That very well could be a season defining loss for the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin less Pittsburgh Penguins who you could say were jobbed by the NHL officials but also by themselves who continued to revert to there old ways and it continues to bite them in the worst ways.
Heading into this game, it was announced that Sidney Crosby who was hurt in the game against Ottawa and also Evgeni Malkin would not play in today's game was the biggest blow in the 10th last game of the season for the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins.
Referee's take over the hockey game
The referee's in the game took over the hockey game entirely in the first period after the Penguins had all the momentum after going up 1-0 early on from a Anthony Mantha PPG. Dallas proceeded to receive the next five straight power-plays including three first period power-plays. There is no room for that in the NHL especially this late in the season between one playoff team and another team fighting for the playoffs.
Liam Bichsel ripped Erik Karlsson's stick out of his hands prohibiting him from being in the play which is a penalty but wasn't called then proceeded to score just seconds later to double the Stars lead to 4-2.
Old habits reared it's ugly face once again
The Penguins penalty kill without Blake Lizotte is struggling still and continue this habit of leaving the net front open for players down low to easily walk right in and rip shots or create a clear spot to shoot. This happened a lot in the start of the season, it was cleaned up but now is back again for some reason and they need to tighten the gap more because that can't happen/
The defensive core, minus Erik Karlsson continues to be abysmal and continues to make Stuart Skinner's job ten times harder by not playing hard in-front of their goaltender and making mistake after mistake, over-skating on plays, bad pinches, and not being hard on the puck.
The team continues to refuse to shoot the puck as they finish the game with a measly 12 shots on goal which is pathetic, the team continues to try and make that extra pass that isn't needed or dangle through players instead of firing pucks on net.
The Penguins continue to get in there own way of being successful and have to rely on other teams in order to stay in the playoff hunt.
The biggest game of the season is up next as the Penguins ship up to long island to face-off with a second place metro New York Islanders who tend to always have the Penguins number in recent years when it matters most and in general.
This hockey team dearly needs there depth scoring back, good defending and for their star players to play no matter how hurt they are, as they somehow are still in the hunt.