Dan Muse Sends Clear Message To Penguins After Blowing 3-0 Lead

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Muse sent a clear message to his team after blowing a 3-0 lead entering the third period against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

The Penguins got off to a hot start, as Pittsburgh led 3-0 after the second period and was outshooting the Maple Leafs 25 to eight. It was a lopsided game through two periods, but in the third period, Toronto came out strong and scored three times in a 3:24 span. Bobby McMann then gave the Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead with just under seven minutes to go.

Following the loss, Muse sent a clear message to the team, as he believes the Penguins got away from their game in the third period.

“We felt the first two periods is the way we want to be playing,” Muse said postgame on Monday. “It has to be a full 60 minutes, though, and we got away from it there. It was a number of different factors. When they took momentum, we weren’t able to at least pause the momentum. They kept coming, and then we were back on our heels, and you can’t play the game that way.”

Muse, meanwhile, believes the Penguins got too comfortable with the lead and took shifts off, which can never happen in the NHL.

“I thought we were defending well with everybody pretty consistently set and we were eliminating their chances,” Muse said. “That’s more in line with how we want to play, but it’s got to be a full game of that. We put ourselves in a good position to go into the third period, and that’s a good hockey team, they have dangerous players. You can’t take multiple shifts off. I don’t want to say off, but we got away from how we want to play.”

With the loss, the Penguins fell to 8-4-2 on the season. Pittsburgh will return to the ice on Thursday at home against the Washington Capitals at 7:30 p.m. ET.

More Penguins: Surging Penguins End Month With Shocking Spot In NHL Standings