The Penguins have spent the opening week doing their best impression of a team that can’t be bothered to ease into a season. Pittsburgh has scored 13 goals in two games, won both, and now gets one more night at home before the road-heavy stretch kicks in.
The next stop is Monday against the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Paints Arena, with puck drop just after 7 p.m. and Mr. Jeff Jimmerson on anthem duty.
Saturday’s 6-5 overtime win over Montreal had just about everything except a quiet finish. Pittsburgh jumped from an early 1-0 hole, steadied itself, and then exploded to a 5-1 lead late in the second period.
Tommy Novak scored twice, including the overtime winner, while Evgeni Malkin added a power-play goal. Declan Carlile, Sam Girard, and Ben Kindel each scored their first goals of the season.
Then the game slipped. The Penguins let Montreal claw back with two goals against the extra attacker in the final 1:08, a familiar late-game wobble that nearly turned a runaway into a collapse. But Pittsburgh still got the last word when Malkin sprung Novak on a two-on-one for the winner.
The numbers through two games are eye-catching. Pittsburgh’s 13 goals lead the Eastern Conference and rank tied for third in the NHL, behind only Edmonton’s 17 and Colorado’s 14.
That mirrors last season, when the Penguins finished behind only Colorado and Carolina in goals scored. Novak and Malkin are tied for the team lead with four points apiece, both sitting at 2-2-4.
Winnipeg arrives after a 3-2 win over Detroit on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena. Kyle Connor was involved in all three Jets goals, scoring twice on the power play and assisting on Cole Perfetti’s power-play marker.
In goal Monday, Sergei Murashov is expected to make his season debut for Pittsburgh. Winnipeg is expected to go with Clay Stevenon, the former Washington Capitals depth goalie who was claimed on waivers last week. The Penguins will have a full morning skate, so the lines and starting goalie will be updated then.
Pittsburgh’s projected forward groups have Nick Robertson with Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell on the top line, followed by Egor Chinkahov with Tommy Novak and Evgeni Malkin. Andrei Kuzmenko, Ben Kindel, and Hendrix Lapierre are slotted together on the third line, with Connor Dewar, Blake Lizotte, and Filip Hallander on the fourth.
On defense, the pairs are Declan Carlile with Erik Karlsson, Sam Girard with Kaedan Korczak, and Trevor van Riemsdyk with Kris Letang.
Winnipeg’s projected lineup features Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Cole Perfetti on the top line, with Isak Rosén, Viggo Björck, and Gabriel Vilardi next. Morgan Barron, Adam Lowry, and Brad Lambert make up the third line, while Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Alex Iafallo are on the fourth.
The Jets’ defense pairs are Josh Morrissey with Dylan DeMelo, Dylan Samberg with Neal Pionk, and Mario Ferraro with Tyrel Bauer.
Special teams have been a major early edge for both clubs. Pittsburgh’s power play is clicking at 50%, good for third in the league, while its penalty kill has been perfect at 100%, ranking first. Winnipeg’s power play is even hotter at 57.1%, second in the NHL, with a penalty kill sitting at 85.7% and 12th.
There’s also no shortage of individual notes around the matchup. The Penguins are 18-8-0 in their last 26 meetings with Winnipeg and 21-3-0 in their last 24 home games against the Jets, dating back to Mar.
24, 2007. Erik Karlsson has 31 points, including 5 goals and 26 assists, in 36 career games against Winnipeg.
Malkin added another notable line to the record book Saturday by becoming just the second 40-year-old in NHL history to score in each of his team’s first two games of a season. The only other player to do it was Gordie Howe, who did it in 1968-69.
Egor Chinakhov’s 98.89 MPH shot on Sept. 30 against Philadelphia remains the hardest recorded shot by any player in the 2026-27 season.
And Crosby is closing in on another milestone. He needs one assist to move past Joe Thornton and stand alone in seventh place on the NHL’s all-time assists list. Crosby tied Thornton with his 1,109th assist on Saturday.
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For a team that has shown fight, the frustrating part is starting to come into focus. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been putting pucks on net in bunches, only to leave without the finish to match, and that leaves the Penguins looking for a cleaner result when they see Hartford again on October 10. Their next home date is not until October 23 against the Belleville Senators, so there is plenty of time before the building gets another chance to see whether the effort finally turns into points. [Read more 🡒]
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So when Malkin was asked about Ovechkins news, the moment landed as more than a routine reaction from one future Hall of Famer to another. It also nudged attention toward Malkins own path, because his playing future is still an open question and the end of Ovechkins run adds another layer to the countdown around one of the Penguins defining stars. [Read more 🡒]
Crosbys Ovechkin Reflection Hits Penguins Fans Right In The Rivalry
Sidney Crosby has spent nearly two decades measuring himself against Alex Ovechkin, and the latest reminder of that era landed with a mix of respect and nostalgia. Ovechkin just signed a one-year deal to return for his 22nd NHL season, and Crosby responded by reflecting on what their careers have meant to each other since both arrived in 2005-06, when the league immediately framed them as rivals and carried that storyline for years.
For Penguins fans, the larger picture is hard to miss: Crosby is still playing on an expiring contract, and he has made clear he wants to keep going beyond the current horizon. Ovechkins future now has a defined endpoint, while Crosbys does not, which only adds another layer to a rivalry that has long been about more than wins and losses. [Read more 🡒]