DALLAS _ The Penguins' late-game resilience has been tested plenty of times over the past two seasons and, every time, they've had an answer.
Until Tuesday night.
The Penguins saw a two-goal third-period lead slip away in an 3-2 loss to the Stars. It marked their first loss when leading after two periods under Mike Sullivan.
Entering the third period leading 2-0, the Penguins appeared to be cruising to a victory as they start the stretch run of the season.
Instead, it quickly turned into a nightmare, the first time the Penguins lost a game they led after two periods since the 2014-15 season. They had been 65-0-0 in such games dating back to the beginning of last season.
Brett Ritchie scored off a rebound at 3:40 of the third period to cut the Penguins' lead to 2-1, and at that point the Penguins seemed to lose control of a game they appeared comfortable in throughout.
The Stars tied the score at 9:41 of the third period on a goal credited to Jason Spezza, but more the product of some bad luck for Murray and the Penguins. Jamie Benn's shot from the point bounced up off Murray, off Penguins defenseman Nick Bonino and into the net.
It didn't take long for the Stars to further capitalize on their surging momentum, either. At 10:36 of the third, Antoine Roussel fired a shot at Murray's glove on a break, and the puck deflected off Murray's glove and into the net.
It was an unfortunate turn of events for Murray, who had generally played well for the first two periods.
As the Penguins built their 2-0 lead, Murray made a number of key saves to keep the Stars off the board.
Less than five minutes into the second period, he stopped Stars center Tyler Seguin on a breakaway on a Dallas power play. He got a bit lucky a few seconds later when Seguin missed a wide-open net on a rebound.
At 14:38 of the second, Murray made another impressive stop, sliding across his goal crease to save Dan Hamhuis' attempt to cut into the Penguins' lead.
The Penguins' offense, meanwhile, wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders, but for the first 40 minutes certainly did enough to put them in a comfortable situation heading into the third.
Evgeni Malkin put the Penguins up 1-0 in the first period with his 26th goal of the season. Malkin took a feed from Patric Hornqvist behind the net, and beat Dallas goalie Antti Niemi on his glove side to open the scoring at 10:04 of the first period.
Jake Guentzel doubled the Penguins' lead midway through the second period. Ian Cole fired a wrist shot from the point that Niemi stopped, but the puck stayed loose between his blocker and his body. While Niemi couldn't find the puck, Guentzel pounced and knocked it in for his seventh goal of the season. The score gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead at 10:40 of the second period.
Guentzel, who had a pair of assists in the Penguins' Stadium Series win against Philadelphia Saturday, now has four goals in his last four games.
The Penguins nearly added to that advantage at 16:00 of the second, when Cameron Gaunce's shot from the point trickled through Niemi's pads. It looked like the puck might inch its way over the goal line, but the Stars managed to clear it before it got that far.
As things turned out, they probably could have used that goal.
