NHL Playoffs 2012: Pittsburgh Penguins Show Youth, Immaturity in Disgusting Loss

The biggest break the Pittsburgh Penguins got after their ugly and despicable loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals was that it wasn't the last game of the series.

If the Penguins had been eliminated in this game, what an awful and juvenile way it would've been for a team with such pride to exit the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Obviously, the team still believes they can get back in this series and win. They certainly have the star power to do so. But if they are to lose in any one of these games, they'll have the opportunity to lose with dignity, something they failed to do on Sunday afternoon.

The Penguins lost their cool early and it cost them the game.

Losing Sidney Crosby for five minutes in and having your best defenseman, Kris Letang, ejected in the first frame of a must-win game is not a way to respond when down 3-1 early in the game.

The Penguins wanted to get physical to spark the team like they did in Game 6 of the 2009 series between the two teams when former Penguin Max Talbot dropped the gloves to energize his team. The Penguins later came back and won the game and the series. 

Today, though, it was just different. The fights were cheap and untimely and it can be argued that they hurt the team immensely because of the penalties that would result and the manpower the Penguins lost due to the ejections. 

When Kris Letang "shh"-ed the crowd, it didn't bring the same feeling that Max Talbot's "shh" did back in 2009. The Penguins looked like goons. They seemed flustered by the Philadelphia Flyers' ownership of the their defense. 

They couldn't do anything to solve it, so they decided to settle it with their fists.

And all that did was put them in a deeper hole.

Every time there was a chance for the Penguins to come back, penalties and dumb plays set them back further.

If complacency beat them in Game 1, intimidation has beaten them in Games 2 and 3. The Penguins have lost all of their confidence.

They no longer have a guy like Gary Roberts, Bill Guerin or Mark Recchi to set them straight in times of crises. The Penguins lack veteran leadership and it's showing. They're a young team that's losing their cool way too easy.

The Penguins, as mentioned above, have the ability to come back and win this series. 

But if they're going to even come close to winning one game, they need to keep it simple, relax and stay calm, cool and collected.

If they don't, the Penguins are going to be swept for the first time since 1979.