PITTSBURGH — Forty seconds into Saturday’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sidney Crosby was booting the boards in frustration and the Penguins were already behind.
They gifted the Leafs the early lead with an unfathomably bad line change, the sort of personnel switch you see at a pickup game at your neighborhood rink.
Four Penguins, including both defensemen, turned and skated to the bench as the puck rimmed around the boards and out of their zone. Auston Matthews saw that Kris Letang had vacated the right side of the ice and snapped a pass up to Mitch Marner, who scored on one of the easiest breakaways he will ever get.
