For the 60th time, the Pittsburgh Penguins opened the doors to their fans. They were rewarded with an exciting 6-5 overtime win, even if things were dicey for a bit.
For the 21st (and last?) time the Penguins legendary trio were on the ice to welcome the fans to a new season. They remain the longest tenured teammates in major North American sports history and likely to stay that way.
I am enjoying whatever time these three have left together. The 21 years flew by and I’m not ready for it to end.
They weren’t the only legends in the building. In a much welcomed site the big guy himself came out for the ceremonial puck drop. Mario Lemieux had a cold relationship with the Fenway Sports Group. He has been welcomed with open arms by the Hoffman family. It was great to see him out there and it will be nice to see him around the team more often. It just doesn’t feel right without him.
This is the way it should be.
Penguins Lineup decisions
Given the number of NHL caliber forwards the Penguins employ there are going to be decisions along the way people may not like. This was the case last night for me. I did not like the team scratching Ville Koivunen at all.
He signed that eight-year deal that has raised the expectations for him. In the first game of the year he scored a goal and had an xGF% of 89.24. This isn’t the spot I would take him out of the lineup. Let him get his name called during the home opener with his equipment on. Let him try to follow up an objectively positive performance with another one. I really disliked the choice.
I don’t need Connor Dewar in the lineup (more on this in a second). Dewar is a good 4th line player. He is a veteran and a professional. He will be ready to go when his number is called. You can sit him down to prioritize getting a younger and more skilled player on track. Especially one with the commitment you made.
They’ll be a lot of these decisions throughout the season. Dan Muse has more depth options than he knows what to do with. It is a good problem to have.
In-game choices
When Montreal was in the middle of making their successful push to tie the game I thought Coach Muse made some unfortunate choices. He leaned into 4th line players to play meaningful minutes down the stretch. I don’t believe Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar should be the go to players to shut the other team down. I do not like the idea of the players who play the least at 5v5 being trusted to handle crunch time. There is no rule that says you have to roster a “4th line”. It is an ancient mentality.
The Penguins could effectively run four scoring lines with their forward depth and within that depth there are plenty of highly competent options to kill penalties or play defensive shifts late in the game. What about four scoring lines? They have the depth to do so, especially when Bryan Rust is back. Fourth line specialists aren’t needed and we don’t need to pretend like they are anymore.
When the Canadiens star players were tired and on the power play it was Muse, not Martin St. Louis who called timeout. You do not need to call a timeout to rest Blake Lizotte so he can kill more. Use someone else. Let the Canadiens tire out or use their timeout. I really disliked this decision. At 2:54 he called timeout. The Canadiens star players then played another 50 seconds when St. Louis used his timeout. His best players were rested again. A minute later and they scored to pull within one goal. There’s no reason Montreal should have had that many minutes with their preferred players on the ice.
The game didn’t have to play out the way it did at the end. It did because of the decisions made with player deployment.
Sam Girard is looking good
When the Penguins acquired Sam Girard last year I thought it was a good idea to try and bring in a left defender who had the potential to add some more skill to the lineup. Things did not play out that well as Girard never looked comfortable with the Penguins. There was a pretty good reason for this, he had a broken foot. We just learned about the injury this week. This is a big problem.
If all of these sports leagues are going to get into bed with gambling sites you absolutely cannot be allowing teams and players to be hiding broken bones. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. This is highly problematic and the NHL is probably the league guilty of it the most.
So far in 2026-27 Girard looks way more sharp with his skating which has given him time and space to make better plays. Given the depth on the left side of the defense this is a much needed development for the Penguins to be competitive this year.
Girard has as 64.68 xGF% through two games with a goal and two assists.
For his goal last night he activated way down in the zone and made himself available for a nice Sidney Crosby assist
The Penguins are likely to deploy a lot of scissor plays up in the zone which create situations where the defense will get down lower towards the goal. It is more of a total hockey approach and a player like Girard can really benefit from this.
The Penguins aren’t going to be mistaken for a defensive club so they might as well lean into the offensive side of things.
Geno is still a machino
Evgeni Malkin is on pace for 84 goals this season after scoring a goal in each of the Penguins first two games. He is on pace for a 168 point season with his 4 points. He also had the game winning assist to Tommy Novak in overtime last night.
It has been a great start to the season for Malkin. His skating looks good and he looks very engaged. Geno is doing a really nice job on the team’s second power play unit, which is a new role for him to be in.
Evgeni Malkin will very likely finish his career in the top 20 scoring of all time.
It makes me so happy Mr. 101 is one of my absolute favorite players and he is still doing it for the Penguins. I can’t understand people who wanted Malkin to retire this past offseason.
Keep it rolling, Geno.
Penguins host Stuart Skinner and the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow night as they look to start the year a perfect 3-0.
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