Penguins Drop Two Games at Home in Weekend Series

It was a disappointing weekend for the Pittsburgh Penguins. First of all, they lose in a shutout to Ottawa on Saturday, 5-0. And then they turn around and lose again to Tampa Bay, 5-2 on Sunday. After Sunday’s loss, head coach Mike Sullivan said the guys played hard, but they just couldn’t put it together for the win. “We’re just not finding ways to win, Sullivan said. “You know, when you look at every game, it’s its own story. But the team’s competing hard. Tonight’s another example of it. You know, it’s unfortunate how the game unraveled there in the last couple of minutes. Because for the majority of the night, we really liked our overall team game,” the coach continued. “We thought we controlled territory. We played on top of them. I thought we defended hard in a lot of instances. They have some game-breaking players on their side. It’s unfortunate the way, you know, the way it just evolved in the last couple of minutes because I thought our group played really hard.”

And to compound matters, the Penguins put center Evgeny Malkin on injured reserve Sunday due to an upper body injury. Head coach Mike Sullivan also said on Sunday that Malkin’s linemate, Michael Bunting, was involved in a car accident outside PPG Paints Arena before the game Sunday. Sullivan said Bunting’s okay, but he did not play against Tampa Bay.