Blame last night’s loss on the rain falling last night as fans funneled into the Igloo for Game 7? Nope. Blame it on the Fleury – Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins netminder had a game that all Pens fans and even he would sooner forget.

Sure, the Canadiens capitalized on their first shot after Sid took a terrible boarding penalty. Sure Gonchar looked like he was already making plans about where he would be playing next year. But those are the sorts of stops a goalie the caliber of Fleury is supposed to make. And that was the story of the night on three of the Canadiens first four goals as all were stops Fleury is supposed to make. But he didn’t and the Pens are off to the golf course for the summer awaiting next year and the opening of the Consol Energy Center.

Fans on hand tried their darndest to get the home team fired up but slowly and surely they fell down 4-0 half way through the second before coming to life with a goal by Chris Kunitz. The fans were loud and cheered even when the Pens were down. They cheered their hearts out. But this was not the year for another Stanley Cup.

Too many players just went through the motions after falling behind last night and when they finally got a fire lit under their asses it was too late. Too many players on the team just played like there was another chance to win the series when there was none and it will lead to one interesting off season as several players on this year’s team will almost certainly not return from Fedotenko to Ponikarovksy to most likely Gonchar as well.

Time for Shero to work his magic and get this team set for next year. And he’ll have a little bit longer than last year to do so.