The Pittsburgh Penguins had good vibes heading into their slate of weekend games against the Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. The team had won six straight and both of those opponents are beatable, yet neither were defeated. The Penguins finished the weekend with only one goal scored and lost both games.
It was a 2-1 loss to Calgary and a 1-0 loss to the Bruins.
Defensively, they did a nice job. Three goals against in two games is more than acceptable. Offensively, it was quite a letdown.
Poor choice in lines
With Bryan Rust day-to-day with a lower-body injury, it meant that Dan Muse was going to have to shake up his lineup.
On Saturday afternoon, he elected to use Evgeni Malkin as a winger with Ben Kindel and Egor Chinakhov. It paid dividends with Malkin assisting on Chinakhov’s goal, the only goal of the weekend. Today, Muse went with a much different approach with Malkin, and it left me questioning the decision immediately.
On Sunday, Malkin was still playing with Chinakhov, but now he was being centered by Kevin Hayes. Today was Kevin Hayes’ 800th career game, and it was in his hometown. That had to be the beginning and end of the logic for him being in the lineup. However, it doesn’t mean he has to play in a top-six center role. I really disliked the decision, and it effectively neutered two of their more offensive players today in a game where they scored zero goals.
If you want to move Malkin away from Kindel, that is fine. Just move Malkin to center and put Ville Koivunen back into the lineup. There’s no reason for Hayes to be receiving that kind of deployment in 2026. Muse needs to be better here.
With the team struggling to score, it took until the last five minutes of the game for Muse to put Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together at 5v5. By then, the runway was too short, and they weren’t able to make anything of it.
Overall, Dan Muse has done a nice job this season; today wasn’t one of those times.
Skinner settling in
Stuart Skinner had a rocky start to his Penguins career, with his first two starts being .850 and .862. Since then, he has put together four quality starts in a row winning three of them with the lone loss being today’s 1-0 decision against the Bruins. In those four games, he has gone .964, .917, .966, and .944.
Skinner has been in a pressure cooker the past few years as the starting goalie for a Cup contender, going back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. It was clear the pressure was getting to him in Edmonton. In Pittsburgh, things are going to be more low-key, seeing as they are currently retooling the roster, and he doesn’t have the hopes of Canada winning a Cup lurking over his shoulder. The Steel City is a more laid-back environment, and I could see that benefiting him in the future.
Up next for the Penguins will be Jake Guentzel and the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay has won nine straight games. The one thing the Penguins will have going for them is that Tampa will be playing the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night before they head to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Winning either of the two games this weekend would have made a Tampa Bay loss easier to digest. Instead, they will be looking to avoid a three-game losing streak after their six-game winning streak.
****
RIP Bob, thank you for everything.
