The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered another shootout loss on Saturday.
Pittsburgh led 2-1 over the Columbus Blue Jackets after the first period before trailing 3-2 with less than two minutes to go. But, with 61 seconds left, Sidney Crosby tied the game to force overtime. After overtime solved nothing, the game went to a shootout where the Penguins went 1-for-4 on their attempts and Columbus was 2-for-4 to get the win.
“It was a tight game,” Crosby said postgame on Saturday. “We had chances. They had some chances. I mean, it was pretty even, relative to the score. I think we would have liked to have our power play be a little sharper and maybe the difference. But yeah, even overtime, we possessed the puck a lot. Unfortunately, couldn’t get the next one.”
With another shootout loss, the Penguins are now 4-11 when a game reaches overtime and 1-7 when it gets to a shootout. The lack of shootout success is something head coach Dan Muse plans to address.
“It’s costing us points, so we’re going to continue to work at it,” Muse said. “I think each night, there’s a different story to it. I thought ‘Arty’ made a couple big saves, gave us a chance in it today. We also need to score goals. So, it’s both sides. We’ve got to put work on both sides. … It’s obviously costing us, so we have to continue to address it.”
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With the Penguins firmly in a playoff push, every point matters, which is why Muse plans to address the lack of shootout success.
Following the shootout loss on Saturday, the Penguins fell to 22-14-11 and remain in third place in the Metro division. Pittsburgh will return to the ice on Monday on the road against the Seattle Kraken.
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