PENGUINS

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Adam Fantilli scores on Arturs Silovs in the shootout tonight at PPG Paints Arena.

Following the Penguins' 5-4 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets tonight here at PPG Paints Arena, Dan Muse described the overall performance as one in which they were consistently "on their heels." 

Whether they held a one-goal lead, which they did on two separate occasions in the first period, or trailed by as many as two goals in the third, the Penguins didn't seem to be the better team. Overall, they were outplayed in more ways than one. They turned the puck over often (20 giveaways), they were the less physical team in being outhit by a 24-18 margin and they lacked opportunities compared to their adversaries, losing in the shot department by a rather sizable 41-30 margin. 

Even the captain agreed with his first-year coach's assessment. 

"The last couple of games we've been outshot and we've been on our heels a little bit," Sidney Crosby said. "We've gotta find a way to dictate play, whether that's getting out of our zone quick or executing a little bit better so that we're not turning pucks over." 

Still, despite a number of factors contributing to a four-game winning streak coming to an end, a rather important point was salvaged thanks in part to a late surge that kept the game from being decided in regulation. 

"One point right now, or one point in April, it's the same thing for us," said Kris Letang, who scored one of two Penguins goals over a two-minute span that helped tie the game in the final six minutes of regulation. "Every game we have to have the same mentality. But again, we found a way to stick in the game and come back. We have to take some positives and we have to learn from the different areas that we have to correct." 

The Penguins appeared to be down and out up until Letang found the back of the net on this power-play goal set up by Tommy Novak with just over five minutes to go in regulation: 

Two minutes later, another slap shot evened the score. This time, it came with an extra attacker on the ice, as Evgeni Malkin sent a cross-ice pass to Bryan Rust near the left circle. He buried a shot past Elvis Merzlikins for his first goal of the season and a much-needed boost with over three minutes on the clock: 

"We were down two in the third period against a team that defends pretty hard," Letang said. "It's always hard, but we found a way to have our power play be really good again tonight and get a big goal with six guys on the ice. That's the positive. I think the momentum at the beginning of the game was great, out the gates I thought it was good, but you have to control those moments. Obviously, it's a tough league and teams will come at you, you just need to manage those moments in the game." 

The Penguins, who benefitted from two first-period goals scored by Ryan Shea and Anthony Mantha, did seem to play on their heels in the second and third periods against Florida on Thursday, too. It might not be a sign that the team is trending in the opposite direction after four straight wins, but it does tell Muse that the work associated with further improvement shouldn't stop. 

"I think if you look at the body of work on the year, and I've said this before, there's some big positives in terms of guys staying with it and you saw that again here tonight," Muse said. "When you have that as a base, it's good, but I think if you go off a lot of this game and you go off of parts of last game, you recognize that we have work to do. I think guys have been willing to put in the work, but we got to make sure we're showing it. The consistency, if you come back over these last two games, I think we can definitely improve on that."