So I guess closing with a flourish isn’t on the cards, huh?
The Hawks got the two points, and that’s probably all that matters with the Hawks in something of a rut this month (though I don’t know if all teams would consider a 5-5 record this month a rut, but such are the standards round these parts). But against a Pens team stripped of Letang, Malkin, Hornqvist and Maatta, you’d like something a little better than pinned back for at least the last 30 of the game, coughing up a two-goal lead that really should have been the platform to close this one out easily. That’s how it’s going right now.