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Penguins Road Point Earned, But Lost Lead Hurts
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- Penguins Road Point Earned, But Lost Lead Hurts
Pittsburgh Penguins game 3-2 SO loss Dallas Stars
DALLAS —Despite the Pittsburgh Penguins ' relative control of most of the game, the Dallas Stars tied the game 2-2 with the extra attacker and 1:49 left.
The Penguins were significantly outshooting Dallas until Dallas pulled the goalie and began to pepper goalie Tristan Jarry . The Penguins finished with a 26-18 advantage, but not before Jarry had to make a point-blank save on Wyatt Johnston with 20 seconds remaining.
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Each team had a few chances in overtime, but needed a shootout. Jarry stopped the first two attempts, but Mikko Rantanen scored on the third attempt for the winner.
The Penguins had a chance to sweep the three-game road trip but were again felled in extra time.
The back-and-forth first period, which featured a few too many Penguins turnovers and a tepid Dallas performance, reached its high point late in the frame with a hard-earned Penguins goal.
The Penguins activated Noel Acciari Sunday afternoon, and he absorbed a heavy hit near the red line to move the puck ahead to Blake Lizotte , who was also under heavy pressure. However, Lizotte chipped a cross-ice pass to an uncovered Connor Dewar (6), who one-timed a shot past Dallas netminder Steve Oettinger at 18:18 of the first period.
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The helper was Acciari's fourth this season and just Lizotte's second.
Each team had seven shots in the first 20 minutes, but only the Penguins scored. The Penguins had seven turnovers, but scorers tagged Dallas with nine.
After hanging Jarry out to dry against the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday, yielding 40 shots in that game, the Penguins made a point to protect their goalie Sunday. The Penguins held Dallas to just four shots in the second period, and quickly cleaned up a couple of jaw-dropping turnovers in the defensive zone.
After the fourth line scored in the first, the top line scored in the second. Tommy Novak had several puck touches on the shift before tapping a pass to Sidney Crosby on the right wing. Crosby quickly moved the puck to Kris Letang at the top of the zone, and then Novak (4) tipped Letang's shot at 5:56.
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The goal was a solid response to a chaotic sequence a few minutes earlier that yielded Dallas's first goal. The Penguins didn't track back to the defensive zone, and Jamie Benn (4) was uncontested for a point-blank one-timer at 1:27 of the second period.
The Penguins had 18 shots after two periods, but only two players had more than one. Anthony Mantha led all players with four shots, and Noel Acciari had two. At the end of regulation, Jamie Benn, Kevin Hayes , and Mantha led all players with four.
The Penguins otherwise kept the game to a low-event hockey game, including a third-period penalty kill in which they allowed just one shot and prevented any dangerous chances, at last until the final few minutes when Dallas pulled the goalie.
The Penguins held Dallas to just 19 shots in regulation and registered 26.
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Penguins Notes
Evgeni Malkin missed Sunday's game with an upper-body injury. He's out day-to-day. Kevin Hayes filled in as the second line center, with newly activated Justin Brazeau on the right wing, and Mantha on the left.
Dallas forward Matt Duchene returned to the lineup after a 24-game injury absence.
Penguins winger Bryan Rust left the game midway through the second period but returned for the third.
All Penguins played at least 12 minutes.
The post Penguins Road Point Earned, But Lost Lead Hurts appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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