Penguins waste good start, good finish with crumbling middle

The thing about good starts is that they have to be followed up by good middles or, at the very least, mediocre ones.

Can't say that of the Penguins' 4-3 overtime loss to the Devils on Friday night PPG Paints Arena, can we?

The two-time defending champs played a great opening 10 minutes, arguably their best stretch to start a game this season. But it was the middle that proved to be their undoing.

Feeding off the energy of a weekend crowd, the Penguins came out flying, I mean, they skated, they put shot after shot on New Jersey goalie Keith Kinkaid. At one point they held a 10-1 lead in shots and a 90-10 advantage in possession. When Sidney Crosby scored just 2:29 into the opening period, the rout appeared to be on.

Except, of course, it wasn't.

Because as has become way, way too common with these Penguins of late, you never know what you're going to get.

Yes, they were able to overcome a two-goal deficit to steal a loser point when Phil Kessel knotted the score at 3-3 at 10:52 of the third with his 30th of the season, and there is something to be said for that, according to Derick Brassard, who now has points in five straight games:

But it was their inconsistencies in every facet of the game over the full 60 minutes that led to a loss that never should have been.

When Taylor Hall tucked a shot through Matt Murray's five-hole just 27 seconds into the extra session, it handed the Penguins their fourth loss (3-2-2) in seven games and continued a disturbing trend of a win followed by a loss.

"Well, we just have individual breakdowns or lack of attention to detail and as a result we give up a couple of high-quality chances and they end up in the back of our net," Mike Sullivan said. "I don’t know if that was the case in the second period. I thought we regrouped. I loved the third period. I thought we had a great third period, had all kinds of momentum, had tons of chances, climbed back into the game. But we have mental lapses for short periods of time and it’s costing us and you can’t have them this time of year." 

And this wasn't just any loss. It was against a Metropolitan Division team that is chasing them and has now beaten them three times in a row. It was a lost chance to pull within two points of the first-place Capitals. And now with the Flyers coming into town Sunday afternoon, the Penguins will likely need a win to avoid falling into a wildcard spot.

1. Matt Murray can't be "average."

That was Murray's self-assessment.  And mine.

Not laying the blame on this loss solely at the feet of the goalie, far from it. Save for those first 10 minutes and the last 20, the Penguins were collectively bad.

But Murray, who was making his second start since coming back from a concussion and first on home ice, could have been better. Murray allowed four goals on 34 shots Friday after giving up three goals on 39 shots against the Islanders in Brooklyn on Tuesday. The defense in front of Murray is simply allowing way too many shots. They had just eight blocks.

"It’s tough to evaluate right after a game like that, it’s an emotional game," Sullivan said of his goaltender's performance. "He made some timely saves when the opportunities presented themselves, but certainly, when you don’t win, it’s everybody has got to take some ownership in it."

Pretty sure every team -- particularly one as meticulous as New Jersey, where seemingly half the organization has a Pittsburgh background -- has a book on Murray. Everyone knows it's to shoot glove-side.

Will Butcher's seeing eye-wrister from the the left point, a power play goal at 5:15 of the second, was one Murray has to stop:

Over the final seven games of the regular season, priority No. 1 for the Penguins has to be getting their franchise goalie back on the winning track and at the top of his game. Murray's last win came exactly one month ago, Feb. 23 against the Hurricanes.

2. Priority No. 2 has to be the penalty kill. 

The Penguins' PK has had its natural ebbs and flows, as almost all special teams units do, but this is becoming more of a trend than a mere blip on the radar.

After shutting down the Canadiens on Wednesday, the PK responded by killing 1-of-2 in 3:27 against the Devils. That's not going to cut it. Crosby was saying before the game that it's not the percentage of power play goals scored -- in this case, against -- but rather the timeliness and how they can swing momentum. The captain's words proved prescient, as Butcher's goal set in motion the Devils' three-goal outburst -- in a little over four minutes -- in the second period.

So, what's gone wrong with the PK lately? Not having Ian Cole hurts, obviously, but Sullivan says it's more than that.

"I don’t think it’s any one thing," he said tersely. "I think it’s a group effort and we have to be better."

Indeed, the Penguins have to be better at getting 200-foot clears and winning faceoffs and winning battles in the corners, but on Butcher's goal, again, Murray has to make the save:

Fortunately for the Penguins, they do have some time to correct things, but not a lot.

"Got to study the video, got to commit to it a little more and take it one game at a time," Jamie Oleksiak said. 

3. Justin Schultz is OK. 

That's a pretty big development because when he went down with 8:37 left in the third period, it did not look good at all:

Schultz was slew-footed by Brian Gibbons, falling hard into the boards and briefly having to leave the game, though he did somehow manage to return. The Penguins won a Stanley Cup last spring without Kris Letang but can hardly afford to lose Schultz, their other top defenseman, who has a history of concussions.

Sullivan told me that he didn't have a view of the play but certainly the NHL's Department of Player Safety might want to take a look at this.

Gibbons, a former Penguin, has been a tremendous story this season after spending the last two years in the minors and should receive serious consideration for the Masterton. Needless to say, he took himself out of the running for the Lady Byng.

4. No, that wasn't Crosby but it looked just like him. 

If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor, sit back and enjoy the beauty of this remarkable goal on an endless loop:

Goals like these only come around once a year or so and usually by a player of Crosby's pedigree. In fact, Crosby did score a goal exactly like that against the Sabres 367 days ago in Buffalo.

"I've certainly seen it," Blake Coleman was telling me of Crosby's goal. "He's a world-class player."

Coleman, a Devils rookie fourth-liner, isn't quite in the captain's class, but you could have fooled me and apparently Brassard, who was draped all over Coleman, and Murray, who was posterized.

The skill as well as the, let's say, moxie to pull off this one-handed back-hander is remarkable for anyone but especially a rookie straight out of Plano, Texas. It was Coleman's 12th career goal and, needless to say, the prettiest he's scored.

"Just taking it to the net hard, taking what they gave me and the puck kind of settled on my blade so I was able to make a flip over his pad," Coleman said. 

Sometimes you just to got to tip your cap to the other guy.

5. That was justice for Brian Dumoulin. 

OK, it wasn't going to make up for having that goal -- that should have been a goal - disallowed in Toronto on a goaltender interference call.

That one was a highlight reel move, but Dumoulin's goal at 3:13 of the third period that started the Penguins' comeback bid was pretty impressive and timely.

After Crosby won an offensive zone faceoff straight back to him, Dumoulin skated in and put every bit of his 6-foot-4 and 207 pounds -- and about 13 days of frustration since the Maple Leafs game -- into his slap shot that beat Keith Kinkaid high to the blocker side.

It was just the seventh goal of Dumoulin's career and fifth of the season. His previous single-season high? One.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY