The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t found much relief on this road trip, and Saturday night brings another tough assignment. After Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Penguins are back on the ice less than 24 hours later to face the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Puck drop is set for just after 10 p.m.
Pittsburgh is 3-4-1 and stuck in a 1-4-1 slide, with turnovers, blown assignments and missed chances piling up along the way. The club jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Colorado when Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust scored 29 seconds apart in the first period, but the early cushion vanished fast. Nathan MacKinnon repeatedly carved through the Penguins’ defense, especially against Declan Carlile and Erik Karlsson, and Colorado answered with five straight goals despite a strong night from Arturs Silovs.
Vegas arrives in far better shape at 7-2-0 after an easy 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Brett Howden opened the scoring 25 seconds in, Jack Eichel added a short-handed goal, Braeden Bowman scored on the power play to make it 3-1, and Mark Stone finished things off with a third-period hat trick. Carter Hart stopped 28 shots in that victory.
Penguins coach Dan Muse is expected to make Sergei Murashov the starting goalie, with the official announcement coming at 8 p.m. ET, or 5 p.m. local time. Muse may also update the status of winger Egor Chinakhov, who missed Friday’s game while being evaluated for a lower-body injury.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Here’s how the teams are expected to line up:
Penguins lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin
Andrei Kuzmenko-Ben Kindel-Nick Robertson
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Elmer Soderblom
Defense
Declan Carlile-Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard-Kaedan Korczak
Spencer Stastney-Kris Letang
Goalie: Sergei Murashov
Golden Knights lines
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Mark Stone
Brett Howden-William Karlsson-Mitch Marner
Tanner Connelly-Tomas Hertl-Raphael Lavoie
Braeden Bowman-Nic Dowd-Marc Gatcomb
Defense
Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin-Dylan Coghlan
Jeremy Lauzon-Rasmus Andersson
Goalie: Carter Hart, expected
The special-teams numbers tilt in Vegas’ favor on the power play, where the Golden Knights are clicking at 25.7% and rank eighth. Pittsburgh’s power play sits at 14.8%, good for 26th. The Penguins’ penalty kill has been a strength at 87%, which ranks eighth, while Vegas’ penalty kill is at 77.3%, 23rd in the league.
There is at least some history on Pittsburgh’s side against this opponent. The Penguins have won seven of their last 11 games against Vegas dating back to Jan. 7, 2020, and they have never lost a season series to the Golden Knights. Kris Letang has also been productive in the matchup, collecting seven assists in his last nine games against Vegas.
Sidney Crosby added another milestone Friday with his 1,110th career assist, passing Joe Thornton for seventh place all-time. He is now one assist away from tying Ray Bourque for the most assists with one franchise in NHL history. Crosby also has 12 points, including five goals and seven assists, in 13 games against Vegas, and he had a two-goal game against the Golden Knights last March.
In Other News...
Penguins Still Searching For Answers As Dan Muse Shakes Up Everything
The Penguins head into Ball Arena still looking to smooth out an uneven start, with Dan Muse set to tinker again before a late-night meeting with the Avalanche. After a frustrating loss to the Blackhawks, Pittsburghs issues have been hard to miss, and the staff is clearly searching for a combination that brings more pace, more structure and a little more consistency from shift to shift.
Muses lineup decisions are part of that broader reset, but the bigger concern remains whether the Penguins can find cleaner execution when the puck drops just after 9 p.m. ET. Special teams have been a particular source of frustration, and against a Colorado club that can punish mistakes quickly, Pittsburgh needs more than a fresh look on the board. It needs a response on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Let Another Promising Start Slip Away In Colorado
The Penguins looked ready to carry an early road spark into a statement night at Ball Arena, getting first-period goals from Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust to jump on Colorado quickly. For a while, the game had the feel of a clean reset for a team that has been searching for steadier starts, with Arturs Silovs giving them a chance to hold the edge by making several key saves along the way.
Colorado turned the game completely around from there, riding a burst of offense that Pittsburgh could not answer as the Avalanche pulled away to a 5-2 win. The Penguins did get one encouraging individual sequence from Silovs, who stopped Nathan MacKinnon on a penalty shot, but the night still ended with the power play failing to cash in and another promising opening slipping out of reach. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Have A Nicholas Robertson Decision To Make
Nicholas Robertson has already forced the Penguins to pay closer attention than they may have expected when they brought in a 25-year-old forward looking for an opportunity. Through seven games this season, he has given Pittsburgh real offensive value despite limited ice time, lower-line usage and a steady diet of defensive-zone starts. Even with those constraints, he has found ways to tilt shifts toward the Penguins and contribute to the scoring-chance battle.
Now the question is how much more responsibility the staff is willing to hand him. Pittsburgh recently bumped Robertson into a bigger role, and that kind of move usually says as much about trust as it does about production. For a team that is always looking for useful depth scoring, his next stretch could say plenty about whether this is just a hot start or the beginning of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]