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Penguins vs. Stars Recap: Write this down, Pens winning streak is a fool hearted memory

The Pittsburgh Penguins blow a lead after 2 period for the first time since 2014-15 as the Stars score 3 goals in the 3rd period and win 3-2

By Hooks Orpik
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Pregame

Eric Fehr, who was waived earlier in the day, is still in the lineup. That's gotta be kinda awkward. The liens are similar to how they ended up last game in the Stadium Series.

1st period

The Stars get a 3-on-1 early but Matt Murray stands tall and keeps the puck out. A few minutes later Phil Kessel breaks in alone but Antii Niemi keeps him off the board.

Evgeni Malkin gets the Penguins on the board with his 26th goal of the season, Patric Hornqivst makes a slick pass from behind the net and though Geno seems to chunk the puck a little, he still puts enough on it to get it by Niemi.

Shots end up 8-7 in favor of Dallas in the first.

2nd period

More of the same in the 2nd, Murray makes some saves and then the Pens 1st line strikes. Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel are providing net-front presence for an Ian Cole shot that comes in. Guentzel is there to find the rebound and poke it home for this 7th goal in his 24th game of the season.

Not many GIFs I can find but Murray keeps making a ton of great saves.

Shots 21-15 in favor of Dallas. Goals 2-0 in favor of Pittsburgh.

3rd period

Not out of the woods just yet- the Penguins give up another odd-man rush. Murray stops the initial shot but the rebound hangs in space and Brett Ritchie charges in to poke it home to make the game 2-1.

The Stars tie the game, Murray can't cleanly handle a shot from Jason Spezza and it flips up in the air for Brian Dumoulin to accidentally knock in his own net. 2-2.

Immediately following that the Pens are in freefall. Antoine Roussel wrists a shot from the top of the circle that handcuffs Murray and floats in.

Guentzel with another chance with 5 minutes left, bettered by a Niemi save.

And that's it. Really shoddy effort by the Pens, outshot 11-5 in the period before pulling the goalie for scramble time (with only the Guentzel shot being anything close to a good scoring chance) and outscored 3-0 to lose the game.

Some Thoughts

  • Abbreviated tonight due to the late start time, but boy it's gotta be weird and unusual to waive a guy but still dress him for a game that night. Pittsburgh still has Carter Rowney up and as a healthy scratch, even though they put Fehr out on the wire they still elected to toss him out there. Strange times but such is life at the NHL trade deadline
  • Nice to see Guentzel with a nose for the net and get rewarded with a goal.
  • Malkin with a nice goal, seems like he's been quiet of late (probably a bad observation), maybe I just got too wrapped up in the Crosby chase for 1,000. If Hornqvist can keep feeding some good passes, that would certainly help.
  • Murray played strong for 2 periods, but the Stars kept up the pressure, the defense kept allowing shots and eventually some leaked through. Odd to see no timeout to break the momentum there after the second or third goals against.
  • The Penguins long streak since 2015-16 of not blowing a lead after the 2nd period is over. In a lot of ways they didn't really deserve to even have a lead (let alone a 2 goal lead) after 2 periods tonight but they did. (Until they didn't).
  • Cody Eakin (67% on 18 faceoffs) is lowkey one of the best 3rd line matchup centers in the league. Did a good job keeping Crosby quiet.
  • Only the second regulation loss since the all-star break. Big picture perspective, not the end of the world

Trade deadline tomorrow at 3 PM. As always we'll have your coverage here.

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