Charles Krupa, Associated Press Penguins forward Chris Thorburn launches Bruins defenseman Paul Mara into the Penguins' bench in the third period last night in Boston. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Penguins Notebook: Blake's spear baffles Crosby Penguins meeting ends with no deal on new arena Penguins Q&A with Dave Molinari
	John Heller and Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette photos Also in last night's spotlight were high-level talks concerning a new arena for the Penguins. Governor Ed Rendell (left) arrives at the back door of the State Office building in downtown Pittsburgh last night to discuss a deal to keep the Penguin hockey team in town. Also participating were Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato (center) and Pittsburgh casino license winner Don Barden (left). Click photo for larger image.

BOSTON -- The Penguins could still sneak into the playoffs by a point or two.

And if they do, no one will much remember -- or care -- about that two-goal lead they blew in Boston in mid-January, that night when they had a tired and terribly average team down and couldn't put it away.

Of course, if they miss the playoffs by a point -- and that is hardly out of the question, either -- their 5-4 shootout loss to the Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden last night likely will gnaw on them for the entire offseason.

It's not that losing to Boston is unusual -- in their past nine meetings, the Penguins (20-17-8) have lost in regulation six times, overtime once and shootouts twice -- but they don't usually have a multiple-goal lead, to say nothing of a one-goal advantage with less than seven minutes to go in regulation.

They enjoyed all that last night, but it didn't matter because of a 10-minute lapse in the second period, a squandered five-on-three power play in the third and Boston forward Phil Kessel's goal in the fourth round of the shootout.

"It was a big game for us, and we came up short," forward Ryan Malone said.

The loss overshadowed some sensational individual efforts by rookie center Evgeni Malkin, who scored his 23rd and 24th goals.

"He made a couple of [defensemen] look bad out there," Crosby said. "And those are good defensemen."

Malone gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 10:40 of the opening period when he pulled in a cross-ice feed from Crosby -- on whom every Boston players' attention was riveted -- and beat Bruins goalie Hannu Toivonen from the left dot, and Malkin made it 2-0 at 18:23.

He carried the puck down the left side and challenged -- then put it between the legs of -- Bruins defenseman Brad Stuart before whipping a wrist shot over Toivonen's glove from outside the left dot.

"Most guys wouldn't have gotten that shot off," Crosby said. "I don't think you can blame the goalie, or [Stuart]."

But while the Penguins were in control at the first intermission, that began to change 70 seconds into the second, when Glen Murray slipped behind the Penguins' defense and beat goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Boston built on that momentum and moved in front with two goals in a 37-second span midway through the period, as Marco Sturm tied the score during a four-on-three power play at 9:04, and Stuart picked up a measure of redemption on a shot from the right point at 9:41.

"We lost our focus for 10 minutes, and gave the Bruins a chance to get back in the game," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "Those 10 minutes really hurt us, there's no doubt."

Even so, the Penguins got a man-advantage goal at 14:39, although it had little to do with having an extra man. Unless that guy was Malkin, who corralled a puck along the boards at center ice, battled past Zdeno Chara near the Boston blue line, then buried another high wrist shot behind Toivonen.

Jordan Staal promptly put the Penguins back in front with another power-play score at 18:12, sweeping his own rebound past Toivonen from along the goal line to the left of the net.

Toivonen, prone in the crease, raised his right leg as Staal's shot approached -- presumably because he guessed Staal would try to lift his shot -- and that allowed the puck to slip under it, bounce off the upper portion of the pad and skid into the net.

Boston has been a bad third-period team all season and was playing its third game in the past four days, so most variables seemed to favor the Penguins in the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Trouble is, they failed to capitalize on a five-on-three power play that lasted 113 seconds -- "The five-on-three was huge," Boston coach Dave Lewis said -- and Bruins center Marc Savard got the only goal of the period when he rapped in a rebound at 13:38.

The Penguins survived overtime because of some quality work by Fleury -- Boston had a 9-2 edge in shots -- but, as usual, came up short in the shootout, losing for the fifth time in six tries.

Erik Christensen scored, but Crosby, Malkin and Sergei Gonchar were denied, while Sturm and Kessel beat Fleury, who rejected shots by Savard and Patrice Bergeron.

So the Bruins got the points they needed to tie the Penguins in the Eastern Conference, and the Penguins got plenty to think about on the flight home.

"We would like to have gotten two points," Crosby said. "But sitting here worrying about it or hanging our heads about it isn't going to do anything.

"We have to go work harder, make sure we get points. Period. It doesn't matter who they're against."