The Penguins tried very, very hard to avoid that skeleton-rattling pothole they drove themselves into in Game 3 of their annual spring fling with the Washington Capitals, the exact kind of pothole that peppers the postseason highway and shocks you into wondering if you caused real damage or just another damnable annoyance.
Mike Sullivan’s team can’t be happy with having lost three consecutive playoff games at home for the first time in seven years, nor with the way the Capitals have claimed the first goal in all three games, nor with the fact that in an Eastern Conference semifinal that’s still only 180 minutes old, the lead has belonged to the Pittsburgh Penguins for all of 25:06.