Pens' 3rd Straight Blown Lead Leafs Them To Their Third Straight Pre-Season Loss

Is it too early to worry about trends?

For the third straight pre-season game last night, the Penguins' blew an early lead and lost, this time to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 in a shootout at Maple Leaf Gardens.

It was the second time in the last 3 games the Penguins' took an early 2-0 lead against Toronto only to have the Leafs come back and win.

Admittedly, the Penguins' had a watered down lineup last night. However, they had a lot of stars suited up in the last two come-from-ahead losses. In my opinion, the Penguins' pre-season penchant for blowing leads is something to pay attention to. I might not feel the way I do about it but for the fact that the team had a demonstrated history of blowing leads last season. They were one of the worst teams in the league doing that in the regular season last year -- especially for the first 2/3 of the schedule.

It's not a habit they want to fall into again.

Last night, Ryan Bayda and Chris Conner staked Pittsburgh to a 2-0 lead in the first, which backup goalie Brent Johnson held up until the Leafs' finally dented him on a play late in the second period when Toronto forward Tyler Bozak crashed right into him and left Johnson helpless to stop Leafs' rookie winger Viktor Stahlberg from scoring to bring Toronto within one.

Johnson finished the period, but the Pittsburgh Tribune Review has reported this morning that Johnson hurt his knee a little bit on the play. Goaltender John Curry came in to start the third, although my understanding was that he was going to do that anyway.

Regardless, Johnson's injury will be worth watching.

Toronto worked hard to come back in the game in the 3rd period and those efforts paid off with about 1 minute to go when Nazem Kadri forced overtime, then won the game in the shootout with Toronto's first -- and deciding (of two) -- shootout goals against Curry.

The Penguins' fell to 1-2-1 in the pre-season so far, and it would be nice to see them get on track a little bit. They have 2 pre-season games left --- Thursday at Columbus and Saturday at Detroit. HCDB has said that those contests will be "dress rehearsals" for the regular season, so it will be interesting to see who exactly he has in the lineup. I've read that the Penguins may make some cuts today. We'll see.

Either way, I want to see more killer instinct and less complacency when they get up by a few goals on the scoreboard.

More later this week --- either after the next pre-season game, or sooner if cuts are announced prior to then.

Let's Go Pens.