The Pittsburgh Penguins made a huge trade with the Edmonton Oilers on Friday and cannot get Stuart Skinner in the lineup fast enough. That is because the Penguins were terrible defensively in preventing goals from being scored in the third period in their last two games. On Saturday, the Penguins had a 5-1 lead over the San Jose Sharks in the third period before losing 6-5. Then, the Penguins had a 3-0 lead on the Utah Mammoth in the third period, before losing 5-4. Yes, the Penguins got two points over the weekend as they lost both games in overtime. However, when you cannot protect a third period four-goal lead and a third period three-goal lead during back-to-back games, your team has serious issues.
Who was in net for the Penguins over the weekend?
Arturs Silovs of Riga, Latvia gave up six goals on 32 shots on Saturday in the Penguins loss to the Sharks. This was his sixth loss in extra time this season, which leads the NHL. Sergey Murashov of Yaroslavl, Russia gave up five goals on 37 shots in the loss to the Mammoth.
Inside look at the third period collapses
The Sharks scored four goals in less than 11 minutes against the Penguins. The Sharks goal scorers were defenseman John Klingberg of Gothenburg, Sweden, William Eklund of Stockholm, Sweden, Macklin Celebrini of North Vancouver, British Columbia and Tyler Toffoli of Scarborough, Ontario.
The Mammoth scored four goals in less than six minutes on Sunday. Utah was down 3-0, took the 4-3 lead, only to see the Penguins tie the game with under six minutes left. The third period goal scorers for the Mammoth were Michael Carcone of Ajax, Ontario, who had two goals, defenseman Nate Schmidt of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and defenseman Sean Durzi of Mississauga, Ontario.
Who were the overtime heroes?
Klingberg was the overtime hero for the Sharks on Saturday. Celebrini and Collin Graf of Lincoln, Massachusetts had the assists at 2:57 of the extra period. Dylan Guenther of Edmonton, Alberta was the overtime hero for the Mammoth on Sunday. He scored from John Marino of North Easton, Massachusetts at the 42 second mark of the extra period.
Other major comeback this season
The Penguins are one of two teams this season to have a four goal lead and lose. The other team was the St. Louis Blues. They had a 4-0 lead over the Detroit Red Wings on October 25, only to see the Red Wings score six straight goals for the 6-4 win. Defenseman Simon Edvinsson of Kungsbacka, Sweden had the game-winning goal and insurance goal for the Red Wings.
