Arturs Silovs arrived in Pittsburgh with plenty to prove, and his first season with the Penguins gave the team a little bit of everything. There were nights when he looked locked in and nights when things slipped away fast, and that roller coaster showed up in the numbers: a 19-12-8 record, a 3.07 goals-against average and an .888 save percentage.
The playoffs, though, told a very different story. Silovs backed up Stuart Skinner for the first three games of Pittsburgh’s first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers before getting the call in Game 4, with the Penguins trailing 3-0 and searching for a jolt.
He’s built a reputation for rising to the occasion, and he delivered again. Pittsburgh still lost the series in six games, but Silovs finished with a .939 save percentage and a 1.52 goals-against average.
Game 6 nearly became a shutout for him if the Penguins had managed to score once against Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar.
That postseason stretch helped earn Silovs a one-year extension after the season. The Penguins want a longer look at him in a larger role before deciding whether he’s a multi-year piece in net.
There’s also another layer to the picture. Sergei Murashov, after lighting up the AHL this past season, could push for the backup or 1B job.
He’s the favorite for that role, but nothing will be handed to him. Joel Blomqvist is still in the mix, and training camp and preseason will sort out that competition.
Silovs appeared in 39 games last season, and if Pittsburgh really does split the workload in a true 1A/1B setup, he’ll probably need to get to at least 42 games in the new 84-game schedule. Hitting that mark would also set a career high in appearances.
For the Penguins, a solid year from Silovs would mean something pretty specific: a save percentage around .905, a goals-against average between 2.50 and 2.70, and positive numbers in goals saved above expected. If he gets there, that would count as a strong success - and give Pittsburgh a decent shot at getting back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Now it’s on Silovs to do it.
In Other News...
Penguins Still Carry One Unsettling Problem Into This Season
Jonathan Huberdeaus offseason has taken an unwelcome turn, with the winger now facing a setback after surgery and set to miss training camp. For a team trying to get its legs under it before the pace of the new season starts, any delay in a players ramp-up matters, especially when camp is where new lines, roles and expectations begin to take shape.
The Penguins also have to sort through the usual swirl of roster chatter, with trade rumors around Kirill Marchenko and reported interest in a free-agent winger adding another layer of uncertainty. None of that is unusual this time of year, but it does leave Pittsburgh with a familiar question hanging over the roster picture: whether the next move will add clarity or just create another decision that has to wait. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Face A Bigger Dan Muse Test In Year Two
The first year of the Mike Muse era gave the Penguins plenty to build on. Pittsburgh snapped its three-year playoff drought, finished with 98 points and even put Muse in the mix as a Jack Adams Award finalist, a strong opening act for a rookie head coach stepping into a team trying to bridge veteran expectations with younger talent that still needed time to grow. There were career years sprinkled throughout the roster, which helped stabilize a season that otherwise could have gone off course in a hurry.
Year two, though, is where the real test usually starts in Pittsburgh. The franchise has seen enough coaching second acts to know the follow-up season can be the harder one, and Muse will have to show he can keep the group moving forward while smoothing out some of the rough edges from last year, including a run of unsuccessful goalie interference challenges that became part of the backdrop. With veterans and younger players both needing the right kind of development, the question now is less about whether the Penguins can surprise and more about whether Muse can turn a good first step into something lasting. [Read more 🡒]