PITTSBURGH -- Detroit Red Wings coach

has talked ad nauseam about the need to get off to better starts.

The message isn’t getting through.

The Red Wings overcame bad starts against lesser teams like Calgary and Columbus, but it was a much tougher task Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are second in the NHL in goals against and first in penalty killing.

The Penguins jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made sure they didn’t squander it, making 36 saves in a 4-1 victory at the Consol Energy Center.

It was the third game in a row the Red Wings have fallen behind 2-0, and the fourth consecutive game in which they have trailed by two or more goals in the first 20 minutes. They have played from behind in each of their past six games.

“Talking isn’t getting anything done, is it?” Babcock said. “We can talk about it all we want, we got to do something about it. You can’t start behind the eight-ball every night, especially against good teams. There’s no way you’re going to catch up. They play well and they’re going to make plays.”

The Penguins pounced on two mistakes to score goals. The latter deflated the Red Wings, as Chris Kunitz scored at 17:58 of the second period, just 30 seconds after Johan Franzen gave Detroit some momentum by scoring his 20th goal of the season.

made a bad pass from his own zone, resulting in a turnover.

“I was trying to make an easy pass to

right up the middle and their guy got a stick on it and it ended up in our net,” Kronwall said. “Obviously, that was a crucial point of the game.”

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 12-4 in the third period, but Fleury was strong. Matt Cooke’s empty-net goal with 1:19 remaining in the game sealed it.

“Fleury played well,” Red Wings goaltender

said. “We didn’t test him a whole lot. A lot of shots were from the perimeter. You got to get to the paint on him and try to get it up on him.”

Detroit’s other costly mistake was MacDonald’s misplay of a puck behind his net. Tyler Kennedy stole it and passed to Jordan Staal for an easy goal to open the scoring at 3:02 of the first period.

“I stopped it, (

) came back, it kind of rolled off my stick at the last minute,” MacDonald said. “He wanted me to play it, I thought he was going to come back and wheel.”

That set a bad tone for the game.

“When we have those turnovers and make those mistakes, the good teams are going to capitalize,” Nicklas Lidstrom said. “They’re playing real well defensively, not giving up a whole lot. That’s why you got to tighten up defensively.

“It’s sloppy plays, mistakes and giveaways. It is disappointing.”

MacDonald made his second start in a row in place of

(bruised knee). Howard dressed as the backup because Thomas McCollum hurt his finger during the morning skate. Howard will be ready to start Thursday in St. Louis.

Pittsburgh made it 2-0 at 11:29 of the first, when Chris Conner scored on a penalty shot, sliding a backhand shot underneath MacDonald’s left pad. He was awarded the shot after being hooked on a breakaway by

.

Babcock said he wanted a penalty shot when Kris Letang tripped

on a breakaway midway through the second period, but all he got was a power play, on which his team went 0-for-3.

“When we didn’t play our best in the second period and didn’t manage the puck well, we were still able to defend,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

Both teams were missing star players. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby sat out his sixth consecutive game with a concussion and Detroit’s

remains sidelined with a broken hand. The Red Wings are missing many more key players, but Babcock isn’t using that as an excuse.

“I’m not much interested in that,” Babcock said. “We had 20 guys put on the uniform tonight. You got to execute and play real well when you put it on. I don’t care where you came from.”

It all begins with a good start. And the Red Wings lacked urgency.

“Tonight was way too much looking around and seeing who else is going to do it,” Kronwall said. “We expect a lot of good things from each other and that was not a good enough effort.”

Post-game interviews