It’s not difficult to see the connection between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers entering the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. Both have legitimate reason to feel mistreated by the format chosen to crown a champion, and after one night both teams are failing to pass the tests they never really deserved in the first place.
The No. 5 seeds in their conferences entering the 24-team expanded postseason bracket fell short in their respective Game 1s on the opening day of competition after the season’s restart. And while the paths to those curtain-raising losses took on far different looks, both the Penguins and Oilers face the same realities — which are plummeting odds to actually qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.