RED ALERT: Penguins Blow Four-Goal, Lose to Sharks in OT, 6-5
Sound the alarm. Our slip-sliding Penguins are in a peck of trouble, and there doesn’t appear to be any easy solutions.
Yesterday, we built a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 third-period lead on the strength of three power-play goals, then watched it evaporate as the visiting Sharks pounded four goals past Arturs Silovs in a little over 10 minutes to send the game to overtime.
The inevitable collapse reached its nadir roughly three minutes into the extra stanza. Veteran defenseman John Klingberg eluded Sidney Crosby at our blue line and worked a give-and-go with Macklin Celebrini. With Sid totally out of the play, pretty much by his own accord, and two other frequent culprits on the defensive end, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust, offering scant resistance, Klingberg beat Silovs from point-blank range.
In the process, touching off a chorus of well-deserved boos from the 17,059 hearty souls who braved a snow storm to witness the debacle.
Somewhere, Rangers coach Mike Sullivan must be smiling a knowing smile. And we thought we had grave difficulty protecting leads under Sully!