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If the Pens lose tonight, is Bylsma gone?

Dan Bylsma

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Dan Bylsma, center, gives instructions to Matt Niskanen (2), and Sidney Crosby (87) during a time out in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Pittsburgh, Sunday, March 30, 2014. The Penguins won 4-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

From the Associated Press:

And now coach Dan Bylsma finds himself 60 minutes away from either taking the Penguins back to the conference finals for the third time in six years or possibly looking for work.

From The Tennessean:

The coach is almost always the fall guy, and since Dan Bylsma took over in 2009, he has won just one Stanley Cup with superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin – and been to just one Stanley Cup Final, the one in 2009.

From the Globe and Mail:

A win Tuesday night in Game 7 of their second-round NHL playoff series against the New York Rangers means head coach Dan Bylsma and his confounding players can turn to management and say, “Hey, now we’re in our fourth conference final in the last six years. We must be great.”

A loss, though, means owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle look at general manager Ray Shero and say, “This is the fifth consecutive year your team was knocked out of the playoffs by a lower-seeded opponent. Tell us why you, Bylsma and most of the players should not be sacked.”

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

... if the Penguins lose tonight, it will be the fifth consecutive year they will have been eliminated from the playoffs by a lower seed. They will be just 4-5 in postseason series since they won the Stanley Cup in 2009 under Bylsma. This elimination, should it happen, will hurt more than most because the Penguins had what seemed to be a secure 3-1 series edge.

No ownership can be expected to put up with that underachievement.

You get the picture. If the Penguins lose tonight, it’s expected that head coach Dan Bylsma will be fired.

Not that there’s any hard evidence to support that expectation; just a lot of whispers and speculation, combined with Pittsburgh’s multiple postseason disappointments since Bylsma led the Pens to a championship in 2009.

It’s not new, the speculation.

“I’m not coaching, don’t coach, have never coached for my job,” Bylsma said almost a year ago, right before his Pens were swept by Boston in the Eastern Conference Final, with Pittsburgh scoring just two goals in the four games against the Bruins.

Just days later, there was a report that ownership may ask management to relieve the coach of his duties. Instead, Bylsma was given a two-year contract extension, and at least one more chance.

And by “at least,” if you believe the speculation, we mean “only.”