PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a roller coaster of a season so far, but it may have just hit a new low against the Arizona Coyotes. While down a goal and about to be gifted a brief power play opportunity, the Penguins couldn’t help but shoot themselves in the foot.
In the final frame in Arizona, the Coyotes were seeing their own power play opportunity slip away thanks to a hooking call against Jason Zucker. With a penalty upcoming, Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry left for the bench, and the skaters attempted to play keep away.
Right in front of Jarry’s empty cage, Kris Letang dropped a soft pass back to Evgeni Malkin who couldn’t get a good handle on it. The puck slipped into the yawning cage giving the Coyotes a two-goal advantage.
It would have been shortened, but the Penguins were about to get a power play chance and an opportunity to tie the game. Instead, the Coyotes had a larger lead and the Penguins seemed to pretty much give up on the game.
“I should know better, I guess,” Letang said after the game. “I guess I’ll learn from that.”
Letang was trying to push the puck towards the corner of the ice rather than towards the net, Malkin just couldn’t catch the feed. Regardless, dropping a pass back near the cage in that situation isn’t the right move.
Since the goal occurred while the Coyotes still had a man advantage, they became the first team to ever score a power play goal without recording a power play shot the entire game. The Coyotes had three power play chances and didn't record a shot in any of them.
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