COLUMBUS, Ohio -- "Giveaways" is a funny stat.
The NHL doesn't have an official definition for giveaways, but it's understood to be when a player's own actions lead to a turnover of the puck.
The problem with that is that it's entirely subjective. Each building's official scorers might have varying opinions on what constitutes a giveaway, and there's human error involved in recording these stats as the game goes on. So, it's tough to use the straight giveaway number as an assessment of a team's play.
In Saturday's 4-1 loss in Columbus, the Penguins were credited with 10 giveaways to the Blue Jackets' five. 10 is far from the Penguins' single-game high this season. But this was a game where it felt like those giveaways had a monumental effect on the outcome of the game.
The first three giveaways came rapid-fire in a span of under two minutes, on a power play in the first period. Phil Kessel kicked off the turnover party with this feed to Seth Jones:
Less than a minute later, Dominik Simon coughed the puck up to Cam Atkinson:
Sure, Simon was under pressure, but there were better courses of action than sending the puck right in the direction of Atkinson's stick.
The Penguins recovered the puck seconds later in their own zone after pressure from Zach Trotman, and Simon was tasked with carrying the puck up ice, only to send the puck just out of reach of Nick Bjugstad, and turn the puck over again:
(Before anyone makes a "Yeah, but how was his Corsi?" joke, it was the seventh-worst on the team at 48.28 percent. That's how Corsi works. You can't have a game that bad and have a great Corsi For percentage. The number reflects the bad in his game — like Saturday — just as it reflects when he has good games and actually creates pressure.)
The Blue Jackets do have the league's No. 3 penalty kill at 84.4 percent, but the Penguins just couldn't hold onto the puck for the life of them, and, as a result, didn't record a single shot on that power play chance.
That just about set the tone for the game.
Early in the second period, the Penguins were awarded a power play. It managed to be even more disastrous than their first. Justin Schultz dropped the puck back to Kessel, who just ... fell. It's hard to tell whether or not he lost an edge or hit a toe pick, or if the poor ice was a factor, but he just ... fell.
Atkinson recovered the puck to score shorthanded:
Evgeni Malkin defended Kessel's role on the goal following the game:
"Phil, I don't know what's wrong with his skate," said Malkin. "It's not like a mistake, it's like bad luck. He lost control of his edge and fell down. How many times a game does he fall down? Probably never, you know? It's not like mistakes, it's bad luck."
Malkin committed his fair share of turnovers in the game, including one of his own on a power play in the second period. In Malkin's case, the turnover came late in the man advantage. It killed any hopes of a last-second power play goal, but it at least didn't lead to another shorthanded tally from Columbus.
Malkin led the Penguins with three giveaways in the game. Kessel and Simon each had two. Schultz, Zach Aston-Reese, and Nick Bjugstad each had one.
Mike Sullivan spoke about needing to be better at the "details" in a tight game like this, one where there wasn't much room for error.
"Five-on-five, there wasn't a lot of room out there," said Sullivan. "The game had a playoff feel to it. It was physical; there wasn't a lot of room. It's one of those games where you have to fight for every inch of ice."
They did fight for those inches. They just gifted the Blue Jackets a few miles in return.