PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was so heading to a great response game after blowing a 5-1 third period lead on Saturday, the Pens were up 3-0 Sunday afternoon with their future goaltender stopping all 19 shots. Then it happened yet again.
The Pens blow a 3-0 lead in the third period to fall behind 4-3, Justin Brazeau did score to force overtime, but quickly lost 5-4 in OT to the 15-15-3 Utah Mammoth.
This came after giving up a four-goal lead to San Jose Saturday.
“Not in a million years did I think we would be back here today, 24 hours later having the same conversation,” said Pens head coach Dan Muse. “I’m probably going to sound like a broken record.”
He did, as did the players although some deep thought reaction to dropping to 14-8-9 that you can listen to as part of the story. While the result is the same, Muse said it’s been different scenarios
“I’ve never seen something where it feels like it’s the same thing coming in different ways,” Muse said. “We have to learn how to close games. This group has to take that step. We are sitting right back here. I have to do a better job of helping fix that.”
“In situations like this, sometimes confidence plays a big role and obviously right now we are lacking that,” said defenseman Erik Karlsson. “We got to find a way quickly to get that back. Early in the season we did a great job of playing with a lead and somehow, we’ve fallen away from that. A lot of that has to do with how you are feeling out there when they score that first one. That’s a mindset we got to control in here if we want to be a good team.”
Muse said the team needs to understand that opponents are going to keep coming even if they are trailing late in games. That is especially true now that the Pens have shown a weakness. He said over the course of a third period, other teams might get chances, but they can’t let one goal become three.
It’s not about changing the approach, just playing better.
Captain Sidney Crosby alluded to having a couple of bad bounces in the loss Sunday to Utah, but they need to overcome that.
“We need some plays that are not going to allow those bounces to be the difference,” Crosby said. “Those can come in a lot of different forms. I think we just need to stick together and find a way to get over it.”
“We can’t be afraid of what can happen in the future, and what ifs,” Karlsson said. “We need to stay a little more in the moment. We got to go back a little bit to a game-to-game basis and not look too far ahead and not worry about what could be and just play our game. When we play the way that we want to, we are a capable team of playing and beating anyone.”
Goalie Sergei Murashov was the victim/culprit of what happened Sunday in the third period. Even in his handful of career NHL games, he recognizes the lack of finish.
“It’s NHL, even if you are leading 3-0 and you are feeling good, it doesn’t mean we already won the game,” Murashov said. “You have to play all 60 minutes. Even if luck is not on your side, no matter what is going on you keep battling, keep fighting.”
Crosby tries to factor in the positive, the team has been right there and does have points in nine of the last 11. Those weren’t Crosby’s words, rather the facts in all these losses.
“Recognizing that all of these games we are talking about we are in a great situation to win it,” Crosby said. “We are obviously doing something right there to be in these situations. It’s a matter of either staying with that or elevating a little bit more when teams start to push. Making sure we are ready to push ourselves. We have to dictate play a little better.”
“With the history we’ve had here in the last couple of weeks, you start overthinking stuff and you start worrying about the what-ifs instead of just playing the situation,” Karlsson said. ”It’s a mindset right now and the good thing with that, it’s controllable.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with systems or x’s and o’s. I think it’s within ourselves. We got to find a way to regain that trust individually and as a team.”
Pens host Edmonton and likely face Tristan Jarry for the first time ever the next time out, Tuesday at home.