Penguins Face Ugly Stretch Without Changes

The Pittsburgh Penguins kicked off their four-game road trip with a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.  There were very few positives to take from the game.  They never looked overly dangerous, their promising young goaltender had a major flub, special teams were bad, and the coaching staff continued to be rigid with their in-game choices.

Chicago hasn’t been a good team this year.  They have struggled to score goals so far in 2026-27.  Prior to last night’s game they averaged exactly 2 goals per game in all-situations and were 1-5 on the year.  Yes, Connor Bedard was previously out injured and returned last night, but this is still a gettable team that isn’t going places this year.

By losing last night the Penguins threw away two points that they would have wanted in the bank, especially when you look at the upcoming schedule.  Things are not about to get easier.

That schedule is @Colorado, @Vegas, @Utah, Florida, Nashville, Utah, @Montreal, Vegas, Boston. Yikes.

We are going to learn a lot about this team in the next three weeks.  This stretch has serious potential to derail the entire season unless they shape up and start to play at an acceptable level more consistently.

Woeful special teams

Last night, the Penguins carried an xGF% of 62.96 at 5v5 last night.  They weren’t being outplayed at even strength.  To my eye, they weren’t all that dangerous offensively, but they weren’t a liability.

Considering they weren’t taking advantage of things at 5v5 they needed to make good use of their power play opportunities.  They absolutely did not.  They looked unprepared for Chicago’s very aggressive in-zone penalty killing strategies.  The first few power plays were listless and accomplished nothing. 

There was a situation where Evgeni Malkin tried to throw a pass up top from the half-wall, and it was easily intercepted.  It wasn’t a good pass.  However, because the Blackhawks were super aggressive, they took his low and high option away, leaving him a risky east-west pass all the way across to the other half-wall.  The kind of pass people get upset with Malkin attempting when it gets picked off.  

Where is the bumper player?  With Chicago overextending themselves to attack, there was a nice soft spot in the middle to use.  Except no Penguin went there.  Whether it was lack of preparation or bad execution, the Penguins weren’t ready to turn the Blackhawks aggressiveness against them.

The later power plays were better.  Pittsburgh adopted a shooting gallery approach, which I liked, based on how Chicago was deploying its killers.  With Chicago extended out it makes net front battles for rebounds and tips way more manageable because there aren’t a ton of defenders collapsed in to support.  The thing with power plays is that you can do some good things and not be tangibly rewarded.  This was the case with the later power plays.  And because Pittsburgh absolutely wasted the earlier attempts, they came up with a goose egg and it likely cost them the game.

The penalty kill has been great this year.  I don’t really want to be too critical about them.  That said, at one point in the game the power play was 0-fer and the PK was 0-1.  The Penguins were effectively at 0% on special teams.  Not a great recipe for success.

Rigid coaching

I’m growing more discontented with the game with the in-game coaching decisions.  They are uninspired and hurting the team.  The most problematic part(s) of the decisions are that they are not merit-based.  We have players who have not earned their time being put in high-leverage situations at the end of the game.  

Rickard Rakell has been a complete passenger this season.  He’s been a very good player in Pittsburgh.  He is not a very good player thus far in 2026-27.  He is being fed first-line minutes, power play, and is out there when the Penguins have an extra attacker.  It needs to stop until he feels like showcasing why he had prior successes.  He looks listless out there.  There is no threat to the other team with how he is playing.  Two points in seven games with his deployment is completely unacceptable.

Egor Chinakhov has had flashes that remind us of why everyone was excited about him last year, but they are few and far between.  They desperately need him to be dynamic and a threat when he’s on the ice.  He too, only has two points through seven games. Perhaps I’m unaware of a Pennsylvania law that states he has to play with Tommy Novak and Evgeni Malkin every game, but if that law doesn’t exist then perhaps try shaking the lines up.  Ben Kindel is already a capable second-line center.  I understand why Coach Muse would want to spread things out, but it isn’t working.  

You have a young player with fresh legs, a great mind, great hands, being intentionally given lesser-quality teammates instead of leaning into him potentially getting some of the other skilled guys going.  I am empathetic to Andrei Kuzmenko’s situation, but he doesn’t have it going at all.  I like Koivunen’s game a lot better this year, but he is a third wheel on a line now, given where he is.  This is what your budding star gets to work with?  Get creative and unlock Kindel’s potential impact on games.

Play Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together at 5v5!

Stop playing Kris Letang over Sam Girard when the goalie is pulled.

Stop keeping the lines the same until the last two minutes in the game when you are trailing.

There is going to have to be some creativity from the coaching staff to get things pulling in the right direction for the upcoming stretch of games.  They cannot keep running it back the way they have.  It will not work.

The team will have a little bit of time to breathe before they head to Denver on Friday to take on the Avalanche.  Here’s hoping they can shore up some of these issues or it could get ugly.