Inside the Pittsburgh Penguins room after Game 4, most would rue at least one decision, play, or moment after the club narrowly fell short in their crusade to erase a four-goal third-period deficit.

Of course, this task wouldn't have been a challenge for Kris Letang.

The premier defender, and arguably the Penguins' most important skater, briefly lost his mind in a scrum with Brian Boyle and others Friday after touching up on a delayed penalty by rimming a puck high along the glass near two Lightning forwards.

A rough, and a cross check later, and the Penguins were in defense of a double-minor penalty they only successfully defended for three minutes.

"He's too important to our team, and that's what I told him," head coach Mike Sullivan said.

"We would like him to respond differently to that circumstance, and he will moving forward."

Just seconds before Letang's blow-up, his importance illuminated further.

Pittsburgh lost the player who logs the second-most ice behind Letang, Trevor Daley, when he was helped off the ice after suffering a potentially serious lower leg injury.

As a result, and even after sitting for a three-minute stretch in the second, Letang racked up almost 32 minutes.

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