Penguins react to Saturday's horrible tragedy in Pittsburgh.

On Saturday the city of Pittsburgh was rocked by a horrific tragedy when a madman entered the Tree of Life synagogue and began to butcher those he found inside, eventually leaving 11 people dead and injuring 6 more, including the law enforcement officials who put their own lives on the line in an effort to bring this lunatic to justice.

The incident shocked the city and left many of it's citizens reeling from the horror that had transpired so close to home. To their credit the Pittsburgh Penguins took a moment to honor the loss of life before their match up with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, with a big assist from the Canucks who were hosting the game at Rogers Arena. As you would expect several players were asked to comment on the situation and even newer players like Jack Johnson were deeply affected by the tragedy.

“I haven’t been in Pittsburgh as long as most of these other guys,” Jack Johnson said as per Penguins insider Josh Yohe. “But I’ve been here long enough to see what a great city it is. It’s just terrible news. It’s a scary world.”

Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta was also shaken up by the horror of it all and told reporters that the tragedy had reverberated all the way across the world to his home in Finalnd.

“I’m so sad,” Olli Maatta said. “I don’t even know what to say. I love Pittsburgh so much. It’s a great city. It’s a sad day.

“I knew it was a huge story because I’ve already heard from people back in Finland about it. It’s terrible.”

Yesterday however we touched on the quickest, and perhaps the most powerful, response from the Penguins organization. Unsurprisingly it came from captain Sindey Crosby who vowed that he would rally around the victims and offer his support as he has so many times before during his career as a Penguins.

“We woke up to the terrible news this morning,” Crosby said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and families affected by what happened this morning. Knowing Pittsburgh, I know we’ll stick together and rally around them, and be there to support and help in any way we can.”

Our thoughts go out to all of those who have been impacted by this tragedy, and of course to all of those who were lost their lives or who were injured in this senseless act of violence.