Sullivan: Letang can't be fazed by Lightning irritants

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.