Penguins Blow Lead And ... Stop Me If You've Heard This Before

"It was a horrible performance".

That's what Penguins coach Michel Therrein had to say after the latest Penguins' come-from-ahead loss to the Buffalo Sabres last night at Mellon Arena, 4-3.

Much like the last time the teams met in Buffalo on 11-28, the Penguins had a 3-2 lead and coudln't hold it. This time, the Penguins actually had a 3-1 lead, and they didn't wait until the 3rd period to blow it, allowing the Sabres to tie it before the 2nd intermission. But after the Sabres got the winner in the 3rd, the result was all the same.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored twice and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins. Letang's goal was the only one the Penguins scored on a 5-on-3 last night (that's right ... I said only ... more on that in a minute), while Fedotenko's goals were each put on a silver platter by Evgeni Malkin, who made beautiful plays on both.

On the first, Malkin carried the puck across the Sabres blueline on the near boards, leading a 3-on-2 rush. He stickhandled between his legs to gain a step with the puck, then tossed a backhander past Petr Sykora (giving Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller a moment of pause) to Fedotenko who buried it for a 1-0 lead.

After Derek Roy of the Sabres tied the game after taking a Brooks Orpik giveaway, walking in on a 2-on-1 and beating Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin low to the stick side, Malkin and Fedotenko struck again.

This time, Sykora passed a puck out from behind the net to Malkin in the far left circle. He one timed a pass to Fedotenko in the slot, who buried it again behind Miller to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

After Letang's goal put the Penguins up 3-1, the Sabres managed to get within 1 again, and that's when the game arguably turned.

Buffalo had been taking penalties all night and, although that shouldn't worry them greatly with the way the Penguins' power play has been performing lately, it apparently was a concern to Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff, who barked enough at the officials from the bench the next time the Sabres took a penalty to put his team down 2 men for a full 2 minutes.

Had the Penguins capitalized there, they could have put the game away. They had some chances, but were too busy looking for the pretty play and didn't finish. The Sabres' got some momentum from that, and went on to win.

As Therein said, "The Power play is not good. We've asked people to go in front of the net, but they won't go. So we need the perfect shot".

The Penguins had 3 separate 5-on-3 advantages -- each for extended periods -- but finished 1-for-8 with the extra man.

I think that qualifies as horrible. Miller played well for Buffalo, but you have to capitalize on those opportunities if you want to win in this league.

What also qualifies as horrible was the Penguins' defensive play last night. They gave the puck away too many times in their own zone and also got caught running around too much. I've already talked about the awful gaffe Orpik made in the first period. It's hard to be too critical of Orpik, since he doesn't do things like that very often, but you just can't make that mistake.

A lot of the other Buffalo goals were the result of the Penguins following the puck carrier or abandoning their coverage zones on the ice, or both, which is generally uncharacteristic of the Penguins.

Sabourin also left some pucks lying around the net last night.

I believe last night's game was the first time the Penguins have lost consecutive games in regulation in about 5 weeks or so. That's something they don't want to continue. Even though they remain only 4 points behind the New York Rangers, they have been inconsistent lately -- something I touched on here yesterday. They need to come out strong on the road in New Jersey on Wednesday, when they take the ice again.

It will help to get Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Whitney back soon, too. Injuries have been adding up for the Penguins lately. Fleury practiced yesterday with the team, although I still wouldn't expect to see him until later in the week. Same for Whitney, who should help stabilize the Penguins defense, which is now missing 4 regulars (Gonchar, Whitney, Boucher, and Gill).

Let's hope the Penguins can right the ship quickly. Sure -- they haven't lost 8 in a row or anything, but the standards around here are higher given the success the team has had the last few years. That includes the fans, but obviously includes the players and coaching staff. We'll see how the Penguins show up on the road tomorrow night.