PITTSBURGH _ Kris Letang is a special talent, a perennial All-Star and a winning player.
He will have a lengthy reel of jaw-dropping plays when he decides to hang up his skates. But beyond that he makes a positive impact most nights with his supreme skating, slick passing and the courage to try stuff others wouldn't dare.
Of course, on nights when he is off, when his gambles backfire, the Penguins must accept the consequences, knowing he typically does more good than harm.
Recently, though, there have been a few games like that for Letang, including a 4-1 loss Sunday against the Florida Panthers at PPG Paints Arena.
To be clear, Letang wasn't the only reason the Penguins lost. They obviously got just one goal, giving them six in three games since losing Jake Guentzel. They went 0 for 3 on the power play. Tristan Jarry was good but got outplayed.
But Letang's play has been a roller-coaster since his partner, Brian Dumoulin, had ankle surgery Dec. 1 that will keep out him at least a few more weeks. He had a strong game against Ottawa last week and some rocky moments since.
Letang took a penalty in overtime Thursday that set up San Jose's game-winner. In a 3-2 overtime win Saturdasy in Montreal, Letang made a careless pass in front of his net that led directly to a Canadiens goal. Sunday was the fifth time in the past 15 games that Letang was on the ice for multiple goals against at 5-on-5.
Less than three minutes in Sunday, Letang lost a race, something that doesn't happen often, even with Letang closing in on his 33rd birthday. Frank Vatrano got a step on him in the neutral zone and kept Letang in the rearview as he broke in on Jarry. Jarry stopped the first shot but Vatrano buried the rebound.
Dominik Simon set up Jared McCann on a 2-on-1 to make it 1-1. But later in the first period, another giveaway by Letang ended up in the Penguins net.
The fourth line got outworked for about a minute by their Florida counterparts then had to stay on after icing the puck. Letang, who also had to log a long shift, had a chance to get the Penguins out of the zone but couldn't connect on his pass to Thomas Di Pauli. Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson kept it in.
Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck then put a center pass through Letang to Brett Connolly, who beat Jarry upstairs to put the Panthers back on top.
Letang had another bad giveaway in the third period, coughing up the puck at his blue line with the Penguins down two goals. But Jarry bailed him out.
The Panthers threatened to pull away from the Penguins but Jarry wouldn't allow it. He stood his ice on a breakaway by Aleksander Barkov late in the first period. A few minutes into the second, the Penguins allowed a backdoor pass get through to Aaron Ekblad. Jarry sprawled to get his blocker on that.
Florida's Chris Driedger came through with key saves, too. In the second period, he shuffled across to rob Zach Aston-Reese on a 2-on-1 and later got his blocker on a shot by Simon after McCann sprung him on a partial breakaway.
The two teams continued to trade chances in a fun third period. McCann nearly scored for the Penguins after bouncing the puck up in the air off his blade four times before batting a shot on goal. But the Panthers pushed it to 3-1 with 11:08 left in the game when Mike Hoffman sniped Jarry from the high slot.
Evgeni Dadonov scored an empty-netter to seal the Panthers victory.
Jarry, who saw his six-game winning streak get snapped Thursday in an overtime loss to San Jose, lost back-to-back starts for the first time in two months.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan kept Dominik Kahun on the top line with Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust after Kahun impressed Sullivan with his play in Montreal. Alex Galchenyuk, meanwhile, tumbled all the way to the bottom of the lineup. The winger skated on the fourth line, which was on the ice for the first two Florida goals.
The game Sunday marked the start of the season's second half for the Penguins, who went 25-11-5 in their first 41 games despite significant absences from several of their most important players, including Sidney Crosby. Their 55 points in the standings were their most in the first half of the season since 2016-17.
The Penguins next will play Tuesday. That road game at Vegas is their first stop on a weeklong road trip that includes games at Colorado and Arizona.
