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The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t won a playoff game (0-7) since TJ Oshie punched Kris Letang’s face multiple times in 2018

By Ian Oland

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August 2, 2020 9:51 pm

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won three Stanley Cups during the Sidney Crosby era, but their luck has run dry lately. One Capitals fan believes the cause of their bad run could be TJ Oshie(‘s fists).

On Saturday the Penguins lost to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime, dropping Game One of their best-of-five Qualifying Round series. Habs defenseman Jeff Petry curl-and-dragged the puck past Brandon Tanev and wristed a beautiful shot past Matt Murray for sudden victory.

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According to Twitter user @Kravitz76, the loss marked the Penguins’ seventh straight L over the last three postseasons. @Kravitz76 believes TJ Oshie’s fight with Kristopher Letang, where the Capitals right wing punched the living daylights out of the Penguins defenseman, was the turning point.

As Jake Guentzel scored an empty-net goal in that game, Oshie snapped. The Penguins won Game Four 3-1 to tie the series 2-2, but it would be the last playoff game they’d win over a period of two years and counting.

The Capitals won Game Five and then Game Six to secure only their second-ever postseason series win against the Penguins. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in overtime after a turnover by Sidney Crosby (that seems cosmic). Kuzy flapped his wings in celebration. The Capitals went on to win the Stanley Cup.

The next playoff year, the Penguins were swept (!!!) in the first round by Barry Trotz’s New York Islanders.

I’m not sure what to make of all this. Maybe the Penguins have just run into teams that are better? Or maybe their playoff record is regressing to the mean after so much undeserved winning (like their Stanley Cup run in 2017 where they were drastically out-attempted in every round). Or maybe, and this is the one that I want to believe, TJ Oshie punched the good hockey out of Kristopher Letang’s face.

Yeah, let’s go with that one.

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