Pittsburgh, we gotta talk about tonight
The air in Pittsburgh feels… thick today, yinz know? Not like the usual gameday buzz you get rolling through Bloomfield or down Penn Avenue. It’s got this anxious hum to it, like everyone’s holding their breath. Folks at the Primanti Bros in the Strip District were picking at their sandwiches this morning, not even joking around about how many goals Sid's gonna put up. The Penguins dropped that last one, and with the Florida Panthers coming to the Igloo, there’s a real feeling that this game could go either way. Are we still the dominant force, or are we gonna let these jagoffs push us around on our own slippy ice?
Everyone's talking about the standings, obviously. We’re sitting second in the Metro, but it feels more precarious than that. Over at my barber shop in Squirrel Hill, the big discussion wasn't just about tonight, but about how the Pens have been playing lately. Five wins in the last ten ain't terrible, but it ain't exactly that unstoppable train we know and love. You hear people worried about secondary scoring, or if the defense is gonna hold up. It’s not defeatist, not yet, but it’s definitely not the swagger we had earlier in the season. Tonight's a big one, a real measuring stick game against a tough Florida Panthers squad.
From dahntahn Pittsburgh — yinz know what time it is. Let's Go Pens.
My buddy Keith and the morning crew are always breaking this stuff down. Yinz can catch 'em live at mornings.live.