Sick Talent

On my first day home in Pittsburgh, I watched the Pens fall behind Toronto. I complained aloud, "They just don't have it tonight." No one, necessarily, was to blame. Toronto was fighting for its' playoff life, and the Pens had long ago secured a postseason berth. The intensity level of the two teams just couldn't be the same.

Nevertheless, the third period arrived, and I watched the Pens do what they have done all season long. Somehow sitting in front of the television, watching this unfold live rather than reading about it or seeing it later, made it different. When the Pens scored, with a few seconds remaining, to tie the score at four, I, like both coaches, could only shake my head in wonder.

I wanted a "Caption this!" for Therrien's face. My own "Caption this!" would have been something along the lines of, "How did I end up coaching a team so sickly talented that they can screw off for most of the game and then pull off feats like this?" I probably would have added, "This talent certainly helps my win-loss record."

I didn't disagree with Toronto's coach, either, when he said that he'd known Pittsburgh could come back and tie the game as they did because of the talent on the roster. Toronto's coach knew well his own team's limitations when facing the talent of the Pens.

A few weeks later*, it's obvious the Pens can't pull the magic they pulled against a non-playoff team against a team that finished with the same number of points they did. And yet, just focusing on the jubilation on the Pens bench in the last five seconds of that Toronto game, well, wow.

Toronto's coach is right. The Penguins are sickly talented. And the solace in the suffering of a playoff loss remains: That sick talent should have many more celebrations like that celebration against the Maple Leafs in the next few seasons.

Perhaps, even, experience will help such sick talent perform as sick talent should in the playoffs.

*(Present Day Note: Obviously, it's way more than a month later. Just saying. And by the way, I still share the same sentiment at this present moment that I did when I first drafted this post.)