Penguins Collapse, Blow Two-Goal Lead in Gut-Wrenching 3-2 Loss to the Sabres

We had this game.

Had it in our hip pockets.

My game summary was all but written in my head. It was going to be titled, “Who Are These Guys?” in deference to our new-found attention to detail and our ability to prevail in low-scoring affairs.

Indeed, we’d pretty much let the air out of the KeyBank Center and, more important, the Sabres. The quintessential road game. Alek Nedeljkovic, sharp as a tack, was cruising toward his second-straight shutout.

Then Evgeni Malkin, God bless his Russian soul, takes one of his patented dumb penalties early in the third period for hooking Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (son of ex-Pen Kjell). While killing the penalty, Kris Letang attempts to skate the puck through a cluster of attackers rather than make the simple play and bang the puck out.

Old habits die oh so hard.

Tanger turns the puck over, leading directly to a power-play goal by Jeff Skinner. And the Penguins just flat-out dissolved. Quit skating, quit attacking, quit paying attention to detail.

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