It’ll be ok, fellow black and gold supporter. I promise.

You had a rough weekend for sure.

Look at it this way: You can’t lose to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship for the umpteenth time if you lose the week before to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Whats that? Did I just make a Pirates fan laugh?

I asked an evaluator who scouts the Astros for his take on #Pirates Cole trade: "I think it's a brutal deal for Pitt. Musgrove and Feliz both have ML valeu, but both (as) relievers. Moran and Martin to me are throw-in typles."

— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) January 14, 2018

Probably not laughing now, after the Gerrit Cole trade.

Take it easy, guys, before the inevitable Andrew McCutchen trade to a contender for a bag of baseballs and lifetime supply of ski-wax at Seven Springs.

Before Todd Haley gets run out-of-town faster than you can say “Tequila Cowboy,” I’d like to turn your attention to your two-time, reigning, defending and undisputed Stanley Cup Champions.

They are your “silver lining,” Pittsburgh.

While the Pirates and Steelers are both 3-5 in their last eight playoff games, the Penguins have won eight straight playoff series.

So, here you go; here’s a new Terrible Towel to replace the one you threw away in anger last night. Come along with us. It will be fun.

See, the Penguins have been floundering along this year thus far. Tired and lacking motivation at times from two successful Championship runs. But now with a whole city and its fans in desperate need of a hero one more time, they are starting to answer that call.

Their latest victory was on Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena, a 5-2 victory over the struggling New York Rangers.

A game that saw a couple of first period turnovers lead to a couple of opponents scores.

No..not those ones.

Evgeni Malkin was in the giving mood.  After a Patric Hornqvist goal, the Penguins center had a period to forget as his gaffes led to goals by Michael Grabner and Brendan Smith as the Penguins trailed 2-1 after twenty minutes.

The Penguins would tie it up when Dominic Simon scored his first goal off of a rebound 6:45 into the period. It was Simon’s first goal in the NHL.

Just over a minute later, that red-hot Phil Kessel would notch his 700th career point as he beat Henrik Lundqvist high, over the short side to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.

It was also Kessel’s 20th goal on the year. He has hit the 20 mark now ten times in his career.

Tristan Jarry would slam the door from there. Going perfect after the first period and making 26 saves for the game. It was Jarrys’ fourth-straight start and second straight while Matt Murray attends to a personal family matter.

Murray, however, was with the team on Sunday and skated during the morning.

A rookie goalie making his mark on a veteran team and forcing the coach to play him significant time over the entrenched starter.

After Riley Sheahan had a goal disallowed because of a kick, Sidney Crosby put home one that counts over seven minutes into the third period as he found a soft spot in the slot, received a Kessel pass and beat Lundqvist to the far post side to double the lead.

From there, Carl Hagelin would add an empty-netter inside of two minutes to go and the Penguins would finish it out and take over sole-possessions of the top Wild Card spot in the East. The Penguins moved two points ahead of the Rangers, who have now lost four of five.

In addition to Simon’s first goal, and Kessel’s 700th career point, Hags reached the 200 career point mark with an assist on Hornqvist’s game-opening goal.

In addition to Malkin, Crosby and Kessel catching fire, you can point to the improved play of guys like Hagelin and Kris Letang as reasons for the recent surge as well.

It’s funny how big-time players coming around makes everyone look better. Not much baking of the defense, bottom six, or goaltending going on as of late, eh?

Pittsburgh fired off 47 shots on goal but came up empty on the power play. The Penguins also climbed within one point of the third-place New Jersey Devils and two points of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan Division.

New Jersey, however, has played four fewer games than the Penguins.

Pittsburgh will need to keep up their focus and intensity as they now head to California for a three-game, Golden State gauntlet with the Anaheim Ducks up first on Wednesday night, followed by a quick turnaround the next night with the Los Angeles Kings.

So jump aboard, disheveled Pittsburgh Sports fan. The sun came up today. You are breathing air and living life, and you still have an opportunity to watch a championship team make another long playoff run.

When Cutch and Josh Harrison get shipped off for peanuts, and when Tom Brady wins another Super Bowl and puts his arm around his supermodel wife, you’ll have the Penguins to help you forget all of that nonsense.

Thanks for reading!

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