Sidney Crosby voices true thoughts after 2nd straight year without playoffs

The Pittsburgh Penguins were essentially left for dead by most fans and analysts after they traded Jake Guentzel at last month's NHL Trade Deadline, well outside of a playoff spot.

However, they were able to rip off an incredible 7-0-3 record after that, putting themselves back into the conversation for the postseason and joining the cluster of teams that included the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers all vying for the final Wild Card spot in the East.

But ahead of tonight's season finale against the New York Islanders, the Penguins have found themselves officially eliminated from any chance at a postseason berth for the second straight season.

For captain Sidney Crosby, it's a difficult circumstance to swallow. 

“I mean, when you’re talking about one or two points, I mean, there’s a lot of different games you look at or instances. So it’s hard to, but it’s hard to turn one or two points and magnify that into what the reason (we missed the playoffs),” said Sidney Crosby. “But there are probably different things. I think the obvious one is just multiple games where we had leads, and we ended up not even getting points in some of those.”

“Obviously, the outcome here is, is not what we wanted, and it definitely sucks. It stings inside. But I mean, what can we do now? We might as well have fun and look forward to ending off the season on a high note.”

The Penguins meet the Islanders tonight at UBS Arena in their season finale. What follows is an offseason of work for general manager Kyle Dubas. 

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