The Pittsburgh Penguins had an extremely embarrassing moment in their matchup against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night, allowing an own-goal after a mental mistake from veterans Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. And the Penguins broadcasters were in utter disbelief of the blunder that they had seen.
Pittsburgh had the puck near its own net while attempting to kill a Coyotes power play. There was a delayed penalty on Arizona, prompting Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry to leave the net. Pittsburgh wanted to drain as much clock as possible to minimize the overlap on the two penalties and maximize its own time on the power play. Letang attempted to drain some time by attempting a pass back to Malkin, but instead had the puck go into his own goal after Malkin was unable to control the pass.
It was an unbelievable error from two players as experienced as Letang and Malkin. As a result, the Penguins broadcast team consisting of play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff and color commentator Colby Armstrong were left baffled by the mistake.
“The Pens generated this upcoming penalty on Arizona thanks to a short-handed two on one, they didn’t score. Oh my goodness, they just did on themselves. Unbelievable,” said Getzoff.
“You don’t see that every day,” added Armstrong. “I was just thinking the Pens are doing a good job here getting time off the clock. What a turn of events, he missed it.”
This reaction from the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast crew really says it all. It was simply a mistake that can’t happen at that point in the game from two of the most well-respected players in the entire NHL.
This mistake would end up sealing the Penguins’ fate in this matchup. They would go on to allow another goal later in the third period, falling to Arizona 5-2, their fourth loss in their last five games.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.