RSS Penguins Team Notes

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/29/25

Who: Toronto Maple Leafs (10-11-3, 23 points, 7th place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (12-6-5, 29 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh and TVAS, nationally on NHL Network

Pens’ Path Ahead: This busy stretch for the Pens continues with a three-game road trip next week, starting Monday in Philadelphia and continuing Thursday in Tampa Bay and next Sunday in Dallas.

Opponent Track: The Maple Leafs, like the Pens, are also heading into this game on the wrong end of a back-to-back. Last night the Leafs suffered a 4-2 loss after blowing a two-goal lead over the Washington Capitals.

Season Series: The Pens conceded a 4-3 regulation loss back on Nov. 3 after giving up four unanswered goals in one of the team’s worst third periods of the season in Toronto. These two clubs meet for a final time this season on Nov. 23 in Toronto.

Hidden Stat: The Pens have yet to win in the second half of a back-to-back this season, currently claiming a 0-1-2 record in games with no days rest. The Leafs are 2-2-0 in the same situation.

Hidden Stat II: The Leafs haven’t won in regulation since Nov. 5. They’re 2-6-2, with two overtime wins, in their last ten games.

Getting to know the Maple Leafs​

Projected lines (from Friday’s game)

FORWARDS

Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Nicholas Robertson

Easton Cowan – John Tavares – Bobby McMann

Matias Macelli – Nicolas Roy – Dakota Joshua

Steven Lorentz – Scott Laughton – Calle Jarnkrok

DEFENSEMEN

Morgan Rielly – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe

Dakota Mermis – Troy Stecher

Goalies: Joseph Woll, Dennis Hildeby

Potential scratches: William Nylander (illness), Max Domi (more on that below)

Injured Reserve: Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo

Matias Macelli and Dakota Joshua are among the Leafs starters who have been benched recently. Add to that list Max Domi, who was held out of Friday’s matchup with the Washington Capitals in the first healthy scratch of his Leafs career.

Head coach Craig Berube said Thursday that Domi needs to “get engaged more in the game,” per The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke.

“He’s got to get dirty down low in the offensive zone, win battles and get more engaged that way and get to the inside of the ice more,” Berube said, per Kloke. “That’s what I see. And when he’s skating and moving, he’s an effective player. But it’s too inconsistent.”

That’s been a problem for the Leafs as a whole so far this season. It was visible again during the team’s 4-2 loss to the Caps on Friday night, when Matthew Knies scored twice to give his team an early lead before Toronto allowed four unanswered goals.

That Ovi-Beauvi connection checking in pic.twitter.com/onqs76NO8y

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 29, 2025

• William Nylander missed Friday’s matchup with the Capitals due to illness. Berube said he would “hopefully” be available to play against the Penguins. The Leafs have been trying out a five-forward power play, but if Nylander remains sidelined the Pens are likely to face a more typical unit quarterbacked by Morgan Reilly tonight.

• The Leafs at least have Auston Matthews, Knies and Nicholas Roy, all of whom have recently missed time due to various injuries, back in the lineup. Most important among those returnees is Matthews, although the three-time Rocket Richard winner is well behind his usual scoring pace with nine goals in his first 19 games.

Auston Matthews dodges Ovi and finds Matthew Knies in the slot to extend the Leafs' lead pic.twitter.com/EkcYpbWKkv

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 28, 2025

Season stats
via hockeydb (excludes Friday’s game)

• Woll made 30 saves on 33 shots from the Caps on Friday night. Should Hildeby get the nod, he’d be looking for his first win of the season. The team has so far gone 0-4-1 with their backup in net.
• Macelli, one of the players Berube has been scratching this season, visibly struggled with turnovers Friday night and could be a candidate for another scratch should the Leafs coach shake up his lineup again in Pittsburgh.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Kevin Hayes – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Danton Heinen – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Joona Koppanen – Blake Lizotte – Connor Dewar

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment) Tristan Broz

IR: Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari

• The Pens slotted in Kevin Hayes alongside Sidney Crosby and slid Tommy Novak in alongside Evgeni Malkin against the Blue Jackets. That left Connor Dewar to bump back down to the fourth line, and Tristan Broz was moved out of the lineup following his Wednesday NHL debut.
• Jarry started Friday night against the Blue Jackets, so it could be up to Arturs Silovs to take on the Leafs tonight.
• Bryan Rust appeared to be in pain, and briefly left the ice, during the second period of Friday’s game. He returned and scored to help the Pens come back from an early deficit, but his status is worth keeping an eye on today.
• Kris Letang made NHL history for more than one reason during the Pens’ 4-3 overtime comeback win against the Blue Jackets on Friday night in Columbus.

Sidney Crosby Kris Letang

The long-time @penguins teammates combined on the same goal for the 310th time tonight. The only forward-defenseman duo to combine on more goals in NHL history is Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey (350). pic.twitter.com/zbsQ96D9Qo

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 29, 2025

Most OT points all-time:

Sidney Crosby – 48
Evgeni Malkin – 46
Connor McDavid – 46
Leon Draisaitl – 45
Patrick Kane – 43
Erik Karlsson – 41
Patrick Kane – 41
John Tavares – 39
Kris Letang – 37

We have the top-2 players AND defensemen in OT points
pic.twitter.com/sNFCUW7Cqv

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 29, 2025

• The Pens will hope Letang’s extra-time goal is a sign this team has turned a corner in terms of competitiveness. Last night’s win marked the first time the Penguins have overcome a multi-goal deficit in the third period since April 2, 2024, per NHL PR.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/6...onto-maple-leafs-pittsburgh-penguins-11-29-25

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Toronto Recap: Welp, that one got away. Leafs roll in Pittsburgh

Pregame​

The Penguins use the same skaters from last night and flip goalies, Arturs Silovs is up.

Tonight's lineup.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/7avmaSqOcY

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 29, 2025

The visiting Maple Leafs bring this lineup and a ton of fans to Pittsburgh for this game.

Tonight’s Lineup@Molson_Canadian | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/RTwO7Mgw1S

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

First period​

Toronto strikes first, a bad bounce for the Penguins works out for Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who regains control of the puck and fires it home on their first shot 6:46 into the game. 1-0.

(O)h (E)xtra (L)ovely@OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/YiLjnas3J6

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

Pittsburgh gets the first power play of the night and the first power play goal soon after. Ben Kindel nets his sixth goal of the season on a pretty baseball swing out of mid-air.

A PPG for PGH from the rookie pic.twitter.com/pSiMQvnI7f

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 30, 2025

The Leafs get the lead back quickly, nice passing play from William Nylander to Easton Cowan for the quick shot, and a lot of black jerseys lost in place or just standing around watching. 2-1.

Not everyone can pull off the Cowboy Style @OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/LwocaZ1Tp9

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

Pittsburgh gets another power play but can’t score. Sidney Crosby got a few good looks and was pushing but couldn’t quite get it there.

Ekman-Larsson continues his good period by feeling Connor Dewar’s stick on him and clamping down on it to draw a power play for Toronto. They are unable to score on it.

Shots are 10-7 PIT in the opening period. Goalie Dennis Hildeby did a good job for the visitors.

Second period​

Toronto keeps pushing and widens their lead early in the second. Bobby McMann is there to tip in a Morgan Rielly effort a little in the sequence after the nightly Ryan Graves costly bumble. 3-1.

Mann, what a tip!@OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/6WSZlF6bRr

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

The Maple Leafs then go on to end Arturs Silovs night very early. Dakota Joshua makes a turning low shot that Silovs is beaten by. Tristan Jarry is put into the game, Silovs takes out his frustrations by slamming his stick in the hallway leading back to the room. 4-1 TML.

Spin it DJ! pic.twitter.com/WspxWKl63j

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

The hits keep coming for the Pens, Parker Wotherspoon gets a penalty called on himself for ripping the helmet off an opponent in a scrum. Jarry makes a few saves until Max Domi makes a pass from behind the net for Nic Roy to add on another. 5-1.

11 + 55, carry the 1, blah, blah

5-1@OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/fRZOXzGBkE

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

The bottom dropped out that period, Toronto in coast mode gave up some offensive zone time to the Pens later on, resulting in a 10-8 shot advantage for Pittsburgh. The Leafs got the only goals of the period, three of them to take the game out of competitive territory.

Third period​

The Pens get one back 4:37 into the period. Hayes gets the puck down low to Sidney Crosby, and the captain is able to swipe his 16th goal of the season from in close. 5-2 game.

With his goal tonight, Sidney Crosby surpassed Dave Andreychuk for the 15th-most goals in @NHL history. pic.twitter.com/9r7xDPAYxg

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 30, 2025

Any faint hopes of another third comeback for the Pens disappears quickly. Hildeby makes a great save on Evgeni Malkin and a few minutes later Auston Matthews curls the puck in to change the angle and showcases his wicked release to set the score at 6-2.

AUSTON. MATTHEWS.@OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/GPX6D68850

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

Nic Robertson adds another, sure why not. 7-2.

Steal n' score @OREO | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/Pdk90Em6TF

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 30, 2025

Evgeni Malkin steps into Scott Laughton, they come together after the whistle for some punches and anger, both taking penalties, otherwise the game slips away to 0:00 without any further excitement.

Some thoughts​

• Not the first time there’s been a strong showing of Toronto fans at a Penguin game, this one felt even more than normal. The Bills playing in town tomorrow provided a number of reasons to make a trip down.
• It’s debatable if he’s even doing anything wrong but it sure is annoying to see Kevin Hayes coasting around on both first period goals against. And it’s not for a lack of intention and effort, just that he shouldn’t be on the top line playing tough competition. The Crosby-Rust line has been poor defensively for years, it sure isn’t going to be any better with a non-entity like Hayes out there with them.
• He’s not the only one. Anthony Mantha hasn’t scored a goal in 20 days and has three points in 12 games in November. The only time Mantha was noticeable all night was when Evgeni Malkin put a puck on Mantha’s stick right in front of the net. It rolled off harmlessly. It happens sometimes, it happens too much to Mantha these days.
• Kindel scoring out of mid-air was a reminder of how skilled and talented are players have become. It’s similar to defenders knocking pucks that are attempted dump ins out of mid-air. 15-20 years ago only a few players could score out of mid-air and Nicklas Lidstrom was about the only player to consistently be able to knock it down defensively. Now it’s common place. Of course, you won’t see the Hayes/Mantha types doing that across the board but it’s barely notable compared to what it was. Kinda like how it’s (somewhat jokingly) said that 40-50 years ago some players could barely skate backwards, the evolution of the game is constant like that.
• Silovs wasn’t great on that last goal and the 4 goals on 14 shot line will look bad on paper but I wasn’t too down on his game. Couldn’t keep the puck out of the net, always a problem, not a ton he could have been expected to do differently to me. Bad bounces, deflections in front, turnovers in bad spots; tough night for a goalie. It is the second straight game that Silovs has been pulled, after starting out so strong to begin this season, the figurative bloom is starting to come off the rose there for one reason or another as of late.
• If you’re looking for a silver lining, Crosby recorded two points and passed the home point total of Mario Lemieux. The current captain is now down to single digits (1714 to 1723) to tying Lemieux’s overall point total. Crosby’s goal stood as the 641st of his career, clearing Dave Andreychuk for 15th all-time.

The Pens will hit the road and meet their rivals in Philadelphia on Monday night for their next game. They’ll do best to forget this one happened, or better yet make some badly needed adjustments where they can and move on.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...lp-that-one-got-away-leafs-roll-in-pittsburgh

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Sunday Standings: The Thanksgiving playoff indicator going to be tested this year

There’s a trope in the NHL about the standings at Thanksgiving being a reliable indicator for the playoffs. Since 2013-14, 77% of teams in playoff position on Turkey Day have ended up qualifying for the playoffs. It’s not always an absolute, four teams last year fell out, but it is something. Here’s a graphic of how the standings were looking on Thursday.

Here's the #NHL standings at Thanksgiving

Who makes the playoffs?#HappyThanksgiving2025 pic.twitter.com/pY0dGDgFlO

— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) November 27, 2025

The good news for the Penguins: they were in a playoff spot on Thursday. The bad news: they were also four points above being 15th in the conference and last in their division at that point. That goes for more than just Pittsburgh, the whole East was only separated by nine points from first to 16th. Of all years, the teams have been tightly packed to this point, which could render the Thanksgiving marker all but meaningless.

Rather than being a playoff predictor, Thanksgiving could be seen more as an eliminator. At this point only Buffalo (for the East) looks in trouble. The rest are picking up enough overtime points to at least maintain various levels of hope and relevancy into December.

Rolling forward, it will be interesting to check back in around Christmas or New Years to see how the standings are developing. By then the season will be nearing 50% complete and some distance might start to develop.

Fast forwarding ahead from Thursday, here’s the Metropolitan Division today:

The Penguins were potentially a quiet 20 minutes away on Friday night when losing 3-1 to Columbus from being in last place this morning had that comeback failed (which would have resulted in 27 points for them and 28 for CBJ). Pittsburgh does have a game in hand, but still that’s how close things are at the moment and a good example of why the Thanksgiving marker means less than ever for the East, considering they could (and nearly did) go from a playoff spot on Thursday to last place a few hours later on Saturday night.

It also shows the importance of the divisional games, of which the Pens only have one in the next four weeks, a matchup tomorrow night against the suddenly surging Flyers. That game is one a team really needs to strive to win (or at least a “must get to overtime”, even though that doesn’t flow as nicely) given the tightness of the standings.

It’s not just close, it’s competitive. Every team in the division has more points than games played, putting them all on pace for 82+ points at this point of the season. It’s been like pulling teeth for some of those teams towards the bottom to get there, but by God they’re in that position for now at least.

How long will it keep going? That will be the interesting question that everyone will be wondering. Injuries will mount and could become a factor as the grind continues. This week saw Kyle Palmieri of the Islanders go down with a torn ACL and the Rangers might have a developing situation after Adam Fox got injured yesterday depending on the severity on if it was as bad as it looked. Injuries to players like Rickard Rakell and Justin Brazeau are a big reason the Pens have retreated back into the pack in the first place. Washington has some issues down the middle with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nic Dowd on IR, though they’ve been managing that well in the last week with three straight wins.

Usually by Thanksgiving and having about 30% of the results in the picture is developing enough that teams off to great starts can already see a good ending point. That won’t be the case this year with how competitive and close the outlook is, things could go right down to the wire with teams jockeying for position over the course of the whole year. For better or worse, that’s the intended magic of the NHL’s scoring system and the preponderance of overtime games these days where teams try to stay close and at least earn a point by staying tied through 60 minutes.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/6...layoff-indicator-going-to-be-tested-this-year

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

The week ahead: Big challenges ahead for Penguins

This is going to be a challenging week for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it might not be the best timing for it.

Injuries to the forward group have taken their toll.

The shine has worn off from Arturs Silovs strong start in net, which could be bringing an end to the goalie rotation.

The Penguins are still in a solid position in the standings, but the Eastern Conference is so bunched up that one day of games can bring major changes to the playoff field. The Penguins have also won just four of their previous 12 games, going 4-5-3 over that stretch. At times they have played significant stretches of games where it should have been good enough to win. At other times they have just been significantly outplayed.

It is not going to get any easier this week with a three-game road trip that is going to take them to the Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning.

This might be the toughest stretch of games they have faced all season.

It starts on Monday with their second-meeting of the season with the Flyers. The first meeting back in October ended in a shootout loss, which is where we really first started to learn their limitations in that event. The Flyers are kind of a weird team right now. They have put together a three-game winning streak coming into the week and have a very solid 14-7-3 record. They defend well. Goaltending has been strong. But their offense is not particularly good. They also have just seven regulation wins in their first 24 games. There are five other teams with exactly seven regulation wins, and six teams that have six regulation wins. That is the bottom of the list in the NHL standings.

By comparison, only four teams in the NHL have more regulation wins than the Penguins 11 regulation wins.

While Pittsburgh has struggled in overtime and the shootout, going 1-5 in games decided beyond regulation, and 0-3 in shootouts, Philadelphia has excelled in those games going 7-3 in games decided beyond regulation and 5-0 in shootouts. That is the difference in the standings, and why losing (or gaining) those extra points is so important when the margins are so thin.

Win the game in regulation.

After playing in Philadelphia the Penguins are going to get probably their two toughest games of the season with Dallas and Tampa Bay.

The Stars, having appeared in three consecutive Western Conference Finals, entered the season as one of the best teams in hockey and have done nothing so far to make anybody think otherwise. They are also entering the week on a roll going 11-2-1 over their previous 14 games. They have three of the top-16 scorers in the NHL in Jason Robertson, Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston, a legitimate No. 1 defenseman in Miro Heiskanen and strong goaltending. They do everything well and have top-tier talent all over their lineup.

The Penguins have not really played any of the league’s truly top teams this season.

This is going to be their first real test and a real measuring stick game.

The only real advantage the Penguins might have in that game is the fact Dallas has a busy week and will be playing its fourth game in six days during the week. Maybe some fatigue sets in for them.

They follow that game in Dallas with a trip to Tampa Bay to play a Lightning team that has quickly shaken off a slow start. After winning just one of their first seven games, the Lightning have gone 15-3-0 since. There are some depth concerns, but the elite players at the top of the lineup are still very much elite.

The Penguins have recently played relatively well against the Lightning (well, up until the 2024-25 season when Tampa Bay swept the season series) so maybe the matchup is still there. It is going to be a challenge either way.

Until the Penguins get players like Rickard Rakell, Justin Brazeau, and even Filip Hallander back, and until Rutger McGroarty (which should happen on Monday) makes his season debut, they are going to have to find ways to scratch and claw out wins and points. They have mostly still done that to some degree over the past couple of weeks. It is not going to be easy this week with these opponents.

On paper anything more than two points this week should be seen as a successful week. Let us see what they do with it.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/69701/the-week-ahead-big-challenges-ahead-for-penguins

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Gamethread: Penguins @ Flyers

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-open-threads/69432/gamethread-penguins-flyers

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguin Prospect Update: early December 2025

The Penguins have a ton of prospects playing far and wide outside of the organization. We’re tracking their progress intermittently, here’s the biggest stories and notes to know around the next wave of young players.

Horcoff going supernova​

Will Horcoff is tearing up the NCAA in an epic way right now.

Will Horcoff is the most dangerous player in college hockey right now!

18GP
18G (#1 NCAA)
8A
26PTS (#1 NCAA)

The Penguins’ 2025 24th-overall pick is a serial scorer — elite positioning, lethal instincts, and dangerous every single shift.

Pens fans… buckle up. pic.twitter.com/K2ekc5ZaPv

— Pens Prospects (@pensprospects_) November 30, 2025

A four-goal, five-point weekend against Harvard has put Horcoff at the top of the scoring list in the NCAA and in the spotlight of the biggest hockey podcast in the world.

Will Horcoff is going to make SO much money in the NHL pic.twitter.com/uy5v0xwhpZ

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) December 1, 2025

We’ve said it since summer and in every recap since, Horcoff’s game is simple but effective. He gets to the front of the net and he has the hands and that little extra touch to finish. His effectiveness is off the charts these days, like clockwork he will get to a great scoring position, get the puck and put it in. Don’t take our word for it, here are a few recent highlights to drive the point home. Horcoff is more than just a goal vulture in a derogatory sense, he’s just so lethal in the danger areas.

Who else but Will Horcoff?! pic.twitter.com/GHuElr30Xe

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 30, 2025

Horcoff unleashed pic.twitter.com/vvEB6xzENm

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 23, 2025

Horcoff called game! pic.twitter.com/1bMvJTBVhV

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 30, 2025

Will Horcoff from Nick Moldenhauer and it's 2-0 BLUE!

Catch the game on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/qzNJWlvfLL

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 29, 2025

Unsurprisingly after this onslaught of production this season (18 goals and 26 points in 18 games), Horcoff has made Team USA’s preliminary roster for the upcoming World Junior Championships. He’ll be doing a lot more than that, The Athletic recently projected him to be one the second line.

If it weren’t for Ben Kindel breaking the mold for draft+1 players outside of the top 10, Horcoff’s super-charged development would be the top story for the organization. There’s still a long way to go, and it’ll be interesting to see how Horcoff fares in the WJC’s against the elite under-20 players in his age group. At this point, if the trajectory keeps pointing straight up, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities to sign him when Michigan’s season ends and see NHL time at the tail end of this year. That would be a big leap to get to where a lot has to keep going as well as it has been, but the possibility for another fast-tracked forward is going to gain more steam with every goal that Horcoff punches in.

Ryan Miller’s streak continues​

Ryan Miller, a fifth round pick in 2025, is up to points in 19 straight games in the WHL. Jesse Marshall has a great video breakdown of Miller’s play — which is a lot more than just the gaudy and consistent point production.

NEW: 2025 5th round pick Ryan Miller has extended his point streak to 19 games. 17 of his 26 points during that time have been primary. He isn't a passenger, he's driving play. A 15-minute tape of his best work over this run. This is a pro-style player.https://t.co/b5XpVxoqQ5 pic.twitter.com/Cee7mVVQXG

— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) December 1, 2025

Some other recent mid/late round picks like Jordan Charron and Kale Dach have been doing well producing goals and points in juniors this year, but Miller has been the headline story for the Pens’ Canadian junior prospects so far with his incredible streak. Assuming that Kindel stays in the NHL in 2026-27, could Miller be the Pittsburgh 19-year old player to be sent to the AHL next season? They have some choices between Bill Zonnon, Peyton Kettles, Charron, Dach and Quinn Beauchesne, but arguably Miller is positioning himself at the front right now for a player showing readiness to take the next step up the ranks early.

Lucius staying hot​

The 21-year old senior acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade is having a great season for Arizona State. Lucius has a team-high 10 goals and his 20 points rank second. This OT goal shows the skills, he’s continuing to make good things happen and put together a strong case to be signed this spring by the Pens.

The beauty of a breakaway pic.twitter.com/92AweOTH17

— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) November 29, 2025

Cullen Potter gets the boys right back in it pic.twitter.com/aQK8Gy3j5z

— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) November 16, 2025

Fernstrom’s chance?​

After winning the SHL’s rookie of the year award last year, it’s been a year to forget for Melvin Fernstrom. His boxcar stats are basically non-existent (2G+0A in 24 games). The good news is he scored a goal for Sweden in a 5-1 loss to Finland in a WJC tune up. Hopefully Fernstrom can use World Juniors to show his stuff and gain some confidence after what’s been a trying and limited season-to-date so far.

Plante leading NCAA in assists​

I’ve admittedly been sleeping on Zam Plante (5th round pick back from 2022) but the 21-year old sophomore is first in the NCAA with 17 assists in 16 games for Minnesota-Duluth.

Plante power play goal x2!! pic.twitter.com/qXJvpWxEsJ

— UMD Men's Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) November 22, 2025

Right now it looks like a lot of the magic is coming from playing with his brother, Max, a second round pick of Detroit in 2024. Zam is an older collegiate player but clearly has some chops and playmaking ability. It’ll be interesting to see how far he can go, certainly this strong season has to have increased his stock and put him on the pro radar moving forward.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/pittsburg...0/penguin-prospect-update-early-december-2025

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Sidney Crosby is closing in on Mario Lemieux’s all-time Penguins scoring record

Sidney Crosby is starting to close in on Mario Lemieux’s all-time Penguins scoring record.

With two goals on Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, Crosby now sits just seven points behind Lemieux for the most regular season points in Penguins history and 8th most in NHL history.

Crosby currently has 1,716 points, most among all active NHL players.

Alex Ovechkin is the second leading active NHL scorer with 1,648 points.

With seven more points, Crosby will tie Lemieux for 8th all-time on the NHL’s scoring list.

Lemieux’s 1,723 points came in just 915 games played, while Crosby has played just over 1,375 games in his career.

Once Crosby passes Lemieux, he’ll be another 32 points shy of Steve Yzerman for 7th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, an achievement he’ll likely reach this season, assuming Crosby stays healthy.

The Penguins will get back underway on Thursday night when they travel to Tampa to face the Lightning.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/6...rio-lemieuxs-all-time-penguins-scoring-record

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Wilkes Weekly: Tomasino latest in long line of admirable attitudes from veterans

It’s a testament to the professionalism and drive of players like Danton Heinen, Ryan Graves and Philip Tomasino that AHL assignments have been used as positive fuel instead of becoming a drag both individually and for the team and organization at large. It’s not an easy situation when an NHL player making NHL bucks gets waived, goes unclaimed and then finds themselves riding buses and eating sandwiches instead of flying private and having gourmet meals. At a certain level, no one expects to have to take a step back to the minor leagues, yet almost everyone from Pittsburgh who has hit a bump in the road and been sent down has handled it like a champ and become a positive force in the AHL instead of slouching away.

That isn’t always the case or something to be taken for granted, there are plenty of stories about discord and grumpiness infiltrating an AHL lockerroom courtesy of a veteran player who doesn’t feel they should be there (including some strife last year with Edmonton/Bakersfield).

To everyone’s credit in this situation, it’s been handled incredibly well, even dating back to last year with Tristan Jarry being kicked down a level and working his way back up. There’s enough proof of concept that Pittsburgh is not closing the door on these veterans, they all have put in the work and received additional NHL opportunities. Will Tomasino be the next to follow that path? That’s too early to answer even though initial results are encouraging with Tomasino scoring six points (1G+5A) in his first three games in Wilkes.

Phil Tomasino eager to do whatever it takes to become an all-situations player for #WBSPens since being reassigned by #Pens last week.

He's playing at center in the AHL, something he grew up doing but hasn't experienced much at the pro level.

My latesthttps://t.co/rWBTG9jnCm

— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) December 1, 2025

There’s also some good handling and placement by coach Kirk MacDonald, who is using Tomasino as a center and putting him in a spot to succeed with the top players on the team; that’s a very similar piece of usage to what Heinen received earlier in the year. There’s something wonderful about the simplicity of being able to plug the best players in together, free from positional restraints.

When it comes to minor league hockey, you can always expect the unexpected when it comes to players coming and going with frequency. Luckily for the whole Pens organization, it looks like they have a group of people from top to bottom that are committed to do their best and make the most of whatever situation that they may find themselves in, it’s hard to ask for more than that.

Getting to last week’s results, Wilkes went 2-1-0. They started off strong then had the rare dud of a game in a 6-2 blowout loss to Hershey. Here is Nick Hart’s weekly recap of the action from WBSPenguins.com:

Wednesday, Nov. 26 – PENGUINS 6 at Hershey 3
Phil Tomasino made a meteoric impression in his Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton debut, piling up a three-point Gordie Howe hat trick for the Pens to defeat the Bears in their first meeting of the season. Tomasino’s linemates, Avery Hayes (2G) and Rutger McGroarty (1G-2A) also tore up the scoresheet. Boko Imama started the six-goal output with a first-period penalty shot goal.

Friday, Nov. 28 – PENGUINS 4 vs. Lehigh Valley 1
Sergei Murashov posted 31 saves in his return from the NHL as the Penguins secured their third 4-1 victory over the Phantoms this season. Gabe Klassen tallied his first goal of the season, and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored twice. McGroarty buried a man-advantage marker, his fourth-straight game with a goal.

Saturday, Nov. 29 – PENGUINS 2 at Hershey 6
Hershey got sweet revenge after its Thanksgiving Eve defeat, putting a six-spot on its I-81 rival. Jack St. Ivany found the back of the net for his first goal of the year. Klassen later scored for his second strike in as many days.

19-year old Harrison Brunicke is three-games into a 14-day rehab stint, playing his first hockey since an NHL game on November 3rd. Brunicke has had some up and down moments, drawing heat on positioning defensively in the same game that he made a great pass for a goal by Gabe Klassen against Hershey. Brunicke has been playing on the second pair with veteran defender Alex Alexeyev. Brunicke is able to play the next two AHL games this weekend, based on his mandated timeline before his rehab stint ends and he must return to Pittsburgh. Brunicke has two assists in three games with WBS.

The other defender who went down on a rehab stint at the same time as Brunicke, Jack St. Ivany, has hit the ground running with a point (1G+2A) in all three games of his season so far. The NHL Penguins have more bodies than quality on their defense, it might be interesting to see if St. Ivany can work his way back into the picture of the big league.

The roster movement of the last week was mostly a positive from the WBS perspective: the team did lose Rutger McGroarty to Pittsburgh, though of course they knew that would happen before long, and the AHL team received reinforcements in the form of Heinen, Sam Poulin and Tristan Broz all returning to Wilkes. That’s a big talent infusion and since Pittsburgh has a few more players (Rickard Rakell, Noel Acciari, Justin Brazeau) who are somewhat nearing a return, WBS could be bolstered still by getting back quality AHL players in the near future.

WBS has dropped to second place in the division, courtesy of Providence’s three game winning streak. The Penguins are still very well-positioned in the standings with a strong .738 points percentage.

It’s a fairly light week with only two games on the schedule; the Pens host Lehigh Valley on Friday followed up what will be another big time matchup against the Bears on Saturday night where the Pens will look for some payback following last game’s blowout loss.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/wbs-weekl...ong-line-of-admirable-attitudes-from-veterans

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Ville Koivunen just needs a goal

Ville Koivunen is one of the Pittsburgh Penguins most talented young players and will hopefully be a long-term part of their future. In his brief time in the organization he has been a dynamic scorer at the AHL level, but has not yet been able to turn that into results or production in the NHL.

Entering Thursday’s game at the Tampa Bay Lightning, he has played in 23 NHL games over the past two seasons and is still stuck on zero goals. At this point it is starting to get a little comical. At least, it might be comical if it were not so frustrating.

It is not for a lack of good opportunities or a lack of chances. Especially this season, and especially over the past few games.

He has spent most of his time in the NHL playing on a line alongside rookie center Ben Kindel, and that duo has mostly produced strong underlying numbers and been a great possession-driving line for the Penguins. In fact, it has consistently been their best possession-driving line.

In 86 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time together, the Penguins have a 67 percent expected goals share, a 68 percent scoring chance share and 66 percent high-danger scoring chance share when that duo is on the ice. On an individual level, both players are among the Penguins’ best players in terms of driving possession, expected goals and scoring chances. Territorially, they are among the Penguins’ most effective players. There is a lot to be said for that. It matters. It adds up.

It just has not yet consistently translated into actual goals.

The hope is, that it will.

On Monday, the Penguins added another young forward to that duo when winger Rutger McGroarty made his season debut and helped form “The Kid Line.” It was only one game, but it was encouraging to watch. They were constantly creating chances, were constantly in good positions to score and spent the entire game causing chaos in the Philadelphia end of the ice.

It is a line worth keeping together and giving a serious run to see what they can do. McGroarty’s size and finishing ability might be a great addition to that line to help complement Koivunen’s playmaking and passing and Kindel’s all-around two-way play.

It might also hopefully help Koivunen actually get his first goal, because my goodness does this guy need a goal.

For his sake. For the the fan’s sake. For the team’s sake. Just to give everybody a sense of relief and belief that he can and will be a productive player.

He has not been without his chances this season. There have been a few instances where he’s had Grade-A looks and been robbed by great goaltending. He has had several great looks in recent games, only to have his shots get blocked or deflected at that last split second. Late in Monday’s game he caused a turnover in the defensive zone and led a two-on-one rush the other wide, was in a great scoring position, and then simply pulled a Charlie Conway and badly fanned on his shot attempt. It was a rough watch.

I do not think he is a bad player.

I think a lot of it points to a player that is fighting it right now and losing every once of confidence he might have in terms of shooting the puck.

I do not want to try and be a body language expert here, but on some of these recent misses you can see an obvious sense of frustration from him before he heads to the bench. I’ve seen his stick hit the glass on more than one occasion. You might be able to attribute some of those blocked shot attempts to him taking an extra split second to try and get his shot off and perfectly place it.

This seems like the type of situation where if he gets one goal, he might open the floodgates and get a couple of them.

Even if he does reach his full potential he still seems like the type of player that will be more of a play-maker and play-driver than an elite finisher, so big goal numbers may not be in his future anyway.

There still has to be some sort of goal-scoring to his game.

Having said that, I am not yet totally discouraged by the goal drought to start his career, because it is not totally unheard of.

After digging around with the Hockey-Reference StatHead database, I found that since the start of the 2005-06 season there have been 114 forwards that opened their NHL careers by going at least 23 games without scoring a single goal. While that list is mostly made up of players that never amounted to much, and also an extensive list of face-punchers, there are also a nice selection of players that turned into outstanding NHL contributors.

Rickard Rakell is on that list.

David Krejci is on that list.

Brad Marchand is on that list.

Josh Bailey is on that list.

Andrew Mangiapane is on that list.

Rich Peverley put together a strong career for himself as a middle-six forward before health issues ended his career. He is on that list.

Heck, even Tommy Novak is on that list, and for as frustrating as he can be, he is still a legitimate NHL player that has shown 15-20 goal ability.

There is even an extensive list of players like Darren Helm, Johan Larsson and Freddy Gaudreau that maybe did not become top-line players, but still put together extensive careers for themselves as role players.

Koivunen’s skillset and playing style does not really lend itself to the latter group, but the point here is it is not totally unheard of for a young player to struggle offensively early in their career. Not everybody steps right into the NHL and puts up numbers. There is usually some sort of process and growing pains to it.

Even though the goals and point production have not yet been there for Koivunen there is still a lot to like about his game. He is not a negative or a liability when he is on the ice, and there is definitely plenty of skill and vision here. He just needs something tangible to build on. The chances are still there. The talent around him is there. Just get him a goal and see what happens.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/69813/ville-koivunen-just-needs-a-goal

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Crosby chases more history

Here are your Pens Points for this Wednesday morning…​

ICYMI: Sidney Crosby continues to climb all-time leaderboards and is fewer than 10 points away from toppling one held by franchise giant Mario Lemieux. With two goals on Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, Crosby now sits just seven points behind Lemieux for the most regular-season points in Penguins history and eighth most in NHL history. [PensBurgh]

Penguins prospect Will Horcoff, the No. 24 overall selection in June’s entry-level draft, cannot stop scoring goals for the Michigan Wolverines. Through 18 games, he leads the NCAA with 18 goals and, as of Tuesday afternoon, is in a four-way tie for the overall scoring lead nationwide with 26 points. [Trib Live]

News and notes from around the NHL…​

The NHL is reminding teams that it is against league rules to take warmups without helmets, saying helmets are mandatory for “all players who entered the NHL beginning with the 2019-2020 season or later,” per Rule 9.6. [ESPN]

It’s been a race against time to see whether the Olympic ice rink for the 2026 tournament in Milan will even be finished, but now, Team Canada assistant coach Pete DeBoer is saying the rink itself may be smaller than a standard NHL rink. [Sportsnet]

St. Louis Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko is considered week-to-week after sustaining burns to his legs as part of a home accident, the team said. [Associated Press]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/6980...y-horcoff-nhl-olympics-2026-toropchenko-blues

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Time to end the goalie rotation and let Tristan Jarry take the net

There are a lot of surprising developments about the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins, but the most surprising of them all, and perhaps the most impactful of them all, is the resurgence of starting goalie Tristan Jarry. He enters play on Thursday with an 8-2-1 record and .911 save percentage in his first 11 appearances and has been a big reason the Penguins have won some of their recent games. He’s been good. Really good. He has also been good enough that it is time to end the goalie rotation the Penguins have been leaning on for much of the season.

The goalie rotation was a good idea at the start, and it mostly accomplished its goal of giving everybody playing time and seeing what they can do.

But it only made sense until somebody started to stake a claim to the position and outperform the other.

That is starting to happen.

While Jarry’s play has improved, the play of Arturs Silovs has steadily regressed from his strong start to the season.

The Penguins should not give up on Silovs. He is still an intriguing player to have on the roster and young enough that he could still be a part of the team for a few years. But in the short-term the Penguins’ situation has changed due to their strong start. The playoffs are not only a reasonable goal at this point, they are very much in play and attainable. As the play of the team changes, so do the expectations around it. The Penguins are now in a position where they can not let points slip away.

That means it is time to start riding the hot hand in net, and that hot hand currently belongs to Jarry.

It is as much about his own play as it is about Silovs’ play.

While Jarry has been mostly solid since returning from injury, Silovs has been pulled in each of his past two starts and allowed eight goals on 20 shots in the process. He also just hasn’t looked all that good even when he is stopping the puck.

The catch here, unfortunately, is there really is not any secret or great unknown about what Jarry is as a goalie. For as much as he has struggled at times in his career, he has also put together extensive stretches of play where he has been really good and looked like a quality starting goalie. He does, after all, have two All-Star Game appearances on his resume. This is not new. We have seen this before. The problem has always been the way he wears down later in seasons and becomes more unreliable the more he plays.

That was one of the intriguing things about the goalie rotation early on. Could limiting his usage and playing time and workload lead to a stronger second half performance? Perhaps.

But the rotation only works if both goalies are giving you at least passable play. And over the past week or two only one of them has.

The Penguins also have a lot of incentive for wanting Jarry to perform well and show he can still be a starting goalie. Not only because it could help them get back into the playoffs, but also because they are still a team that has at least somewhat of an eye on the future and would probably like to shed that contract. The better he plays, the more likely they can find a trade partner. That might be later this season if the team regresses and slips out of playoff contention, or even potentially after the season if he helps guide them to a playoff spot.

Sergei Murashov is still the long-term hope, and there is going to come a time where he is going to need more playing time at the NHL level. It might not be this season, but certainly at some point in the not-too-distant future. Jarry is simply not the long-term answer.

He is, however, their best option in the short-term. Silovs should still get his starts, but they should come as part of 70-30, or even 65-35, split instead of a straight 50-50 rotation. The rotation accomplished its goal early in the season. Now we are seeing one goalie start to separate themselves from the other. Go with it.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/...e-rotation-and-let-tristan-jarry-take-the-net

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning 12/4/25

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (12-7-5, 29 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (16-8-2, 34 points, 1st place Atlantic Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh and The Spot, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens play next in Dallas on Saturday (6pm eastern start) then return home to Pittsburgh for a five-game homestand from Dec 9 – 16, starting with games against Anaheim, Montreal and San Jose next week in an every-other-day rhythm that begins with Saturday’s game.

Opponent Track: Tampa lost 2-1 on the road to the Islanders on Tuesday night, ending a seven-game winning streak. The Lightning are among the hottest NHL teams over the past month, posting a 10-3-0 record since Nov 5.

Season Series: This is the first of three PIT/TB games this season, the teams will meet again on January 13th in Pittsburgh and then finish things off on April 2nd back in Tampa.

Hidden Stat: Tonight’s game features two stingy teams, Tampa is third in goals/game allowed (2.58), the Pens are ninth (2.72).

Getting to know the Lightning​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Brnadon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nikita Kucherov

Jake Guentzel – Nicholas Paul – Oliver Bjorkstrand

Zemgus Girgensons – Yanni Gourde – Pontus Holmberg

Curtis Douglas – Dominic James – Gage Goncalves

DEFENSEMEN

JJ Moser / Darren Raddysh

Charle-Edouard D’Astous / Emil Lilleberg

Declan Carlile / Steven Santini

Goalies: Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson

Potential scratches: Boris Katchouk, Maxim Groshev

Injured Reserve: Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, Brayden Point

• The Lightning have a sizeable amount of talent out injured, their defense looks unimpressive on paper but they have been rolling in the last month. Vasilevskiy is 8-2 with a .933 save% and 1.97 GAA in his last 10 appearances, which has gone a long way towards papering over the losses that they’ve been dealing with.
• The Mark Donk joke surrounds the Penguins for random players popping up in key roles, it looks like Tampa has taken over on that given this fourth line and most of their defense is looking like NHL video game names in year 8 of a franchise at this point. They do a lot of double shifting from top players situationally to make sure difference makers are on the ice as much as possible (Douglas, for instance has only averaged 5:40 of ice time over his 20 games this season).
• If Ryan Graves were French Canadian, I’d like to think his last name would be “D’Astous”. It hasn’t been a disaster for the 27-year old Tampa rookie; who spent the majority of two years in the ECHL, two years in Finland and one in Sweden before finally finding his way up the ranks in a path very less taken. Pretty wild to see a player in his situation have almost as many NHL games (19) as combined AHL experience (26). Great story considering he was an ECHL level player in 2022, didn’t get much interest and went to Europe for a few years and now suddenly is in a key role for a first place NHL team. Injury has offered opportunity and he’s made the most of it.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Boy, you can just set your watch to Jake Guentzel scoring 40 goals and 80 points each season, less whatever games missed. His consistency is incredible like that and he’s right on target for it once again at age 31.
• Kucherov is well off Nathan MacKinnon’s scoring (14 points) but Tampa’s star is coming on hot as of late with 10 points (1G+9A) in his last five games. A lot of that passing has gone to Brandon Hagel, who has found the back of the net six times in the last five games. Tampa is incredibly top-heavy this season, but those top four or five players are really, really good. Add in the ‘big cat’ in goal doing his thing and that has made for a formidable team in the early going of this season.

Tampa smarting after losing their streak

The Lightning should be focused tonight after slipping early and being unable to dig out in time in their last game against the Islanders. Moser knows there’s “more out there”, Tampa will be looking to re-establish that tonight.

JJ Moser on this loss: “In the first, we didn’t lean on them enough. We didn’t get enough pucks toward the net. We weren’t there enough to make it hard on their goalie. It was all kind of cute but not effective. Then, in the third, we turned it up and we had our looks but, still,…

— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) December 3, 2025

Key matchup: Tampa offense vs. Pittsburgh defense

The stats paint a picture where 5v5 could be a scary one for the Penguins tonight. The Pittsburgh defense gives up a lot in terms of shot and goal expectation, bailed out to decent results via good goaltending. The Tampa offense is very strong at shot and chance generation and has good 5v5 scoring results. Surprisingly, the Tampa power play is not very potent given all the talent that they can put on the ice in that situation. Needless to say, it will be a big test and challenge for Tristan Jarry to keep the elite TB offense at bay.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Kevin Hayes – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Rutger McGroarty – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Boko Imama

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Joona Koppanen, Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)

IR: Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari

• The break in games allowed the Pens to return to Pittsburgh after Monday’s game in Philadelphia, have their Christmas party on Tuesday and get a practice in Wednesday at home before flying down to Florida for today’s game. Always an interesting twist in logistics when a “road trip” takes more turns than simply heading to the next stop for a game.
• It was an interesting practice, Anthony Mantha didn’t participate as a maintenance day, which could go into explaining his recent downturn of just two goals and two assists in the last 13 games. Joona Koppanen was out with an illness. Brazeau and Acciari were able to practice in full jerseys but Dan Muse said neither will play today and Kyle Dubas added that both are 7-10 days away from returning, and Rickard Rakell will be out for another 3-4 weeks. We’ll tentatively project the same lineup as last game and assume Mantha will be able to go.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...ttsburgh-penguins-tampa-bay-lightning-12-4-25

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Way Down South

As winter begins to set in up north, the Pittsburgh Penguins will get a bit of a reprieve from the cold weather as they head south for a pair of games to wrap up this early December road trip, beginning tonight in Tampa Bay where the Atlantic division leading Lightning await. The Penguins are coming off a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night and will be looking to build on their 3-1-0 record over the last four games. This is the first meeting between the two sides this season.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh.

Pens Points…​

Another three game week for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins ended with two more wins as some reinforcements arrives from the NHL. Phil Tomasino and Harrison Brunicke made their AHL debuts last week and figure to be back in the lineup for another go around this week. [Pensburgh]

Ville Koivunen has been doing a lot of the little things right during his early days in the NHL, but he’s still be unable to buy a goal thus far. Koivunen has come close more than a few times and it feels like when he does get his first, they will start coming in bunches. [Pensburgh]

Two big names were full participants at practice on Wednesday morning before the team boarded a plane to Florida. Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari were both present and accounted for at UPMC Lemieux, wearing regular practice jerseys and participating in normal line rushes. [The Hockey News]

It’s time to pen your letters to Santa Claus with Christmas right around the corner and that includes the Pittsburgh Penguins. Much has gone right for the Penguins to this point in the season, but there is always more to wish for to keep it rolling into the new year. [The Hockey Writers]

Arturs Silovs found early success with the Penguins to start the season but his recent outings have been a struggle for the young netminder. To get his season back on track, Silovs is going back to the basics to simplify the his game and let the results speak for themselves. [Trib Live]

There’s still a long way to go for the Penguins, 57 games to be exact, but they’ve sustained their early season momentum and are sitting in a playoff spot in early December. Better than anyone expected but their main goal remains very much in play. [The Athletic $$]

NHL News and Notes…​

In major injury news for a Penguins upcoming opponent, the Dallas Stars announced that Tyler Seguin will likely miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury. Seguin was hurt against the New York Rangers on Tuesday and will now face an extensive recovery process. [NHL]

There may be an unforeseen conundrum brewing in regards to NHL participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics. According to recent reports, the ice surface is Milan is rumored to be smaller than even the standard NHL size that was agreed upon with the IIHF. [ESPN]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/69835/pens-points-way-down-south

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

An historical look at where the Pittsburgh Penguins are after 26 games

It was not the prettiest win. It was probably not the way head coach Dan Muse would want to draw it up. But the Pittsburgh Penguins found a way to go on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and walk away with a baffling 4-3 regulation win. They let another three-goal lead slip away, somehow regained the lead late in regulation, allowed a game-tying goal, caught a huge break when an NHL-initiated replay review overturned it due to a missed hand pass, and then somehow gave up a clear breakaway to Nikita Kucherov in the closing seconds only to have Tristan Jarry stone him and secure the two points. Hilariously stupid and funny game. All that matters is two points. All that matters is the Penguins are now 14-7-5 on the season and, by points percentage, own the sixth-best record in the NHL and the third-best record in the Eastern Conference as of Friday.

Coming into this week I said if the Penguins could get three points out of this difficult three-game road trip it should probably be looked at as something of a success given the injury situation and the competition in front of them. They already have four points going into their game against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

As chaotic as Thursday’s game was, there is still a lot to like about it.

Evgeni Malkin had a vintage Evgeni Malkin performance with two outstanding goals.

They showed some toughness and bounced back from letting a lead slip away and still found a way to dig in and get the lead back and win against a top-tier team on the road.

Tristan Jarry made some huge saves.

Young guys Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen scored goals.

There was some concern a couple of weeks ago that maybe reality had been starting to set in for the Penguins after their strong start, and that perhaps the strong start is over. Now they have wins in four of their past five games and are still extremely high in the standings.

It is not just a strong start.

It is one of the better starts in recent franchise history. Perhaps the entire franchise history.

Let’s just look at some numbers for context on this.

With Thursday’s win the Penguins are now 14-7-5 with 33 points through their first 26 games.

In the now 58-season history of the franchise the Penguins have….

• Only had 17 seasons where they have won at least 14 games through their first 26 games.
• Only had 13 seasons where they won MORE than 14 games through their first 26 games.

In terms of total points and points percentage, their .635 mark through the first 26 games of the season is the 11th best start through 26 games in the history of the franchise. The 10 starts ahead of it, as well as the two starts immediately after it, all produced playoff berths.

There are certainly still flaws on the roster and with the way they play defensively. They are winning a lot of games due to the power play and goaltending, and there is definitely a ceiling to what a team like that is capable of, and maybe even a smoke-and-mirrors element to a lot of it. But the reality is this: The Penguins are still a team capable of generating a lot of 5-on-5 offense, they still have high-end players on the roster that are playing at a high level, and their power play success is simply finally matching its talent and the expectations.

The goaltending was always going to be a wild-card (as it is for every team), and so far it is holding up its end of the bargain. After so many years where it did not, I think the Penguins will take that and not apologize for it.

They are also still scrapping out points despite being without a forward that opened the season on each of their top-four forward lines (Rickard Rakell on the first line, Justin Brazeau on the second line, Filip Hallander on the third line, Noel Acciari on the fourth line).

They are winning games and collecting points through the first quarter of the season at a pace that historically, for both them and the league as a whole, has a high probability of producing a playoff berth.

At some point it stops becoming a good start and starts becoming a good team.

I am not sure if we are at that point just yet. We are definitely getting close to it.

It might not be a Stanley Cup team, but it still might be a very good team. It might be a very good team in a season where nobody expected it, while also seeing real development from key players they are going to be relying on for their future seasons where they might be able to become a Stanley Cup team again.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/...re-the-pittsburgh-penguins-are-after-26-games

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins rookie class one of the NHL’s best so far

Icing a third line staffed by rookies comes with growing pains.

The Penguins’ “kid line” of Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen got pinned in their own zone Thursday on the Brandon Hagel goal that tied the game late for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

BHISFG pic.twitter.com/9KQ5URytbc

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 5, 2025

The rookies were on the ice together at even strength for a total of six minutes and 43 seconds on Thursday, during which MoneyPuck says the Penguins led in shot attempts (7-4) and had a positive Corsi percentage (63.6 percent).

They also helped boost the power play, on which Koivunen and Kindel both scored to help the Pens climb out to an early three-goal lead.

Come for the snipe, stay for the celly

Congrats, Ville! pic.twitter.com/uTgOAGVcPO

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 5, 2025

Another PPG for PGH from a rookie pic.twitter.com/86zZiIfIlg

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 5, 2025

That second-period power play strike marked the seventh goal of the season for Kindel, who turns 19 in April.

Per NHL Stats, that ties Craig Simpson’s 1985 mark for the fourth-most goals by an 18-year-old in Penguins history. It’s a steep climb to join the rest of the list, where Jaromir Jagr (18) and Jordan Staal (29) rank behind Sidney Crosby (39).

Kindel is also currently tied for second in the NHL’s rookie goalscoring race, and he’s tied for first with 2025 top pick Matthew Schaefer for the rookie power-play scoring lead.

Dane Muse also used Kindel on the penalty kill for a second straight game on Thursday. He recorded more than four minutes on the man disadvantage and helped Bryan Rust set up a shorthanded rush.

Koivunen meanwhile joined Kindel, Filip Hallander and Harrison Brunicke as the fourth rookie to score for the Penguins this season.

Only two teams in the NHL have gotten goals from that many rookies so far this season: the San Jose Sharks, who have seen four rookies score, and the Chicago Blackhawks with an NHL-high.

Both of those teams have, very recently, fully tanked. Both are getting production from recent top-two picks, with 2024 No. 2 pick Artyom Levshunov scoring in Chicago and 2025 No. 2 pick Michael Misa getting on the scoreboard in San Jose.

Ranking among those teams, despite continually finishing middle of the pack in recent years and not having gotten a top-10 draft pick since 2012, is a mark of both Kyle Dubas’ success in the last two drafts as well as Muse’s willingness to give his younger players a chance to play.

We’ll see if the kid line returns to the ice Sunday when the Penguins take on the Dallas Stars on the road.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/69918/penguins-rookie-class-one-of-the-nhls-best-so-far

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Dallas Stars 12/7/25

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (13-7-5, 31 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division) @ Dallas Stars (19-5-5, 43 points, 2nd place Central Division)

When: 6:00 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Victory+, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: Time to go back home, Pittsburgh gets a five-game homestand starting with Anaheim on Tuesday, Montreal on Thursday and San Jose next Saturday.

Opponent Track: The Stars have things figured out lately, they’ve only lost twice in the last month since November 6th (going 12-2-2) since then. They’re a hard team to beat, going 7-0-2 in their last nine games and winners of four of their last five, including a 4-1 win over San Jose in their last game Friday night.

Season Series: Dallas comes to Pittsburgh deep into the season on March 28th.

Getting to know the Stars​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Sam Steel – Wyatt Johnston – Mikko Rantanen

Jason Robertson – Roope Hintz – Jamie Benn

Oscar Back – Justin Hryckowian – Mavrik Bourque

Colin Blackwell – Radek Faksa – Nathan Bastian

DEFENSEMEN

Esa Lindell/ Miro Heiskanen

Vladislav Kolyachonok / Ilya Lyubushkin

Kyle Capobianco / Alex Petrovic

Goalies: Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith

Potential scratches: none

Injured Reserve: Tyler Seguin (torn ACL), Lian Bischel, Thomas Harley, Matt Duchene, Nils Lundqvist, Adam Erne

• Injuries are starting to pile up for the Stars with Seguin and Bischel recently going on the IR. Team Canada’s Thomas Harley is in there too, opening the door for former Penguin Kolyachonok to get back in the lineup.
• In a lot of ways this Dallas lineup, structure and injury situation looks a lot like Pittsburgh’s previous opponent over in Tampa. The Stars, like the Lightning, have also both been really good in the last 10, 12 games, despite some their adversity and fairly patchwork-looking lower part of the lineup. Some of the formula is the same, if you have enough firepower on the top two lines and a really good goalie, that’s enough to get momentum going for a quality team to get in a groove. Of course, Dallas has their most key defender (Heiskanen), a luxury the Lightning don’t have these days.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Hintz isn’t a complete unknown and has been on the radar as far back as a great playoff back in 2019 as rookie, but I confess I didn’t realize he has four straight 65+ point seasons and has averaged 33 goals from 2021-25. Sneaky great player there that doesn’t catch enough attention.
• Still can’t believe that somehow Rantanen ended up on a division rival to Colorado. That would be like the Penguins somehow getting Zach Werenski or Sebastian Aho (well, the forward one). Stuff like that for an elite player in his prime getting away is so rare in the modern day NHL, and then to wind up on a quality team in the same division? Still hard to believe things played out the way they did.
• Benn, 36, is getting close to the end of the line but is still kickin’. He’s been a regular with Dallas since 2009 and accepted a one year, $1.0 million contract to come back this season. Benn’ been around so long he was teammates with players that were from a different era — Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, Marty Turco. Benn’s one of those vets where the only thing missing is a Cup. The Stars have been relatively close lately, three straight WCF losses and a SCF loss before that in 2020, can Benn get there before his time runs out?

Key matchup: Dallas offense vs. Pittsburgh defense

Dallas has an interesting advanced stat profile. Many a top team in the league has a good shot-based process where they control the puck in the offensive zone and pile up way more shots on goal and shot attempts than their opponent. The Stars, not so much. They don’t dominate in control like that, but they are very effective at finishing and scoring goals in the opportunities that they do create. The Stars aren’t usually out there constantly pressuring and building sequences into goals (ala a Carolina or Colorado), Dallas is going to lay in the weeds and then, bang, generate a chance (and probably score on it).

That will present an interesting challenge for the Penguins, who usually concede a good bit on the rush.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Kevin Hayes – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Rutger McGroarty – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Boko Imama

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Joona Koppanen, Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)

IR: Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari

• It’s a big “we’ll see” on these projected lines after yesterday’s practice had Novak on the first line, Malkin getting a day off and injured players Brazeau and Acciari potentially one step closer to returning. Presumably Malkin should be back, and Kyle Dubas’s timeline on the others would suggest they won’t be quite ready yet, though Dubas could have been conservative with his public projections.

Jarry on a roll

It's been a great start to the year for Tristan Jarry.

– Wins in nine of 11 starts (9-2-0)
– 2.61 goals-against average
– .913 save percentage (8th in NHL, min. 10 GP)

Jarry against teams that currently occupy a playoff spot? He's gone 4-1-0 with a .923 SV% pic.twitter.com/cOBtffV63t

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) December 6, 2025

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...view-pittsburgh-penguins-dallas-stars-12-7-25

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Stars Recap: Pens blow another third period lead, lose this time in shootout to Dallas

Pregame​

Evgeni Malkin misses his first game of the season with an undisclosed upper body injury, the Penguins replace him with a different 6’5” center. Maybe no one will notice? Pittsburgh gets two happy returns from injury with Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari back for the first time in a while. Matt Dumba rotates back in on defense, Tristan Jarry keeps going in goal.

Tonight's lineup in Dallas pic.twitter.com/r5OxynP1YY

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 7, 2025

First period​

Pittsburgh got off to a good start. Aside from Dumba and Ryan Graves getting pinned in their zone for a couple of shifts, the Penguins did well in terms of managing the puck and staying out of the penalty box.

Late in the first, the reunited fourth line strikes. Blake Lizotte lays a pass over for a wide open Connor Dewar in the middle of the ice. Dewar slams it home past Jake Oettinger to open the scoring with 1:42 to play in the first.

Acciari → Lizotte → Dewar

The fourth line came to play pic.twitter.com/i9k7p8pcxC

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 7, 2025

The teams guide into first intermission even on shots at 7-7 and with the Pens holding the early 1-0 lead.

Second period​

Dallas gets a 2-on-1 in the opening seconds of the period, Jarry makes a big save on Jamie Benn. On Benn’s next shift a minute later, he gets a similar situation and makes a much harder shot. Dumba and Hayes don’t do much in support. Tie game 1-1.

Ka-BANG pic.twitter.com/urxZxvss9W

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 8, 2025

The Pens’ new look first line gets a strong shift in the offensive zone. Sidney Crosby goes low to high with passes twice, Kris Letang gets the memo and takes a quick point shot. Tommy Novak is able to deflect it from in front, and Pittsburgh is back in front 2-1.

That's a Tommy tip-in

(Only six more points for Sid) pic.twitter.com/PTRpQJ7sRv

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) December 8, 2025

Benn’s active period continues, not in a good way for him. He’s off to the penalty box for hooking in the game’s first penalty. Not a particularly impressive power play, Ben Kindel gets one good look but shoots wide of the net. The Pens get another power play soon after, same outcome of nothing happening.

The Pens get to the second intermission only allowing three Dallas shots in that period, and only 11

on the game in total. It’s only a one-goal lead at 2-1.

Third period​

Great shift for the Pens’ youngsters on the third line- Rutger McGroarty sets up Ville Koivunen for a great look and he chunks the shot enough to where Oettinger can get a glove to it. Koivunen unfortunately ends the shift in the penalty box, granting Dallas their first power play of the night. The Pens kill that off.

Dallas pulls the goalie and isolated on the Pens’ fourth line and third defensive pair after an icing and work a 6v5 advantage. The Pens can’t find a clear, Miro Heiskanen shoots from out deep, neither Lizotte nor Graves can block it. Pittsburgh blows another third period lead, 2-2 with 1:49 to play.

EVENED IT UP! pic.twitter.com/wIPAK6SxiU

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 8, 2025

Dallas keeps pushing for a late winner, but they can’t find one before regulation ends.

Overtime​

Crosby-Rust-Karlsson start out for the Pens, the linesman throws Crosby out of the faceoff circle and the Penguins end up losing the opening faceoff and the all-important control of the puck…Jarry robs Jason Robertson and keep the game alive.

Robertson gets another chance late, Jarry is there or the shot is wide.

Shootout​

Robertson goes first, hits the crossbar. Not his night.

Rust is up for the Pens, shoots it right into the glove of Oettenger.

—

Matt Duchene leads off Round 2, he tries to go 5-hole but Jarry takes it away in time.

Crosby takes his turn, tests the blocker of Oettenger, it’s solid.

—

Mikko Rantanen is up, he snaps a shot past Jarry.

Letang has the last gasp for the Pens, he tries to deke to the forehand but the goalie reads it all the way.

The Pens fall in a shootout.

Some thoughts​

• It didn’t take long for the best fourth line configuration the Pens have used this season to get back on the scoreboard. Something about the way those players work together simply works very well as a cohesive unit. They’re not going to score all the time but players like Lizotte and Dewar aren’t devoid of offensive talent either. As mentioned on the broadcast, Dewar is up to 10 total goals as a Penguin in 44 games. He’s got six this season in 27 games.
• Mantha looked rejuvenated to get his linemate back in Brazeau, recording 4 SOG and 9 total shot attempts. Mantha was also elevated to the top power play in Malkin’s absence.
• Haven’t always been impressed by Novak from game to game, but he’s playing good hockey these days. Six points in the last five games and he’s been raising his game lately. It’s been nice to see his decisions with the puck lately, it looks like he’s playing with more confidence given how well it’s been going as of late.
• Bryan Rust blocked four shots on the game, the last one made a mark. Cameras caught him wincing and holding up his arm pointing to trainers down past the wrist on the back of his forearm where it struck. Rust would have to leave for the dressing room for a bit of the second period to get that tended to but was back for the third period.
• Another game, another blown third period lead for the Pens. They only had a one-goal cushion, it happens – but it happens a lot to them. It felt ominous when Koivunen couldn’t convert a great chance and then took a penalty seconds later. They got out of that, they couldn’t quite make to the end of regulation while up. You’ll take a 2-0-1 road trip any day of the week but with the standings so tight the Pens are going to have to hold onto the games when they’re up late.
• Not sure what Dumba is doing on the team, or especially in the lineup. Using him with Graves is playing with fire and creates a pair with limited upside and significant chance that their combined limitations end up hurting the team.
• Shame for Jarry that he lost, Dallas didn’t pepper him with shots (see the preview notes about their tendency to not achieve a high quantity of shots) but the ones he saw were a test. Jarry was sensational in OT as well. It was all for naught, because the Pittsburgh shooters are not very skilled in the arts of the shootout.

Up next is a lengthy home-stand, and the schedule picks up with games every other day (or sooner) for a while in December. The Pens won’t feel great about another blown lead but they can return home after a successful road trip that saw them pick up five out of a possible six points.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...iod-lead-lose-this-time-in-shootout-to-dallas

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

The week ahead: Penguins need to try some new faces in shootouts

Overall you have to be pretty pleased with the past week if you are a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. They went on a three-game road trip through Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Dallas and won the first two games in regulation, and then still collected a point in the latter game after mostly outplaying and shutting down one of the best teams in hockey. Out of a possible six points, they collected five of them and remain in a pretty solid position in the playoff race.

The point totals make the standings look close and packed together, but keep in mind how few games the Penguins have played compared to other teams.

They have the same number of points as the New York Rangers ….. but have played four fewer games.

They have one fewer point than the New York Islanders …. but have played in three fewer games.

They are one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils …. but have played in two fewer games.

Points percentage is where you need to be looking right now, and by that the Penguins still have the seventh-best record in the entire NHL and the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. They have played 27 games and only lost seven of them in regulation. They have 13 regulation wins, which is the fourth most in hockey despite playing in the second fewest games.

There is a lot to like right now about where they are.

There are, however, two big negatives that keep creeping into things. They keep losing leads in the third period (or leads in general), and they still can not win in a shootout. Both things happened on Sunday in Dallas to prevent the Penguins from having a perfect 3-0 road trip.

They are leaving some points on the table by going 0-4 in shootouts and 1-6 in games decided beyond regulation. Even winning two or three of those games would have them even higher in the standings and probably really change the outlook on the season and their recent play. Those missed points might also add up for a team that will probably end up closer to the playoff bubble. The third period leads are something they just have to get better at protecting. I thought they did a mostly good job on Sunday until the final two minutes when the fourth line had a bad shift that resulted in an icing, and then got caught in a 6-on-5 situation and could not get off the ice.

They just need to be better situationally and have more attention to detail in those moments at a team.

The shootouts are more of an annoyance because they do not happen that often, but at some point you did need to win at least one of them. While Tristan Jarry at least gave them a chance on Sunday, the Penguins skaters looked helpless against Stars goalie Jake Oettinger. The struggles of the Penguins shooters in these things has been a little overlooked due to how bad Arturs Silovs was in his shootouts earlier this season, but they looked awful again on Sunday. It was the same three shooters we typically see in these things: Bryan Rust, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.

Crosby is always going to be there, and he probably should be, because even though it is not one of his strengths he is still good enough at it.

Rust and Letang need to be dumped from the rotation. Especially Letang. Since the start of the 2017 season he is 4-for-24 in shootout attempts. The magic he had in his career is gone in these moments. Rust is 2-for-11 over the past three years.

Among the many things that have helped turn this Penguins season around, the presence of some exciting youth is high on the list. It is time to give them a chance in these moments. Let Ben Kindel take an attempt. Put Ville Koivunen out there. Justin Brazeau has demonstrated some smooth hands in tight spaces. Let’s see what he can do. If the Penguins find themselves in another shootout this week, somebody new needs to be sent over the boards.

Speaking of this week, the Penguins return home to start a five-game home stand, and will play four of those games this week.

It is an interesting set of teams coming in, starting with Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. The Ducks are as good of an offensive team as there is in the league, but are still kind of a mess defensively and are currently without starting goalie Lukas Dostal. Anaheim won the first meeting this season on a late power play goal following a delay of game penalty in the closing minutes of regulation. The Ducks have the sixth-best points percentage in the NHL.

On Thursday, the Montreal Canadiens are in town and they are kind of the Eastern Conference version of Anaheim. Exciting young offense, some issues on the defensive end and abysmal goaltending.

Over the weekend, the Penguins have a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday with the San Jose Sharks and Utah Mammoth coming into town. Saturday’s game will give you an opportunity to see one of the NHL’s best young stars in Macklin Celebrini, who is an absolute freak to watch. He is incredible. He and Will Smith give the Sharks a dynamic young forward duo, but the rest of the roster is still very lacking. The Sharks have some of the absolute worst 5-on-5 numbers in hockey this season.

Utah, on the other hand, has some of the best 5-on-5 numbers, but has not really received the type of goaltending that is allowing them to take the step forward that a lot of people expected them to take.

It is not quite as challenging of a week as this past week on paper, but these teams do all present their own special set of challenges. Especially offensively, and especially on an individual level. But there are going to be opportunities for the Penguins, and they are not really facing any elite goalies during this stretch. Given that all of these games are at home if the Penguins can come away with five or six points this week that would be a good week. It should perhaps be the expectation.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/...guins-need-to-try-some-new-faces-in-shootouts

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Harrison Brunicke joining Team Canada for World Juniors

Harrison Brunicke has been named to Team Canada’s training camp roster.

Harrison Brunicke has been named to Canada's #WorldJuniors camp roster https://t.co/RPTpLyR7K3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 8, 2025

Brunicke has spent the last two weeks on a conditioning loan with Wilkes-Barre of the AHL. The 19-year old has not played an NHL game since November 3rd.

World Juniors runs from December 26th through January 5th, Brunicke has still not appeared in his 10th NHL game which would begin his NHL contract tolling. If and when he would get to 40 games of being on the NHL roster, he earns a year of credit towards unrestricted free agency – which he could reach by age 26 instead of the standard 27 should he remain in the NHL for subsequent years.

Brunicke won’t be the only NHL player going to World Juniors, Calgary has released their prize 19-year old right handed defender Zayne Parekh and San Jose is sending 18-year old forward Michael Misa to play for the Canadians as well.

One name not on the roster is Ben Kindel, a player where there were social media rumors that would be going to World Junior. Kindel, who is on the Pens’ top power play, doesn’t seem like a strong candidate for Pittsburgh to send out of the NHL, though they still do have time to reverse course and work out that designation if that situation develops further. It was reported that Canada was wanting and hoping Kindel would be available for use in this tournament, but at this point it looks like all they are going to get out of the Pens is Brunicke.

This announcement solves what should be happening for Brunicke over the next month or so, GM Kyle Dubas had previously talked on his podcast back in November about the developmental plan that Pittsburgh is using for their teenaged defensemen who technically must be assigned back to his junior hockey league team if he is not on the NHL roster. So far the Pens have taken steps to avoid that, playing in the World Junior being the latest step to get him action against the best of his age group on a temporary basis before seeing how that goes to determine the next steps.

GMKD offers Major Harrison Brunicke updates
– He will remain in Pittsburgh this weekend
– World Juniors could be in play
– 14 day AHL conditioning stint could be in the cards
– What's best for HB45 is best for the Penguins
@SNPittsburgh
Full Showhttps://t.co/9oFiUMNB5c pic.twitter.com/YvWUSVvtuX

— Penguins Radio Network (@penguinslive) November 20, 2025

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/69993/harrison-brunicke-joining-team-canada-for-world-juniors

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Anaheim Ducks @ Pittsburgh Penguins 12/9/25

Who: Anaheim Ducks (18-10-1, 37 points, 1st place Pacific Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (14-7-6, 34 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Broadcast locally on Victory+, KCOP-13 and SN-PIT , streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The homestand continues Thursday with a home game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Pens come back to PPG Paints Arena for back-to-back afternoon games this weekend against the San Jose Sharks and Utah Mammoth.

Opponent Tracker: The Ducks have seen some mixed results during a three-game homestand this past week, losing a 7-0 shutout by the Mammoth only to claim a 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals and a 7-1 blowout of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Season Series: The Pens lost this season’s series opener in Anaheim by giving up a power-play goal with just over one a half minutes remaining in a tied game back on Oct. 14.

Getting to know the Ducks​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Chris Kreider – Leo Carlsson – Troy Terry

Cutter Gauthier – Mason McTavish – Beckett Sennecke

Frank Vatrano – Ryan Strome – Alex Killorn

Ross Johnston – Ryan Poehling – Mikael Granlund

DEFENSEMEN

Jackson LaCombe / Jacob Trouba

Olen Zellweger / Radko Gudas

Pavel Mintyukov / Drew Helleson

Goalies: Ville Husso, Vyacheslav Buteyets

Potential scratches: Nikita Nesterenko, Jansen Harkins, Ian Moore

Injured Reserve: Petr Mrazek, Lukas Dostal

• The Ducks are currently missing both Lukas Dostal and Petr Mrazek to week-to-week injuries. Dostal is a particularly major loss, considering he had led the Ducks to an 11-5 record in his first 17 appearances of the season.
• In the absence of both their regular starter and backup the Ducks have turned to third-stringer Ville Husso, who has played well enough to keep Anaheim at the top of the Pacific since Dostal’s injury.

Ville Husso! pic.twitter.com/SVTMORQE76

— NHL Deutsch (@NHLde) December 6, 2025

• Mikael Granlund recently returned to the third line after missing 18 games with a lower-body injury he suffered back in October.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Beckett Sennecke, the No. 3 pick of the 2024 draft, currently leads all rookies in both goals (nine) and points (24) through his first 29 games. He could be an easy player to pick out tonight due to his speed. NHL Edge puts him in the 96th percentile of all skaters this season in speed bursts of more than 21 miles per hour.

Sennecke

He's makin' plays out there!
It's 3-0! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/39zytzCaSn

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 8, 2025

• Sennecke isn’t the only young player who’s hitting stride for the Ducks so far this season. Leo Carlsson, the No. 2 pick of the 2023 draft, has 38 points (16 goals, 22 assists) in 29 games.

Leo

We got fiiiiivveeee on it! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/HOb4BT1UTw

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 8, 2025

• Former New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has five goals in his first 29 games, a huge uptick for a player who totaled just four goals across his two prior seasons. He was also recently under fire for a controversial hit that injured Caps rookie Ryan Leonard last week.
• The Ducks are heading into the matchup ranked second only to the Colorado Avalanche with 3.59 goals per game. The team is also allowing 3.28 goals against per game, the 11th-most in the NHL, but that’s considering that Dostal has been out since Nov. 22. Getting him back will make this team an even more dangerous opponent down the stretch.
• One area of weakness for Anaheim has been special teams. The Ducks rank 18th in the NHL with an 18.8 power play percentage and 28th with a 75.3 percent success rate on the penalty kill. The Ducks had gone 0-for-17 on the power play prior to Sunday’s win over the Blackhawks, but they’ll hope scoring two power play goals against Chicago will be enough to turn that trend around.
• For the first time in eight years, the Penguins are facing what seems likely to be a playoff-bound Ducks team. After finishing sixth or lower in the Pacific for the last seven years, Anaheim is heading into this matchup with a division lead.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Kevin Hayes – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin (?) – Anthony Mantha

Rutger McGroarty – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Boko Imama

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Joona Koppanen, Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)

IR: Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari

• Keep an eye out regarding an injury update on Evgeni Malkin, who missed Sunday’s shootout loss to the Ducks with an upper-body injury the Penguins described as a day-to-day issue. If he remains sidelined, Kevin Hayes could once more draw in as the Pens’ second-line center.
• Should he be available to play, Malkin has typically been a tough matchup for the Ducks. He’s put up 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 26 career games against Anaheim.
• Tristan Jarry posted another strong outing against on Sunday against the Stars (notwithstanding the shootout loss). The Penguins are 9-2-1 with him in net so far this season.
• Speaking of shootouts: The Pens have yet to win one in four tries this season. Should tonight’s matchup go to extra time, head coach Dan Muse might have to consider sending out someone other than Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust to try their luck.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/70008/game-preview-anaheim-ducks-pittsburgh-penguins-12-9-25