Penguins loss to Philadelphia sets up massive Tuesday game against Ottawa

Pittsburgh is seriously in deep, deep doo-doo.

The Penguins laid an egg against the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 on Easter Sunday. Which, coupled with a possible Ottawa win Sunday night against Toronto, means Pittsburgh’s Tuesday game against the Senators may very well be for a playoff spot. This would be the first playoff whiff for the Pens since Sidney Crosby’s rookie year.

Behold the current standings as of Sunday afternoon:

And considering all the sweeping changes the Penguins made this offseason, a postseason miss would look terrible. New coach, new GM, jettisoning bad boy James Neal to Nashville – a team that will make the playoffs with Neal as a first liner. It all looks really bad right now for the Pens.

And especially for the Flyers to help put Pittsburgh in this precarious spot looks even worse.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Fifteen points ahead of the Ottawa Senators on March 12, the Penguins could have a one-point lead on the Senators for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as soon as tonight.

At best, they're scheduled to practice here Monday before trudging to Canada with a 3-8-2 record over their past 13 games, a three-game losing streak fresh on their minds.

And as for the Tuesday game in Ottawa, from our buddy Empty Netters, who notes that win or lose Sunday night for the Sens, that game is still going to be enormous. And it's going to be in Ottawa where the fans are going to go insane:

What isn't an assumption is that Tuesday's game in Ottawa has essentially become a playoff game regardless if the Senators' result tonight. Spurred by "The Hamburglar," goaltender Andrew Hammond, the Senators have been the NHL's hottest team as of late.

Pittsburgh’s loss to Philadelphia was just brutal for the Penguins. It was on the road, and the did all they could, except win firing 47 shots on goal at the Flyers. They obliterated the Flyers in puck possession out-Corsi-ing Philly 69-40 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick.

“Well we have to score, and we need to capitalize on some of those chances we got yesterday and some of those opportunities we got today,” said coach Mike Johnston in quotes provided by the Flyers PR staff. “It’s great to say we need to score, but it’s getting those opportunities, having quality chances. Tonight we did and we just didn’t finish. As I mentioned to you I think that probably each and every game over these past couple of weeks has been a little different in the dynamics of the game… but they’ve sort of been one off situations.”

But they were foiled by a hot goaltender. Which does show that when it comes to hockey, sometimes the most talented team doesn’t always win. But it also adds that when you put yourself in a bad spot in the standings, it lessens your overall margin for error, because games like these do happen from time to time. And they're magnified at this point of the year.

It’s still impossible for me to see Pittsburgh missing the playoffs, but that reality seems to be more of a possibility right now. If they do, this would be a choke of epic proportions in the NHL. Nothing former GM Ray Shero or ex-coach Dan Bylsma did could equal this.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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