can’t escape criticism. His predecessors — Craig Patrick, Ray Shero and Jim Rutherford — all took varying degrees of heat in the years leading up to their eventual departures.

But not like that. Not that publicly with that much venom from disgruntled fans. After all, each of those men had built up some cache with the fan base. All three of them won at least one Stanley Cup during their time in that job.

Hextall hadn’t. He had barely been in the job for two years. And worst of all, he was public enemy number one as a Flyers goalie during his playing days. Hextall is certainly a deserving target.

He is also an easy one.

Which is why I rolled my eyes when the “Fi-re Hex-tall” chants reappeared Tuesday during the Pens’ season-altering 5-2 loss to the woeful Chicago Blackhawks. A defeat that ostensibly sealed the team’s fate of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2006. That outcome was clinched Wednesday when the New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.

C’mon, folks. That’s low-hanging fruit.

Yeah, I get it. We all get it. Hextall has done a lousy job as the general manager. Hopefully, he’ll be fired by Friday morning.

Some of his moves are head scratching at best and are borderline sabotage at worst. Moves like acquiring Mikael Granlund from the Nashville Predators as the team’s “big” trade deadline acquisition. He’s totaled one goal and four assists in 20 games since coming to Pittsburgh.

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Granlund is rightfully catching flack too. So is Hextall’s “boss,” Brian Burke. What exactly does he do, again?

So are Dmitry Kulikov, and Jan Rutta and Jeff Petry — players acquired since the end of last season that have been too ineffective, and too often injured, to help the cause.

So is Jeff Carter because he never won any Stanley Cups here and faded badly in 2022-23. So is Kasperi Kapanen, and he hasn’t even played in Pittsburgh since Feb. 23.

So are Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry because they are the goalies, and the goalies are always pelted in the town square after every loss.

All of those people are worthy of the boos that cascaded down from the stands Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena from fans who could sense the 16-year playoff streak was about to end. And every one of those boos, for every one of those reasons, was justified.

Just don’t stop there. You can serve up all of those candidates as goats and sacrificial lambs. But don’t create any sacred cows.

Mike Sullivan could easily be called the most successful head coach in Penguins history. But he continues to coach this team with the same speed-based, “attack every time, all the time mentality” that won two Stanley Cups for the franchise in 2016-17 — but has won just one playoff series since then. He has become too loyal to veterans and completely untrusting of young players. His commitment and consistency now come off as stubbornness and resistance to change.

Most NHL coaches aren’t allowed to go five straight years without a playoff round win. Resume or not, Sullivan is worthy of blame for how this season went down, especially given how many leads the Penguins blew and how many times they lost to clubs significantly worse than they were.

Team captain Sidney Crosby has to bear some of that burden as well. In terms of health and statistics, this was Crosby’s best year since 2018-19. Every other Penguin is worthy of criticism before Crosby.

But Crosby went without a goal in eight of nine games down the stretch and has just four goals since March 12, when the team needed scoring the most. In 23 minutes of ice time against Chicago in the season-defining game, Crosby had no points and was a minus-2. His shooting percentage of 13% was the lowest he has posted since 2017-18.

Similar to Crosby, Evgeni Malkin had his healthiest, most effective season since 2017-18. His 27 goals and 83 points were high-water marks over the past five years.

Also similar to Crosby, though, Malkin went from March 16 to April 6 scoring just one goal. He was a minus-11 on the year, the lowest such number he has posted since 2018-19.

Kris Letang’s determination and dedication to return following another stroke was inspirational. So was his usual boundless energy and willingness to soak up ice time on what was largely a barren blue line.

However, as the team’s top offensive defenseman, one goal and five assists since March 16 wasn’t enough. His minus-13 was just the second time Letang was in the red on that number since the start of the 2014-15 season. He was a plus-20 a year ago.

Jason Zucker received wild praise for the first three quarters of his season, but he managed only two points in April and just three goals since March 14. Bryan Rust posted a fourth straight 20 goal season but scored just once in March.

Everyone on the Penguins has blood on their hands when it comes to how and why this season died short of the playoffs, and that makes the autopsy simple enough.

We shouldn’t try to make it even easier than that because it’s more convenient and less emotionally conflicting because we never want to blame the Stanley Cup heroes of years past.

Don’t just call out the goalies out of habit, or the interloping general manager you were ready to hate from the moment he took the job, or the new players you barely got to know.

Nobody wore a cape this season in Pittsburgh. At least not often enough to claim a wild-card spot no team in the Eastern Conference seemed to want.

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