The Penguins left San Jose with a win, and that alone gives the trip a cleaner look than it probably deserves. Pittsburgh took two of three on its West Coast swing, Evgeni Malkin has now assisted on six straight Penguins goals, and Sergei Murashov has back-to-back victories.
On paper, that sounds like progress. In practice, the trip came with a much messier truth: the Penguins beat the LA Kings and San Jose Sharks, then got exposed by the Anaheim Ducks.
Wednesday’s game in San Jose fit that tension perfectly. Pittsburgh built a 2-0 lead in the third period, then watched it disappear with the kind of loose defense that has too often shown up this season. Still, the room didn’t sound rattled afterward.
“No, I think we controlled the majority of this game, except when maybe they had their power plays, which is normal. And then their best player (Macklin Celebrini) made two great plays at the end.
You know that’s the way it’s going to be sometimes,” said Erik Karlsson. “It’s unfortunate that we gave up the lead like that, but we stuck with it and came away with two points.
And you know that’s the most important thing right now. I think overall, though, it was a fairly well-executed game from our part.”
That was the tone all night: the Penguins had stretches where they looked firmly in control, but the broader picture still leaned San Jose’s way by eye test and by the numbers. Even so, the result counts, and in a season where overtime and shootout games have been a sore spot for years, that matters.
Four extra-time wins through the first 19 games is a noticeable change from what the Penguins have lived through recently. Over the last three seasons, and across multiple coaches and general managers, they’ve been a rough team once regulation ends.
Before this season, they were 6-19 in shootouts over the previous three years, and 17-21 in overtime over that same stretch. This year, they’re 2-1 in shootouts and 2-1 in OT.
That’s a very different feel, even if the blown lead in San Jose still looked familiar.
Asked Wednesday morning what he actually likes about this team, Dan Muse gave an answer that started with the obvious and stayed honest about the flaws.
“The group doesn’t quit. You know, there are some games that we haven’t liked, but I think guys do; they continue to battle.
I think we put ourselves in some holes there that are some big holes, but I do think it’s a group that works, and I think they’re going to play to the very end,” said Muse. “And so we’ve got to continue to have that.
I think we’ve just got to clean up, continue to work to clean up some of those areas, some of those big chances we’ve talked about, and we’re going to continue to work on those.”
Muse also handled a question about why Declan Carlile deserves to stay in the lineup in a way that felt refreshingly direct. He offered support for Carlile, while also making clear that young players can need time when they’re asked to take on more.
Carlile had a quiet, steady road trip overall, and after a couple of bad pinches against Anaheim, he was very good in the next game, the win over LA. The connection is hard to miss.
The same goes for the Penguins’ younger players more generally. Wednesday was another example of a team looking cleaner with more youth in the lineup.
Rutger McGroarty gave the fourth line a more stable shape than Nick Robertson has, especially with the way he kept things simple and helped drive play below the goal line. That led to longer shifts in the offensive zone and more sustained pressure.
McGroarty may not bring Robertson’s scoring pop, but the line looked more predictable, and that matters on a fourth line.
Ville Koivunen also turned in a strong game Wednesday, and it’s fair to wonder whether he looks more comfortable when he’s skating with his Wilkes-Barre teammates. That’s only a theory, but it fits what showed on the ice.
In Other News...
Penguins Trade Plans Just Hit A Rickard Rakell Roadblock
The Penguins offseason direction has already been clear enough: if theyre going to retool, the front office may have to turn some of its established veterans into draft capital and younger pieces. Rickard Rakell has been among the names floating around in that conversation, alongside Bryan Rust, as Pittsburgh weighs whether to keep leaning on older core players or start cashing in value for the future.
A new wrinkle surfaced this week when a rumor on the Spittin Chiclets Podcast suggested Rakell was part of a potential deal that never got off the ground. With the limited no-trade clause in play, the situation underscores how complicated these moves can get for a team trying to reshape its roster, and it leaves the Penguins still searching for a workable path if they want to move forward with their rebuild plans. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Defensive Depth Takes Another Turn With One Young Blueliner
Wilkes-Barre/Scrantons defensive shuffle continued with another move involving a young blueliner, as David Breazeale was sent back to the Florida Everblades. Breazeale had already logged four games with Florida this season, and his time in the Penguins organization has included a brief but useful look at the AHL level, where he has appeared in 11 regular-season games and picked up four points.
The timing comes as the Penguins head into a busy stretch with games against Hershey and Hamilton, along with special Veterans Day Celebration events on the calendar. For a club trying to manage its blue line depth while keeping an eye on development, Breazeales latest assignment is another reminder that the back end remains a fluid part of the roster picture. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Have A Goalie Question Fans Will Want To Debate
The Penguins left San Jose with a win, but it was not the kind that settled much beyond the standings. Pittsburgh needed a shootout to get past the Sharks, and the night came with the sort of uneven team effort that tends to sharpen the conversation around the crease. In the middle of it, rookie Sergei Murashov gave the Penguins a performance that stood out enough to make the goaltending picture feel a little less simple than it looked a week ago.
For a club trying to sort out its next steps, those kinds of nights matter. A young goalie can change the tone of a room quickly, especially when the rest of the roster is still searching for consistency, and Pittsburgh now has a fresh debate on its hands about how much weight to give one strong outing. The result helps in the standings, but the bigger question is whether this was just a useful snapshot or the start of something more interesting in net. [Read more 🡒]