Tim Benz: Sidney Crosby's heroics prevent another Penguins plunge to rock bottom — for now

Sorry, Penguins. This day was always going to come.

Eventually, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season was going to have to end, and we were going to have to realize exactly how badly your season was going.

Thanks for making it as glaringly obvious as possible at just the right time for all of us to get a true appreciation.

For those in the city’s sports ecosystem who are just now checking in to see how much of a mess the local hockey team has become, the Pens are about to open February with just 50 points, good for last place in the Metropolitan Division and second-to-last in the Eastern Conference.

Every time we think they’ve hit rock bottom, they find another layer to hit. That was about to be the case again Wednesday until Sidney Crosby bailed them out with an overtime goal in Salt Lake City to beat the Utah Hockey Club 3-2.

• There was that six-game losing streak, featuring four consecutive defeats on the run through Western Canada. But that was in October, and there was still some naive optimism that things could get better.

• There was that 7-1 loss at home to Dallas on Nov. 11. That felt like it could be the bottom of the barrel — until they lost 6-2 at Columbus four days later.

• There was the 6-1 defeat at home against essentially an expansion team from Utah on Nov. 23 to ruin Crosby’s 600th goal party. That looked like the nadir of humiliation. That threshold was tested Wednesday until Crosby’s heroics. Pittsburgh managed just four shots on goal in the first period before finally waking up in the second.

• There was that five-game homestand earlier this month that yielded just one win. The Pens were facedown in the mud at that point. Then they went on this recently concluded seven-game road trip where they lost four times — including to the likes of lousy teams such as the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken. Those are three of the five worst teams in the Western Conference (not to mention allowing Utah to claim another point).

There are still 29 games to go. So, much like the movie “The Abyss,” there are probably more kilometers to plunge. I just can’t imagine what that is going to look like.

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Actually, some things I can imagine. I can imagine the roster without Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson and Rickard Rakell. That’ll make things worse for now but potentially better in years to come. General manager Kyle Dubas has to be thinking that way, no matter how much the aging core might hate seeing viable players like that shipped away.

What I can’t imagine is continuing to exist in this netherworld between attempting (and failing) to be competitive this year while aiming to build for the future.

Right now, the Penguins are doing neither.

Another Crosby highlight may have masked those concerns for the long trip back from Utah. But expect reality to kick in again sometime during this four-game stretch before the 4 Nations Face-Off. That starts Feb. 12 and runs through Feb. 22.

From there, the Penguins will have no place to hide. Their wayward play will get no cover from the Steelers. Angst over the end of 2024 will have died down. NFL free agency will still be weeks away, and we’ll still be over a month away from being able to complain about the Pirates.

For the Pens, the only questions that remain are:

• How low can they go?

• How will Dubas handle the plunge?

And how often can Crosby distract us with moments like the one he authored Wednesday night?

LISTEN: David James of KUTV/97.5 The Zone joins me to talk about how the NHLis taking hold in Utah.