Dan Muse's late-game decisions draw criticism after recent Penguins losses

Dan Muse has been a stabilizing force for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year, and he certainly is a candidate for the Jack Adams Award. Nothing, of course, can erase the gaffe that he committed on Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks.

When the Penguins had a one-goal advantage toward the end of the game, the power play opportunity came with 18 seconds left and a face-off in the advantageous zone. This was one of those situations when it was important to play it safe.

However, Muse sent out Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, who do not often play together as a unit.

Crosby got the face-off, but Anaheim picked up the puck. Crosby and Novak could not stretch the break-out, and Anaheim went in on the attack shorthanded in the last seconds.

Beckett Sennecke brought it down the ice on the left side, stayed on the edge of the ice around Bryan Rust, and extended the play into the zone. Letang attempted to knock the puck instead of bodying him, missed, and left a hole.

Karlsson went down, and Sennecke's attempt bounced off the bottom of Karlsson's glove and into the net with a fraction of a second left.

The arena went silent. The Penguins had outshot the Ducks 47-28 and taken the lead on a power play goal by Anthony Mantha.

In overtime, the four-on-three power play opportunity gave looks to Sidney Crosby and Connor Dewar, the latter of whom hit the post on an open net. The game got to the shootout, where the Ducks took the win.

For the Penguins, it was another shootout loss in a long string of them, and a night full of criticism towards Muse.