Post-Game Buzz: Penguins have now lost 10 of 16 games

The Penguins (46-22-5, 97pts) losing streak is at three games, suffering a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings (43-25-6, 92pts).

Drew Doughty (9) broke a 2-2 tie, scoring the game winner, 3:51 into the third period. Jeff Carter (26, power play) and Alec Martinez (10) also scored for LA in the win. Goaltender Martin Jones made 35 saves for his 11th win of the season. The Kings have won five straight games, including eight straight on the road.

For Pittsburgh, Chris Kunitz (33) scored his 33rd goal of the season in the loss and Taylor Pyatt (4) scored for the second straight game. Jeff Zatkoff took the loss, making 29 saves on 32 shots.

— The Kings and Penguins are going in different directions right now. LA has won 13 of 16 games, and with tonight’s loss the Penguins have lost 10 of 16 games. “Losing sucks,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said afterwards. People can say the regular season doesn’t matter for the Penguins but you don’t want to be trending the way the Penguins are right now with nine games left. “We’re in a rough patch. We’re not playing our best,” Niskanen said.

— Special teams again played a big factor tonight. The Penguins went 0-7 on the power play and gave up one power play goal as the Kings went 1-3 on the power play. Matt Niskanen took an interference penalty off a d-zone faceoff, leading to Jeff Carter’s power play goal at 15:23 of the first period. The Penguins managed just 11 shots  on seven power play opportunities. “{It’s} disappointing,” Sidney Crosby said on the Penguins 0-7 night. “You have that many opportunities, It’s not common to get that many,” Crosby said.

— Brandon Sutter had a power play goal waived off at 9:41 of the third period that would have tied the game at 3-3. The puck clearly went in before the whistle but the officials group decision was that there was goalie interference by Sutter, therefore, the play was not reviewable. “I was pretty surprised,” Sutter said on the no goal. “I have no idea how they didn’t call a goal.” It’s a tough call to make on the ice but to no surprise Dan Bylsma came out in favor of every goal being reviewable, saying he’s a “big advocate.” Defenseman Matt Niskanen had a good response saying that play gets called both ways at times. “I understand the call. Those are the tough ones…..I’ve seen it called both ways there,” Niskanen said.

— The Penguins effort was much improved tonight. “We competed hard tonight and felt like that was something we wanted to do coming off of last game,” Crosby said.

— Sidney Crosby won just 11 of 28 faceoffs (39.3%).

— The Penguins were credited with 6 giveaways, Los Angeles 0.