The Penguins left Vegas with the same sour feeling they brought into the night, and the Golden Knights made sure of it with a 6-2 win.
Pittsburgh kept the same skaters and line combinations from the night before, only swapping Sergei Murashov into goal. That change didn’t stop Vegas from jumping on them immediately. The Golden Knights opened by sending defensemen into the play and scored twice in the game’s first 4:02 to seize control before Pittsburgh could settle in.
Rasmus Andersson started the burst, jumping into the rush and scoring just 1:06 into the game. Soon after, Jack Eichel drew the attention and Noah Hanifin quietly slipped into open ice, taking advantage of the space for another Vegas goal. Then the Golden Knights went to the power play and kept leaning on backdoor looks until one finally clicked, with Mark Stone redirecting a puck from right in front of Murashov for his third point of the night and a 3-0 lead.
Pittsburgh finally found a response in the second period, and it came on its own power play. Tommy Novak fired a shot that struck Sidney Crosby in front and turned into Crosby’s 657th career goal, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
But any hint of momentum disappeared quickly. A Crosby pass missed, Vegas turned it into a rush chance, and Trevor Connelly beat Murashov to restore the three-goal cushion.
The night kept slipping away from there. With a penalty coming against Pittsburgh, Sam Girard was tripped and slammed hard into the boards on his arm. After the 4-on-4 sequence faded, Vegas won a puck battle in the corner and worked it to Shea Theodore for a heavy shot that made it 5-1.
Pittsburgh showed a little more life in the third with about 15 minutes left. Novak shot the puck toward the crease and then jabbed at it around Adin Hill, with both Evgeni Malkin and Ville Koivunen crashing hard. One of them got the final touch, and it was apparently Koivunen who finished the play to make it 5-2.
The Penguins had one more decent opening when Novak set up Koivunen for a strong chance, but the shot slid just wide. That was the end of the comeback push. Pittsburgh pulled the goalie, and Vegas was eventually awarded a goal to close the night out at 6-2.
It was a rough one from start to finish. The Penguins ran into a very good team again, and again, they couldn’t keep pace. They also came away with one of the few small positives they could claim: the power play scored for the first time in seven games.
That didn’t change the larger picture. Crosby and Bryan Rust said after the previous night that it wasn’t time to panic, and that’s understandable from two veterans who aren’t likely to go there publicly anyway.
But this was a difficult weekend against two real championship contenders on the road, and the results made the gap obvious. Pittsburgh is now 1-5-1 in its last seven, and the need for answers is getting harder to ignore.
Whether those answers are there is the bigger issue. The Penguins haven’t been good defensively, and that problem isn’t limited to the goaltenders or defensemen.
Allowing three goals to defensemen in one night says plenty about the forwards’ positioning and tracking. On top of that, the offense has been hard to find.
In Other News...
Penguins Suddenly Have A Problem Fans Can't Keep Ignoring
The Penguins came out with some early life at Ball Arena, but it did not take long for the game to turn on them in a way that has become hard to ignore. Pittsburgh had its moments offensively and looked capable of matching Colorado for stretches, yet the defensive structure began to crack as the night wore on, leaving the team chasing the game after a promising start.
What stood out most was how quickly the margin for error disappeared once the Avalanche found their rhythm. Pittsburgh could not make enough of its chances count, and the power play again failed to provide the kind of lift a tight road game often demands. For a team trying to steady itself, the concern is less about one bad result than the pattern underneath it, especially when the defensive breakdowns keep showing up at the worst possible times. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Have A New Question On Their Second Line
A practice injury to Egor Chinakhov created an immediate ripple for the Penguins, and it showed up quickly in the lineup against Colorado. With Chinakhov unavailable because of a lower-body issue, Pittsburgh had to reshuffle its second line and power play on the fly, a reminder of how thin the margins can be when a top-six winger goes down without warning.
Ville Koivunen slid into Chinakhovs spot in both roles, while Elmer Sderblom also drew in for just his third game of the season. For a team trying to keep its forward group balanced, the more pressing concern now is how long this adjustment might last, because the Penguins are waiting for clarity on the injury and what it means for the next few games. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Prospect Helped Drive A Win Fans Will Want To Notice
Special teams took center stage for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a 6-3 win over Cleveland, and one of the organizations newer names was right in the middle of it. Rookie forward Mikhail Ilyin helped drive the Penguins attack in a game that featured plenty of penalties, giving Pittsburgh fans another reason to keep an eye on the prospect pipeline.
The Penguins cashed in on four power-play chances while Cleveland answered with three of its own, turning the night into a back-and-forth special teams battle. Ilyins impact stood out in the mix, and performances like this are the kind that can start to matter quickly when a young forward is trying to build momentum. [Read more 🡒]