Pittsburgh Penguins: No Sidney Crosby, No Stanley Cup Appearance

The Penguins are scoring slightly over two goals per contest since the loss of Sidney Crosby back in early January. They have scored four goals in the past four games.

Somehow this results in a 3-1 record. They won four straight shootouts before losing to Philadelphia last night 5-2. There are no shootouts in postseason play so they will have to be able to score goals in regulation time.

They struggle to score in general, but especially on the power play. They are scoring at a 16 percent clip, which is deserving of the 24th-ranked power play in the National Hockey League.

With the additions of James Neal and Alex Kovalev, some may suggest that the scoring would rise a bit. Neal hasn't seemed to put the puck into the net in regulation. There is no doubt he will be a much better player on a line with Crosby when he returns.

Kovalev has been a bit better than Neal.

The defense has been solid all year for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury has been fantastic this season after his early troubles. He is 34-19-5 with a goals against average of 2.32 and a save percentage of 92 percent.

The Penguins will go as far as Fleury will take them. The NHL playoffs are generally about which team is the hottest, especially when talking about the goalie. Fleury could take the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals, but he will need a lot of help.

The Penguins' inability to put the puck in the net might ultimately put too much pressure on Fleury to produce at a high level.

Dan Bylsma has done an amazing job with a team that has gone through more adversity than any other NHL club. He would get my vote for coach of the year.

The Penguins lost Bill Guerin to retirement and Sergei Gonchar, Ruslan Fedotenko, Jordan Leopold, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Jay McKee and Mark Eaton to free agency. Some of these players were more important than others, but they still needed to be replaced.

Jordan Staal started the season injured. He has only played in 38 games this season. Evgeni Malkin tore his ACL and MCL against the Buffalo Sabres on Feb 4. He has only played in 43 games and, of course,

Crosby—the face of the franchise and the NHL—has only played in 41 games due to a concussion he suffered in early January.

These aren't the only players who have caught the injury bug this season. Brooks Orpik, Mark Letestu and Chris Kunitz have all missed a significant amount of time. Throw in the fact that he has had to deal with Matt Cooke, who is currently suspended for the rest of the season plus the first round of the playoffs for his on-ice actions, and Byslma has seen it all this year.

This Penguins team is one I wouldn't want to face because of their experience. Bylsma's system may get a few more goals than expected come playoff time which would help the offense. He always gets the maximum out of every player in the locker room.

Goaltending is crucial in the playoffs, but it won't mean anything if the Penguins aren't putting rubber in the net. They have a lot of quality players but no stars. They are going to make Pittsburgh proud with how they play, but it won't be enough.

The Penguins will not be making the Stanley Cup this season. Of course, this gets thrown out the window if Crosby comes back.