Pittsburgh's defensive miscues and mental lapses led to a gutting 4-1 loss to the Kraken in Seattle

The mark of inconsistency doomed the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again in their 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

And, despite controlling large portions of play yet again, their defense let them down.

The Penguins got swept in their season series against the Seattle Kraken, dropping their second matchup, 4-1, in a series of defensive breakdowns and lapses of judgment.

"I thought for the majority of the game, we carried the play," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "But you can't hand teams easy offense like we did. When you look at the goals that they scored, it's just too easy. It's just too easy. Obviously, it makes it hard to win when you do that."

The Penguins were in this game until the third period, as Sidney Crosby got on the board and rookie goaltender Joel Blomqvist was keeping it close. 

But all four Seattle goals - aside from a five-on-three power play goal that put them up, 2-1, in the second period - were the result of turnovers and defensive breakdowns. 

I'm going to keep this one short, but this was not a good loss for the Penguins. Here are just a few observations:

- Although the Penguins couldn't figure out Seattle netminder Joey Daccord for the second game in a row, this loss falls on their defensive corps. 

The first goal of the game was a result of an unacceptable offensive zone turnover by Kris Letang. He whiffed on a pass, and Seattle turned it right back the other way. Then, with the Penguins shorthanded, he took an ill-advised cross-checking penalty that gave Seattle a five-on-three for nearly a minute and a half, and they capitalized. 2-0.

On the third goal, Matt Grzelcyk inexplicably followed a Seattle forward without the puck below the goal line, leaving the net-front completely exposed. Two Kraken were waiting in front of Blomqvist for an easy goal.

Then, on Seattle's last goal, Erik Karlsson made an unnecessarily high-risk pass that led to a turnover in the neutral zone, and they capitalized.

The worst part about this game is that the Penguins did not play all that poorly. They didn't really give Seattle too many good looks all that consistently. But if they're going to win hockey games, they absolutely cannot hand opposing teams easy goals. It's that simple.

They are not committed enough to details, and it's what is hampering their season. This team should be nowhere near as far down in the standings as it is.

- This was one of the worst performances of the season from Letang in particular. 

He did have an assist on Crosby's goal and did a lot to make that play happen. But he's making far, far too many mistakes right now, and he's not producing enough and generating enough offensively to offset those mistakes. And, when he does make a mistake or commit an ill-advised pinch, he no longer has the legs to get himself back in the play much of the time.

He needs to be much, much better if he's going to continue receiving those top-pair minutes. He and Karlsson are the only options for this team right now.

- Boko Imama - who only played in 15 NHL games prior to Saturday - made his Penguins debut against the Kraken.

I thought he was pretty good in this game and played with a lot of energy. He shadowed Adam Larsson - who took a cross-checking liberty on Sidney Crosby in the last matchup between the teams - for a lot of the night. He was throwing the body. He was forechecking. He was getting in the middle of everything.

Imama is an enforcer, but he is a pretty decent fourth-line player in general. I wouldn't mind seeing him get some games in place of Matt Nieto once Bryan Rust or Blake Lizotte are healthy.

- Despite surrendering four goals, Blomqvist was good in this game. His confidence and poise is noticeable, and he really gave the Penguins a chance to win this game with some big saves.

None of the goals were on him. The chances Seattle had were point-blank opportunities off of odd-man rushes. 

- The Penguins have won just four times in the 15 games since the break. This is very remniscent of last season, when they skid pretty badly after the turn of the new year until after the trade deadline - by which time, it was too little, too late to make the playoffs. 

Pittsburgh is now 20-23-8 with 48 points, and they sit seven points out of a wild card spot. They're in the basement of the Metro, are the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, and are just seven points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres - the last team in the East - with two more games played.

Look, it's not impossible for the Penguins to catch up. They have three more games against non-playoff teams outside of their division before playing three divisional matchups against the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers prior to the break for 4 Nations. 

But they're digging themselves a very deep hole, and it feels like they need to go 5-1 in those games to really give themselves a chance before the NHL trade deadline on Mar. 7.