More trouble for the Pittsburgh Penguins: Leading 2-0 on Saturday, a team fighting to retain its place in the Stanley Cup playoffs blew a 2-0 lead in a 5-3 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Rather than get a chance to move up from a wild-card berth and possible meeting with the Montreal Canadiens, the Pens fell victim to a hot team. Saturday saw the Jackets win their franchise-record ninth consecutive game. Nick Foligno had a hat trick, his first in 541 career games.
Pittsburgh is on a 3-7-1 slide with four games left in its regular season.
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We made some mistakes, captain Sidney Crosby said. That's going to happen. You're going to make mistakes sometimes.
"But we've still got to put together a full game. We had a letdown for a couple minutes and it's a tie game. We get through that and it's a different hockey game.
"We didn't get desperate until we got down a couple goals. We've got to understand that's got to be the way to play."
At 95 points, they could slip into the second and last wild-card berth and a potential first-round series against the New York Rangers. Three of those games are away from home. And while it’s a long shot the Pens will be passed by the Ottawa Senators for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth, injuries and losses won't help them prepare for the playoffs.
Ottawa has a game in hand on the Pens.
Crosby, who leads the NHL with 81 points, got his 27th goal.
The Penguins face the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.