PITTSBURGH — Dan Muse paused for a full eight seconds before repeating something everyone from coaches to players to fans had to be thinking late Sunday afternoon, as a three-goal lead devolved into ... well, I don’t know exactly what you’d call this mess.

Just listen to the Penguins coach.

“First of all, not in a million years did I think we’d back here, 24 hours later, having the exact same conversation,” Muse said. “I’m probably gonna sound like a broken record.”

The Penguins certainly look like a broken team at the moment after suffering a 5-4 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth at PPG Paints Arena, their fifth defeat in a row and third in a six-day stretch that came in confounding fashion.

On Saturday, the Penguins had a four-goal lead with 15 minutes to go against the San Jose Sharks and lost.

It was 3-0 early in the third a day later when Utah rattled off four goals in 5:59, then ended it with Dylan Guenther’s marker 42 seconds into overtime.

Their latest gut punch dropped the Penguins’ record to 14-8-9. They’ve now lost six times in 15 games when leading after two periods.

“I’ve never seen something where it just feels like it’s the same thing coming in different ways,” Muse said. “We have to learn how to close games. This group has to take that step.”

We’ve heard that before. Saturday, in fact. Although what can anyone say at this point?

The only thing the Penguins can do to fix this would be to handle themselves better with a lead, and at this point, it’s barely a physical problem.

In other words, they’re a mental mess, cautious to a fault and worried about every little mistake being magnified. So much so that it was alarming to hear Erik Karlsson admit how fragile the Penguins seem to be at the moment when it comes to protecting a lead.

Almost like they expect to lose it.

“In situations like this, sometimes confidence plays a big role,” Karlsson said. “Obviously right now, we’re lacking that. We have to find a way to quickly get that back.”

After an 8-2-2 start, the Penguins have dropped 13 of their past 19 games. Their previous advantage — goaltending — has been erased with the Tristan Jarry trade and Arturs Silovs struggling.

Rookie Sergei Murashov, here on an emergency basis, was strong for two periods but then seemed to get infected by the virus going around, the one where the Penguins seemingly forget how to play responsible hockey in the third period.

Now, to be fair, the pivot in this final 20 wasn’t quite as ugly as Saturday, when the net-front was a glaring issue, the Penguins’ 5-on-6 problems resurfaced and their shifts ran way too long. But Pittsburgh did afford Utah shooters too much time and space. That held true on rebounds, too.

“We’re gonna continue to work on those details,” Muse said. “If there are things we’re implementing that aren’t working, we’ll change those.”

The avalanche of Mammoth goals started with defenseman Nate Schmidt stuffing home a rebound off a shot from right wing JJ Peterka at 1:07 after the Penguins were caught puck-watching.

Left wing Michael Carcone — a thorn in Pittsburgh’s side all afternoon — followed his own shot with a goal at 1:22 of the third to pull Utah within one.

By that time, the panic level was high. And it only got worse.

The tying goal came from defenseman Sean Durzi at 5:35, a wrister from the right circle. The Penguins challenged for goaltender interference; however, officials correctly determined that Ryan Graves made contact with center Kevin Stenlund in front of Sergei Murashov.

Finally, the Mammoth jumped in front, 4-3, on the power play at 7:06 thanks to a one-time goal from center Barrett Hayton to Carcone, who rifled a shot from the right circle.

“You would have thought after [Saturday], it would change a little bit,” Karlsson said. “It didn’t. Even though I think they’re completely different situations, those are the things that we can’t let happen.

“The other team is gonna score goals. We just can’t let one become two, three or four.”

What the Penguins should do is obviously the million-dollar question right now. The problem is there’s no easy answer, though Sidney Crosby made a good point here: “We have to get through a game here where we have a lead and close it out.”

It should help to get Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak through immigration and in the lineup, if nothing else than to gain another perspective. But Muse needs to re-imagine his bottom two defense pairs (likely Kulak with Kris Letang) and become even more resolute when it comes to ice time in key moments.

Can’t dump the puck, limit opportunities for the opponent or change when appropriate? Can’t play when protecting leads.

The group also needs to find confidence, as Karlsson said. Which is obviously far easier to type than live out on the ice.

But at the start of the season, this group didn’t play timid hockey in the third period. It continued to attack. If you watched the Penguins this weekend, you saw a group worried about bad stuff happening before it did.

“It’s a matter of either staying with that or having to elevate more when teams start to push, making sure we’re ready to push ourselves and not wait for a bad bounce or something bad to happen,” Crosby said. “We have to dictate play a little bit better.”

The Penguins are still a young team with promise. Justin Brazeau was a smart find and scored twice. Ben Kindel enjoyed a three-point game and buried a breakaway. Bryan Rust is red hot right now and scored again.

The Penguins, as they have for a lot of this season, got close to accomplishing their goal and even pushed back with Brazeau’s tying goal at 14:06 of the third.

However, due to their repeated inability to play with a lead — failures that could populate a hockey Bingo card — they lost again Sunday. In even more excruciating fashion. And now they can see their season teetering, with guys openly admitting to pressing or being scared to make a mistake.

“The group has to stick together,” said Muse, whose team has allowed an average of 3.42 goals per game over the past 19. “Otherwise … it’ll go the other way.

Added Crosby: “We’ve done enough to win games. We just haven’t closed [enough] out. We just have to stick together and find a way to get over it.”

It was over when …

Officially, when Guenther scored in overtime. But really as soon as Utah began pushing in the third.

Stat of the game

8: Times this season where the Penguins have had the lead in the third period and lost.

Around the boards

— Muse didn’t make any changes to his lineup, which meant Danton Heinen and Jack St. Ivany were again scratched.

— Former Penguins comprise half of Utah’s defense corps: Ian Cole, Olli Maatta and John Marino.

— Kindel had gone 15 consecutive games without an even-strength point (since Nov. 3 at Toronto) until his three-point outburst on Sunday.

Up next

The Penguins are off Monday before wrapping up their five-game homestand on Tuesday against Tristan Jarry and the Edmonton Oilers.

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