COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was a penalty that potentially could have had dire consequences for an already-reeling team. That it instead resulted in what could be a positive turning point for the Pittsburgh Penguins doesn’t diminish its foolishness.

And Kris Letang acknowledged as much in a conversation with his coach Wednesday.

“What I will tell you is I really didn’t have to say a lot to ‘Tanger’ today,” Mike Sullivan said after practice a day after he said he would talk to Letang about a slashing minor early in the third period of Tuesday’s game in New Jersey. “(Letang) took responsibility and took ownership. He knows that he has to make a better decision in that situation. We will move by it and look the next game here.”

.@MarkMaddenX: Kris Letang took an ill-advised penalty at New Jersey Tuesday, so the knives are out.

But chill.https://t.co/M221gs5CYe

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) March 11, 2020

Letang was penalized 18 seconds into a New Jersey Devils power play after he’d gotten into a battle with Devils antagonizing forward Miles Wood. After exchanging a few bumps, Letang slashed Wood’s stick out of hands and was given a minor penalty.

With the Penguins having lost eight of their previous 10 and clinging to a one-goal lead on the road, if New Jersey had scored and gone on to win it could have perpetuated a downward spiral that all but euthanized the Penguins’ season.

The Penguins, though, did kill the 1 minute, 42 seconds of 5-on-3 time, and they did win the game, 5-2. That erased some of the spotlight on Letang’s gaffe, but when asked about it after Tuesday’s game Sullivan said he “probably will” have a conversation about the lapse in judgment.

“We did,” Sullivan said Wednesday from Nationwide Arena, “and he understands that he made a mistake in that situation, (and that) he’s got to maintain his composure. And that’s the most important takeaway and that he learns from that lesson and it doesn’t happen again.”

Kris Letang’s comments on the penalty he took Tue in NJ that gave the Devils a 5-on-3 pic.twitter.com/QJsl9id7pb

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 11, 2020

Letang’s conversation with media members was far more abbreviated and not quite as beaming with as much contrition.

“I mean, you don’t want to take a penalty there,” Letang said when asked about the penalty and if he was frustrated in himself for taking it. “And I was pretty happy that we were able to kill that 5-on-3.”

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

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