NHL: Evgeni Malkin dunks the puck into his own net against the Wolves

Evgeni Malkin made a huge mistake for the Pittsburgh Penguins when he fumbled his own net in a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

The fatal mistake occurred in the third period, with a score of 3 to 2 in favor of the Wolves. A penalty was to be awarded to Jason Zucker, resulting in Tristan Jarry being taken out of his net for an extra player.

Kris Letang put the puck behind him in his own zone so Malkin could resume the attack. But the Penguins forward fumbled the ball, which went into his own net. Lawson Cross got that lucky but important goal for the Coyotes.

In addition to this grave mistake, the match was characterized by wonderful play from all sides. In the first period, Logan Cooley skillfully extended his arm to redirect the puck towards Zucker in the slot and the latter opened the scoring.

In the middle of the period, Sidney Crosby launched to the left of Connor Ingram's net. Erik Karlsson sent the ball towards his captain and confidently redirected it behind the Coyotes goalkeeper even though there was no angle remaining. This was his 27th goal of the campaign.

Lars Eller was the other top scorer for the Penguins and Pierre-Olivier Joseph had an assist in the sequence. Gary allowed four goals on 26 shots against the Penn team's cage. For his part, Ingram stopped 25 shots.

The situation is complicated for the Penguins in the standings, which is in second-bottom place in the Premier League with 48 points. The Coyotes are two points behind the Nashville Predators for fourth place in the Central Division.