In Pittsburgh, a tight 1-0 game turned wild in the third period as the Penguins lost, 5-2, to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Connor Murphy scored just ahead of the midway point of the middle frame to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead they carried into the third.
The loss damaged the Pens chase for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“Anybody can beat anybody in this league. That’s the reality,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “There’s such a fine line between winning and losing. You have to be at your best every night. When you’re not, you’re going to run the risk of getting beat.”
The Pens trail the New York Islanders by one point, and need the Isles to lose in regulation on Wednesday night to the Montreal Canadiens.
Petr Mrazek made 38 saves in the Chicago win.
“The guys were just determined,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “I think we’ve played really good hockey as of late. We just couldn’t get over that hump in the third period. Tonight, they were determined to get over the hump. A lot of credit. A lot of hard work out there.”
The Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin started the scoring in the third period when he tied the game, 1-1, off the power play.
“It’s tough,” Malkin said. “There’s like no words. We should win here at home. We understand how important this game was tonight. It was huge.”
Buddy Robinson scored midway through the third to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.
Andreas Athanasiou scored 26 seconds later for a 3-1 advantage to the Blackhawks.
“We knew they were fighting for a spot,” Athanasiou said. “It gives a lot of guys in this room an opportunity to come in and be a little bit of a heartbreaker. That worked out tonight for us.”
Tyler Johnson scored into an empty net with 84 seconds left on the clock for a 4-1 lead to Chicago, before Danton Heinen scored to cut the Pens deficit to 4-2.
Chicago’s MacKenzie Entwistle added another empty-net goal for the 5-2 final.
Tristan Jarry made 22 saves in the Pens loss.
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