Dan Muse tried just about everything Monday night, but the Pittsburgh Penguins still couldn’t shake the skid.
In Salt Lake City, Muse shuffled almost every part of the lineup in an effort to stop the bleeding, even rolling out a new second-pairing defense duo of Declan Carlile and Kaeden Korczak. The change didn’t deliver the jolt Pittsburgh needed. Utah beat the Penguins 5-4, handing them a fourth straight loss.
The Carlile-Korczak pairing had a rough night, with the two on the ice for Utah’s second and fourth goals. Pittsburgh also had trouble when a newly formed top pairing of Spencer Stastney and Erik Karlsson was deployed, getting outshot 11-5 with that combo on the ice.
That was part of a wider problem. The Penguins were outshot 29-19 overall and struggled to keep the Mammoth away from dangerous areas. According to MoneyPuck, 10 of Utah’s scoring chances came from directly in front of the net.
”They were getting sustained shifts in our zone, and we weren’t able to get much of a forecheck, so that’s a tough combination,” Sidney Crosby told reporters after the game. “You’re not gonna wear teams down, and they’re going to have lots of juice to play offense.”
Carlile did provide one bright spot, scoring his first goal as a Penguin to pull the team within one and set up a tense final five minutes. Pittsburgh never got the equalizer.
Muse said he didn’t think the loss could be pinned on Arturs Silovs, who started in goal.
”You look at the chances that are given up, there’s not a lot on our goalies that they can do on a number of these,” Muse said after the loss.
The coach pointed to structure as the fix, saying his answer to the team’s defensive issues would involve “making sure that we’re all on the same page in regard to the structure.”
Asked whether he liked any of the new line combinations he used during the game, Muse said he and his staff would go over them.
The forward groups were changing, too. Pittsburgh opened with Crosby alongside Egor Chinakhov, while Rickard Rakell was dropped to the third line with Andrei Kuzmenko and Nick Robertson replaced Elmer Soderblom on the fourth. By the end of the game, that look had shifted again after Bryan Rust exited with a lower-body injury.
Chinakhov, who has yet to find much chemistry with Crosby, later scored with Kuzmenko and Ben Kindel on the ice.
Muse had no update on Rust after the game. The loss closed out a winless four-game road trip in which the Penguins were outscored 21-11, and it dropped them to 3-6-1 on the season. That’s a far cry from where they stood a year ago, when they were 7-2-1 at this point.
Pittsburgh returns home Thursday to face the Florida Panthers. If Rust can’t play, Soderblom or Hendrix Lapierre could slide back into the lineup. And if Girard isn’t available by then, that could affect Ilya Solovyov’s status if Muse keeps the rest of his defense intact.
In Other News...
Penguins Defensive Shuffle Says Plenty Before Next Home Stretch
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Maleek McGowan and Ryan Mast were sent back down to Florida, a reminder that these roster decisions are often about keeping players active and available rather than making any dramatic statement about their long-term standing. For Pittsburgh fans, it is another small but meaningful look at how the pipeline is being handled, especially with the minor-league calendar and upcoming team events keeping the organization busy on multiple fronts. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Should Watch This Penguins Trade Twist Closely
The Penguins appear to be edging toward a roster reset, and Rickard Rakell has emerged as one of the names worth watching as that shift takes shape. He is coming off an uneven season and is viewed around the league as a player whose fit may be more about the present than the future, especially with Pittsburgh looking to get younger while sorting out its next phase.
Rakell also carries a contract situation that makes any move more complicated than it might seem at first glance. He has one year left on his deal at $5 million per season, and his eight-team no-trade list gives him some control over where this might go, even as previous conversations about moving him never got off the ground. For a club trying to find value in a thin market, the challenge is whether Pittsburgh can turn a low trade value into something useful without waiting too long. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Face A Concerning Ben Kindel Situation
The Penguins were dealing with far more than a routine travel day after forward Ben Kindel suffered a medical episode shortly after the team plane took off from Salt Lake City, triggering an emergency landing and a trip to University of Utah Hospital. Kindel was reported to be in stable condition, conscious and alert, a relief for a team that had to absorb the kind of alarming news nobody wants to hear in the middle of a road trip.
Pittsburgh responded by making its scheduled practice optional, and there were no roster moves announced in the immediate aftermath. General manager Kyle Dubas is expected to address the media Thursday with an update on Kindels status, leaving the Penguins and their fans waiting for a clearer picture of what comes next. [Read more 🡒]