The Pittsburgh Penguins have been victims of taking their foot off the gas too many times this season.
After three games of the opening round, the Pittsburgh Penguins lead the New York Rangers 2-1, which is a minor miracle given the circumstances.
The Penguins have been forced to start multiple games with their third string goalie and multiple other key players have missed games with injuries.
Beyond injuries, the Penguins have been dealing all season with a different form of self-inflicted wound.
As a team, the Penguins have far too often been a victim of not playing at their top level for a full 60 minutes.
At multiple points in the season, head coach Mike Sullivan said it was “human nature” that got in the way of the Penguins playing a complete game.
The Penguins were close to blowing a 6-1 lead in early January after they pulled up and let the San Jose Sharks dictate the gameplay.
"Any time you get up that amount of goals early in the game, as a coaching staff, we're always concerned because there's so much hockey left to play," Sullivan said. "To a certain extent, you're fighting against human nature, and playing against a team playing with a free spirit."
That same human nature was once again present in Game 3 at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins started the second period with a 4-1 lead and chased the probable Vezina Trophy winner from the Rangers net. Igor Shesterkin gave up 4 goals on 15 shots and the Penguins were dominating early.
The Rangers put in backup goalie Alexandar Georgiev to start the second period and the momentum immediately began to swing in their favor.
Before the Penguins could even register their first shot on goal of the second period, Frank Vatrano and Artemi Panarin scored to bring the Rangers within one.
The Penguins wouldn’t record their first shot until about half way through the period and finished with only seven in the middle frame.
The Rangers had 17 shots and would score their second short-handed goal in the series to tie the game.
The Penguins “human nature” to take their foot off the pedal was apparent in the second period of Game 3, and that’s something that can’t occur in the playoffs.
You can’t give a team like the Rangers that much leeway to climb back into a game.
Sure, the Penguins turned it back on in the third period with a huge game-winning goal from Danton Heinen and a pair of empty-netters, but it never should have gotten to that point.
If you’re going to take a period off, it is better to do so in the first or second, but that can’t be a gamble made in the postseason.
A key for the Penguins for the remainder of the series has to be to get up early, preferably with a multi-goal lead, and to not let up.
They can’t let “human nature” be a deciding factor in the playoffs.
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