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[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Red Wings Preseason Recap: Kindel and Hayes pop again in win

The Penguins went to Detroit with the following crew that’s road worthy for a preseason game.

Tonight's preseason lineup in Detroit pic.twitter.com/wPlJJZzeH2

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 29, 2025

The home Red Wings don’t dress their absolute best, but there’s still plenty of talent to work with tonight.

Monday night lineup vs. Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/jEZS5zh2XR

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 29, 2025

The beginning of the game looked like it would be a struggle, Detroit was owning the puck and recorded the first five shots on goal. The Pens could barely break out of their zone with possession, let alone touch the puck outside of it. Out of no where, a turnover saw Avery Hayes touch the puck for Ryan Shea to take off. Shea made a nice drive up the ice and laid a perfect pass over for Ben Kindel. Kindel had his opponent beaten going up the ice and got a nice shot away. 1-0 Pens.

Kindy gets us going pic.twitter.com/gvUDqbACXo

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 29, 2025

The Pens got another in the second period, Philip Tomasino fired a hard centering pass that looked like it clicked off Tommy Novak, then bounced off the leg of the driving Filip Halander and Novak was able to slam it home as he flew by the net. 2-0.

Tommy comin' in HOT pic.twitter.com/XqxLRQmFKG

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 30, 2025

Detroit spoils Tristan Jarry’s shutout bid with 3:40 to go in the third. Danton Heinen failed on a clear earlier and then Logan Pietila swung his skate and missed to breakup a pass, leaving a player all alone in front. 2-1 game.

The Red Wings pull their goalie but can’t score before the clock runs out.

Some more thoughts:

• Kindel’s goal was a beauty, skating is often a knock on him but he had no problem scooting up the ice and staying ahead of Alex Debrincat, whose no slouch on his skates. Straight line speed is one aspect of skating but it goes to show in a game situation that players with drive can elevate and perform and maybe also that reputations from internet scouting reports don’t always ring true just because it gets repeated a lot secondhand. On other thing about Kindel there, while it was a nice finish, it might be more notable that Kindel started the play by hawking down what would have been a clearing attempt going as a turnover. One part of the scouting that is true is that Kindel is good in all three zones to skate back like he did and get in position to start the play. You saw that in a ton of his highlights in junior where before the goal there was something good Kindel did in his own end, and you’re starting to see that in the NHL, albeit in preseason format.
• The play by Shea in that sequence was really encouraging too. He was confident and showed no hesitation getting up the ice and setup the goal. It’s not like Shea is known for his wheels or playmaking either (three assists in 70 career NHL games) so take it with a grain of salt that he’s unlocked some new area, but it can’t be a bad thing to have a good night. The display of confidence and making the play is a positive sign for where he’s at right now.
• To triple note on that first goal: Hayes has made a couple of subtle, nifty little plays this preseason – tonight’s touch to Shea on the Kindel goal was reminiscent of the pass Hayes made to Crosby in the prior game against Columbus. The more you watch him the more you notice little inputs like that. The pass itself isn’t that incredible, but Hayes set it up by feinting like he was going to skate the puck out with speed, causing the defender to stride towards him. That opened up the middle of the ice for Shea to step right into the pass. Whether or not Hayes has shown enough to make the NHL team out of camp is a big question with an uncertain answer from the outside looking in, but Hayes has certainly done enough to be worthy of having his name in the conversation. You could tell me he’s one of the top-12 forwards in the organization right now and I wouldn’t protest. If the numbers or the mix doesn’t work out right off the bat, at this rate it seems like a sure bet Hayes will be a callup to the NHL at some point this season and make his debut, at the very least.
• Interesting usage with Filip Hallander and Sam Poulin playing with two NHL caliber forwards (which isn’t to imply anything about PTO Robby Fabbri’s future, simply to say he has been an NHL player for a long time). Did either of the more unestablished players stand out? Can’t say they really did in a hugely positive way, Hallander had a nice rush up the ice in the second period and pass to Novak and got an assist for being in the right place at the right time (and upon second watch, got a very nice touch on the recovery to eke the puck down towards Novak); Poulin looked decent with some PK time. If nothing else tonight put some more information on tape for the decision makers to consider in a better way than Valtteri Puustinen and Boko Imama taking avoidable minor penalties.
• Tough to analyze defensive defensemen but liked the night from Alexander Alexeyev. Doesn’t seem like he’s gotten a very deep dive or had much of an inside track for an NHL spot this camp (Alexeyev was paired with rookie Chase Pietila tonight, for instance) but Alexeyev can snap the puck and was holding the offensive blue line a few times. He’s not a tremendous player or top-4 talent or anything, but I thought he had a good showing, poised and took care of his business.
• At the other end of the spectrum, if Danton Heinen is truly competing for a spot, tonight couldn’t have helped his cause. Didn’t impress and he failed with the puck on his stick in his own end and it ended up in the net a few seconds later. Less the glaring mistake, a lot could to be said for Fabbri too, who of course truly is needing a great camp to stick. Not the end of the world to not stand out in a singular game but time is starting to run short. If this game counts for anything, it’s got to be Hayes stock up and Heinen stock down. How much emphasis will be placed on one night is up for debate.
• Sticking with veterans that we haven’t opined that much about; Dumba has looked completely neutral in the preseason. Not necessarily bad, not good. Do kind of worry when the competition ratchets up to regular season speed, does he fall behind and limitations start to show at that point? Feels like a real worry. You can tell as a veteran he’s getting into gear himself and working off the heavy legs
• Novak’s had an oddly quiet preseason, scoring one tonight should help get things rolling or the confidence up at least. As seen on Dave Molinari’s twitter, Novak lost the first eight faceoffs he took and ended up only winning 2/16 draws on the night…I do wonder if Novak is going to be a center for the long term or would benefit from a switch to the wing (which could bolster the chances of natural center Tristan Broz, who didn’t play tonight but ought to be in consideration for where the pieces fit). Not to throw huge red flags based off one performance, just an observation to kick around.
• Another observation that’s more situational than telling is that through two periods the Pens had 15 shots on goal. Only nine of them came from forwards (and three forwards in Kindel, Tomasino and Novak each had two SOG to make up the bulk of that low number). There wasn’t a ton of forward talent on the ice which explains that well enough that the problem gets solved when the skilled players get in there, but that paints the picture well about not too many standing out tonight.
• Don’t look now but…Tristan Jarry! Good game from him, wasn’t peppered with shots and he got bailed out by the crossbar from Patrick Kane with a wide open look, but all things considered Jarry did everything he needed to do in his first full game, didn’t have much of a chance on the goal against and stopped the rest. Not to say many will take a ton of confidence in him until he performs like this when it counts, but looking sharp in the preseason is preferable to the alternative.

NHL GameScore Impact Card for Pittsburgh Penguins on 2025-09-29: pic.twitter.com/HQ8DNT9CFz

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) September 30, 2025

The chart matched a lot of what the eye test said; Kindel, Shea, Hayes and Koivunen, who we didn’t touch on since there weren’t any singular big moments, were great. Maybe I’m too hard on Dumba, and frankly this was a friendlier view of St. Ivany’s night than I would have given. Fabbri was OK but down the line relative to others since he didn’t do a lot to move the needle. Then down the line some struggles for Heinen, Pietila, Puustinen and Imama – no disputes here.

One more preseason game down, and just two to go! The Pens will regroup briefly in Pittsburgh tomorrow before a group of them head up to Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...eason-recap-kindel-and-hayes-pop-again-in-win

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins announce lineup for game against Buffalo

The Penguins have announced their lineup for their penultimate preseason game tomorrow night in Buffalo.

The roster for tomorrow's preseason game in Buffalo has been announced.

Details: https://t.co/yVP2uYByac pic.twitter.com/CL8URE6XMs

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 30, 2025

From the team:

FORWARDS

11 – Filip Hallander
12 – Robby Fabbri
15 – Joona Koppanen
22 – Sam Poulin
26 – Tristan Broz
41 – Ville Koivunen
43 – Danton Heinen
46 – Blake Lizotte
49 – Rafael Harvey-Pinard
53 – Philip Tomasino
55 – Noel Acciari
81 – Ben Kindel
85 – Avery Hayes

DEFENSE

3 – Jack St. Ivany
5 – Ryan Shea
24 – Matt Dumba
27 – Ryan Graves
38 – Owen Pickering
45 – Harrison Brunicke
52 – Philip Kemp

GOALIES

31 – Filip Larsson
37 – Arturs Silovs

Tomorrow’s non-game group will skate at 9:30 AM at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and features the below players:

Forwards: Justin Brazeau, Sidney Crosby, Connor Dewar, Boko Imama, Aidan McDonough, Evgeni Malkin, Anthony Mantha, Tommy Novak, Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust

Defensemen: Sebastian Aho, Alexander Alexeyev, Connor Clifton, Caleb Jones, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Chase Pietila and Parker Wotherspoon.

Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Sergei Murashov

This looks like the last game opportunity for many, and what a list it is. All six of the forwards we listed as being on the bubble of the roster projection are out there. Now that Noel Acciari is game healthy, his name should go right on that list as a player looking to make the opening night 23-player roster. Even the forwards who aren’t considered to be in the immediate battle for serious contention for a lineup spot out of camp could be potential mid-season call-ups depending on what the team needs from the likes of Joona Koppanen, Sam Poulin and Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

The breakdown of the lines for tomorrow will be something to keep an eye on. Pairing Tristan Broz, with say, Philip Tomasino and Ville Koivunen could be a signal for a third line audition, just as the players on the wing of Blake Lizotte could be at least a one night tryout for a potential fourth line. Would it be Acciari and Fabbri? Heinen and Hallander? Hayes and Kindel? Some combination of that, or even none of the above? The choices are about endless and will provide some fodder for how the team might be starting to come into focus. Then again, depending on how the night goes, in preseason the disclaimer about any and every combo could be short-lived or not carrying that great of meaning for the future always applies.

Regardless of how the splits are made, the stakes are very high for almost all of these players to show their stuff and make what could be their final case heading into the upcoming decisions of who will break camp with the team. The Pens only have one more preseason game after this one, and that typically is more or less a dress rehearsal for the opening night lineup and an opportunity for the star players to knock a little more rust off and get ready for the first game next Tuesday.

Defensively, it’s at least interesting that the team keeps taking a look at Matt Dumba for game action and has been scratching Connor Clifton as of late for preseason games. The defensive core for tomorrow could look a lot like it did last night against Detroit with Dumba, Jack St. Ivany, Ryan Graves and Ryan Shea all getting back into another game. And who could omit that the famed #PickNicke pairing of Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke are going to get another go at it, though the real question might be whether or not they’re picked for Friday’s game.

A goaltender has not been announced, we’re getting to the point in the preseason where the goalies are getting ramped up for full action which means it wouldn’t be a surprise if Silovs is scheduled to go the distance for him to get one last tune up before the games start to count.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/67515/penguins-announce-lineup-for-game-against-buffalo

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Projecting the Penguins’ 2025-26 roster

As the season draws nearer and since there’s a little more competition involved for the Penguins in training camp than there has been in past years, let’s go back to how the current outlook is settling in for the roster. What has changed since this was done last month?

We can start with a few injuries. It looks like Joel Blomqvist, Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty will be on the injured reserve to start the season – answering a couple of questions there but raising a few more.

Training camp performances will be interesting for the coaches and decision makers to weigh. Young players like Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and Sergei Murashov have all had very strong Septembers and offer varying degrees of optimism for the future. Is it enough to crack the roster? That’s a tough question to answer from the outside, but we’ll put what the picture should be.

Forwards​

On the roster (11): Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau, Blake Lizotte, Ville Koivunen, Tommy Novak, Philip Tomasino, Connor Dewar

The battle for 2-3 spots: Danton Heinen, Robby Fabbri, Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander

IR: Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroarty

The big question here will be just how willing the Pens would be to move on from an NHL staple like Heinen (or even Fabbri) in order to incorporate the younger wave into the mix right from the start.

A complicating matter, as seen in the next area, is that Pittsburgh very well might keep eight defenders on their opening night roster – especially if Harrison Brunicke earns a spot. That would remove one forward from the mix down to 13 total, and 11 spots ought to be considered wrapped up. That makes for some late camp drama over whether the Pens will take the path of least resistance and maintain their depth by assigning some players back to the AHL to start the season like Broz and A. Hayes, or go the other way and have the younger forwards in the competition stick right off the bat.

At this point, Ben Kindel has deserved to put himself into the conversation due to his performance in the four preseason games that he’s played in. Kindel has taken tangible steps and shown growth and improvement at every viewing. There’s always the risk that due to his age, 18, and his overall game is not ready for the NHL regular season. If he makes the team, it likely would just be for up to nine games so that he could be sent back to juniors before appearing in a 10th game and triggering the start of his entry level contract. Sometimes it’s OK for a young player to get a long look and have a good preseason and leave it at that. But would it be the worst thing in the world to rotate players like Brazeau and Tomasino as the 13th forward for a couple of weeks to get a look at Kindel? Probably not for the Penguins. That still seems like a big leap to actually include Kindel with the team, it’s a credit to his excellent performance that this conversation can be had, we’ll see what comes from it.

If Kindel is reluctantly moved back, the Pens would likely have two spots to fill between the vets (Heinen, Fabbri) and the youngsters (Broz, Hayes). Heinen is an easy player to write off or forget, but he also brings that higher floor and experience to know what to expect. Perhaps the best compromise outcome is to split the difference and keep one of the vets and one of the young players, and then see where it goes from there.

Questions will have to be answered soon, Acciari is not expected to be out long-term, and even K. Hayes should be back from IR before the season gets too deep. Based on the impressive way the next wave of younger forwards are trending, it would appear that sooner or later the team is going to need to make difficult choices to move on from veterans. Seeing if that will come as soon as this week for a guy like Broz or A. Hayes to jump over someone like Heinen will be one of the most intriguing questions that the Pens will have to answer. Often times for depth, the team might lean to keeping the older players and assigning the youngsters to the AHL, so that they have something to fall back on. For all we know, there could be a situation like last year where Lars Eller was traded early in the season that could open up more room.

Defense​

On the roster (7) : Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan Graves, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton, Owen Pickering

The big question: Harrison Brunicke

What to do with Brunicke will be a big swing point for how the roster looks. As mentioned above, the team could use that roster spot to keep an extra forward if they return Brunicke to juniors. They also only keep three left handed defenders in this outlook, which means sending Brunicke back could also mean giving that spot to a fringe player like Ryan Shea, Caleb Jones or Alexander Alexeyev to provide another option for the left side. Based on the lack of strength on that left side, it would be a good idea to have additional choices there.

The Pens haven’t closed the door on using a right shot defender on their off-side, but they also haven’t looked to experiment in training camp by seeing someone like Dumba, Clifton or even Letang on the left and paired with a right shot.

In all, Brunicke’s play has been strong enough that he will be in serious consideration to get at least that nine game NHL stint. Teenaged defensemen are a rare and almost mythical being in the NHL, it would seem the most likely result that Brunicke won’t be in Pittsburgh all season — but the door is open for him to get a look and see how it goes.

Goalies​

On the roster (2): Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs

IR: Joel Blomqvist

This might be the easiest area to project, after the injury to Blomqvist makes this fairly straight forward to start the season. As we saw last season, however, it may not stay that way for very long depending on how the performances go.

Murashov has had a great camp, but he’s 21-years old and only has 17 total AHL games under his belt. The list of 21-year old NHL goalies was limited to 20 minutes last season across the whole league, to say he’s still incredibly young for the position. In this situation, patience is best for Murashov to head to Wilkes-Barre and gain more experience for the future. If Jarry or Silovs faceplants and Murashov keeps excelling at the AHL level, maybe something during the season could be considered, for now this is a spot where the veterans will carry the roster spots out of camp.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/67464/projecting-the-penguins-2025-26-roster

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Marc-Andre Fleury memoribillia to be auctioned off for charities

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury recently closed the book on a Hockey Hall of Fame-worthy career, taking one final bow with the team that drafted him in 2003.

Always considered a fan-favorite, those same fans now have the chance to get their hands on some autographed merchandise and game-worn equipment, with the proceeds of recently announced auctions benefitting the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania.

Some of the items include signed pucks, signed photographs and jerseys.

The supposed “crown jewel” of the auction lot includes Fleury’s game-worn (and autographed) goalie mask that he donned against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sept. 27.

Fleury played the full third period, making eight saves. He also participated in a shootout to end his memorable night.

Those dedicated to collecting will have to shell out a pretty penny for the mask. As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been over 45 bids, with the bid price surpassing $30,000.

The auction will end at noon Eastern Time on Oct. 6. More information about the auction and a full list of collectibles can be found at this link.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67507/marc-andre-fleury-memoribillia-auction

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Ben Kindel’s impressive preseason reason for long-term optimism

The Pittsburgh Penguins decision to select forward Benjamin Kindel with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was an immediately polarizing decision. It was something of an off-the-board pick, especially given some of the bigger — and expected — names that were available (looking at you, Viktor Eklund). While it was something of a surprise, there was still a lot to like about his upside and his potential.

Both the talent and the production were there, and while he was not necessarily projected as a top-11 pick a lot of prospects experts and scouting experts saw the upside with him.

So far this preseason Kindel is doing a lot to validate the Penguins’ faith in him.

Now, preseason results always need to be taken with a grain of salt because there is always some question as to the level of talent players are competing against. NHL regulars are not always out there, and you can play some lineups some nights that are full of AHLers and players waiting to get sent back to the Junior leagues.

But Kindel has been given quite a run and extended leash this preseason against all levels of competition, and the end results are pretty much always the same — he has been good and stood out, while also consistently getting better.

He played another strong game on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres, demonstrating a willingness and ability to make the little plays along the boards and subtle plays with the puck to keep possession moving. He also set up defenseman Matt Dumba for a goal on a blistering one-timer during a delayed penalty situation.

HERE COMES DUMBA! pic.twitter.com/ywZe2U5kot

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 2, 2025

From a numbers perspective this preseason he has a goal and an assist, while also recording 14 shots on goal and 26 total shot attempts. The latter two numbers being extremely impressive, and a strong demonstration of his ability to create offense and chances.

The overall underlying numbers when he’s on ice are also strog, as he owns a 72.3 percent expected goals share, a 75 percent actual goals share (3-1) and a 59.6 percent shot attempt share.

He’s been awesome.

That brings up two big discussion points.

The first is whether or not it makes any sense to give him a nine-game look to open the season before he goes back to juniors. The Penguins have said they want to go young this season — or at least dropped the hint to the local media — and would not hesitate to sit veterans for younger players. They probably did not have Kindel in mind for one of those spots, but they also may not have expected him to be this good.

Even so, making the jump from the CHL to NHL in one year is a massive for a player his age, and it does not happen often outside of the top picks in the draft. It might be tempting, but it might be better off to just give him another full year to develop before putting him in the NHL.

The other key point is what this might mean for the farm system as a whole.

While the Penguins farm system and prospect pool has become significantly deeper and better over the past year, and actually has some real talent at the top, they are still missing a big-time future star that can be a cornerstone building block. Rutger McGroary, Ville Koivunen and Harrison Brunicke are serious prospects that could have outstanding futures in the league, but they may not quite be on the star or superstar level.

Sergei Murashov might find that description, and given his position (goalie) he could be the most impactful player of the bunch. But he’s also a goalie and those guys are impossible to project.

Then there is Kindel.

He is the highest draft pick the Penguins have had in years, and that alone makes him one of the organization’s best prospects. Could he eventually become one of those All-Star level building blocks?

It’s still a small sample size in the preseason, but he’s showing a lot of the talents and skills you want to see from an NHL player and holding his own as a literal teenager. It remains to be seen if the Penguins got this pick right, but he has done nothing but build some excitement and optimism in our first real look at him in a Penguins uniform.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/pittsburg...ssive-preseason-reason-for-long-term-optimism

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins waive six, including Danton Heinen

The roster is starting to come into focus for the Penguins.

The team sent five players to the AHL camp.

The Penguins have reduced their training camp roster.

Details: https://t.co/lwC2LZrj1d pic.twitter.com/neAZJiAnyn

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 2, 2025

The following players have been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s training camp (AHL):

Scooter Brickey
Mathieu De St. Phalle
Taylor Gauthier
Aidan McDonough
Chase Pietila

Of that list, only Pietila is on an NHL contract and some of the others have been injured, so no surprises to see them moved out of the NHL area at this point deep into camp.

The bigger movement came with the 2pm announcement of waivers. For the first time this season, the Penguins put players on it. Six, in fact.

Today's Waiver Wire: https://t.co/so7qgeK2D3

Sign up for PuckPedia Alerts & select waivers to get the waiver wire activity sent to your inbox each dayhttps://t.co/zZESpQlAgp pic.twitter.com/fFPwfW4otB

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 2, 2025

Sebastian Aho, Danton Heinen, Philip Kemp, Joona Koppanen, Filip Larsson and Valtteri Puustinen all hit the wire. Tomorrow at 2pm it will be announced if they clear. If so, they will likely be assigned to the AHL. Heinen is the surprise in the mix as an established NHL veteran with a $2.2 million cap hit that hasn’t seen the minor leagues since the 2017-18 season.

In addition to Bryan Rust, the injury list grew longer. Jack St. Ivany is out for six weeks after presumably breaking something in his foot last night following being struck by a puck during the game against the Sabres.

The Pens also had a perhaps telling practice today that was split into two sessions. Here was a fluid outlook from the NHL group, which included Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel and Filip Hallander up front as well as Caleb Jones on the blueline.

Penguins forward groupings at today's practice:
Crosby with Koivunen/Rakell
Malkin with Mantha/Brazeau (A. Hayes)
Novak with Kindel/Tomasino (Hallander)
Lizotte with Acciari/Dewar

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 2, 2025

Penguins defense pairings at today's practice:
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Jones-Letang
Clifton (R) did reps with Brunicke and Graves
Shea (L) did reps with Brunicke and Dumba

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 2, 2025

The first practice group that skated apart from the listings above included all six players who got waived plus Aidan McDonough who assigned to the AHL today, plus Tristan Broz, Robby Fabbri, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Boko Imama, Sam Poulin as well as defenders Alexander Alexeyev and Owen Pickering.

As of now, that seems to point to a “stock down” situation for Broz and Pickering to make the team out of camp, with good news for Kindel, Hallander, Hayes and Brunicke to still be sticking with the main group during this day where some decisions were put in motion.

However, even out of that group there were 14 forwards and nine defensemen, there will have to be at least one player in today’s “main” team that doesn’t make the opening night roster, assuming no more players go to the IR instead. It should also be stressed that through injury or future decisions, the team has a few more days to steer into another direction when it comes to some of these groupings.

The Pens have their final preseason game tomorrow night at home against Buffalo. They will have to waive more players (presumably including but not limited to the likes of Poulin, Imama, Harvey-Pinard and Alexeyev) either on Friday, Saturday or Sunday to get them off the NHL roster. Younger players like Broz and Pickering do not require waivers and may be assigned to the AHL club any point before the roster is due on Monday.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67554/penguins-waive-six-including-danton-heinen

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Sabres Preseason Recap: Thoughts on a road win

The end of the preseason is approaching quickly, here’s how the Penguins were going in their second to last game of the exhibition campaign.

How we're lining up in Buffalo.

: SNP+
: 105.9 'The X' pic.twitter.com/Hwv8qPbb70

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 1, 2025

The Buffalo Sabres bring a very strong roster to the proceedings, as to be expected this time of year for the home team.

Tonight's roster vs the @penguins.

Tune in to the game on @MSGNetworks and @WGR550! pic.twitter.com/7LzCcnkuRM

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 1, 2025

Pretty dull game early on that opened up when the Pens got the game’s first power play. Tristan Broz did his thing, poking a goal home from in front of the net after Philip Tomasino took the puck hard to the crease. 1-0.

A PPG FOR PGH! pic.twitter.com/2T1bonlOzV

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 1, 2025

The lead didn’t last long, on the next shift Peyton Krebs played Ryan Shea like a fiddle, drawing the defender in and then passing around him to Josh Norris. Shea turned, hacked at Josh Norris and the ref’s arm went up for a penalty until Norris saved them all the trouble by tucking a goal on the backhand around the leg of Arturs Silovs. Nice play by Krebs and Norris there but that’s not film Shea will want to have on tape.

ffPittsburgh returned the favor with a goal on a delayed penalty call in the second period, Ben Kindel laid over a perfect pass for Matt Dumba to lean into and Dumba hammered it home. 2-1.

HERE COMES DUMBA! pic.twitter.com/ywZe2U5kot

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 2, 2025

The Pens get another power play and convert it into another power play goal. Filip Hallander gets tied up in front of the net but pokes the puck out for Avery Hayes to lift into the net. 3-1.

Avery Hayes getting it done pic.twitter.com/Kh4vvWXF94

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 2, 2025

Josh Norris scored in front early in the third period to bring the score back to 3-2.

Ville Koivunen gets the two-goal lead back by slipping in behind the defense and getting a nice pass from Shea and converting his rush chance. 4-2.

VILLE VILLE VILLE! pic.twitter.com/n2gvn0ve6F

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 2, 2025

Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin makes the Pens pay with Blake Lizotte in the penalty box for high stick by skating through Joona Koppanen and Brunicke and then coolly flipping the puck by Silovs. 4-3 game.

Hallander scores into the empty net to finish it out, 5-3.

Some thoughts and stray observations:

• The #PickNicke is over…Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke got split up for the first time in a while. For a time at least, until Jack St. Ivany left the game after taking a shot off the skate scrambled all the defensemen around playing with five. As far the the youngsters, I thought their games went in different directions. Brunicke looked as confident and capable as ever, skating all over the ice like he does, controlling the puck, all systems go. Pickering..not so much. Not a smooth game, got trapped in his end, has troubles not turning the puck over breaking out, thought it was Pickering’s least impressive outing in a while.
• One shift in the first stood out as a real comedy of errors. Philip Tomasino was close to the wall and put Ryan Graves in a bad spot to fling the puck over to him but Graves had already bailed. It wasn’t a good idea to make the pass in the first place but Graves has a knack for aggravating things like that to back off and not even make himself an option for teammates. That led to a Buffalo chance, soon after Filip Hallander had some to go north with the puck and instead tried to go back to Graves and it got picked off leading to another two Buffalo chances. Ugly sequence of events.
• In fact, with St. Ivany out and the defense shuffled up, the common denominator of when the Pens got trapped in their own zone throughout the night was when the 27 of Graves was out there, with any number of different players. It can be easy to hyper-focus on his mistakes but it’s easy because it’s right out there in the open.
• It’s been said in seemingly every recap but it keeps happening and bears repeating about the impressiveness of Ben Kindel’s growth. Ironically enough it was in the same city of Buffalo a few weeks ago where he barely got a few puck touches in the first Prospects Challenge game and was hardly visible. He was great by the end of that, putting up a four-point game in the finale. Fast forward to Buffalo at (presumably) the end of Kindel’s NHL preseason and he’s out there wheeling around on the power play, confidently ripping cross-ice passes successfully through the middle of the ice or making a little between the legs back pass down low for Avery Hayes to get a chance, Kindel is looking very much like a guy picked 11th overall. There will probably be more talk considering (or maybe less charitably pandering) about if Kindel should get a regular season look. At this point, probably not. That’s a bit rich, it shouldn’t takeaway from what he’s been able to do and grow before our very eyes. Needless to say, expect big things from him back in juniors this season.
• Liked what Silovs did in this game, he’s big and tracked the play well, played in control. Flashed the glove big time on Tage Thompson. Silovs is one of the bigger unknowns heading into the season, if only since he’s new and hasn’t had a lot of NHL experience to go off of, he made a strong showing tonight. He’s got a big body and covers up a lot of the net, a lot to like as a tune up for the regular season.
• Any night by Silovs beats his counterpart considering Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen didn’t return for the second period with a lower body injury. Hopefully that was more precautionary than anything, he didn’t have any obvious incidents during the game. That’s always a preseason risk and potential bad result to see a key player go down, which speaks to why the best players only need a couple of games before the real action starts.
• Tonight marked the first time some players were on their offhand defensively. Jack St. Ivany played on the left, until he left the game in the first, and then Ryan Graves rotated in with Brunicke. Shea played on the right, as he did many a-time last season. Josh Norris really had Shea’s number; there was the goal in the first period and then Norris got in behind Shea for a point blank shot on the first shift of the second period.
• Broz is going to give the Pens something to think about. He scored his goal which is nice, he was good on the PK as well, which Dan Muse has talked towards liking his all around game. There’s certainly a conversation to be had about moving Tommy Novak to the wing and starting Broz in the NHL right off the bat.
• Avery Hayes was right there with him to find a loose puck and score a power play goal. It’s fitting that Broz and Hayes both score PPGs, both have had similarly impressive preseasons. Same thoughts apply, it’s still unanswered for just when Hayes will be in the NHL, but it ought to be sooner than later, assuming health.
• Liked the moxie from Tomasino, nothing overwhelming, just looked good aside from not tying up Norris’s stick in front of the net. Similarly, Dumba’s played a lot of preseason hockey and he looked good tonight, even besides the goal.
• On the flip side, quiet night for Heinen and Fabbri to my eye. Same for Acciari, thought being was his first game back after missing some camp time, that’s not a surprise or particularly telling. To an extent, all of those guys are known quantities as far as what they are likely to bring to the table, it’s just a matter of how much the team wants them.
• Koivunen was quiet all night and then — boom — he pops up behind the defense and scores. He’s a fun player to watch play, he picks his spots well and is always hovering, in a good way, around the play.

One more preseason game to go on Friday night at home against the Sabres. The stars should be out for the Penguins, for roster purposes it’ll be worth tracking who is joining them in the lineup.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-recaps/67536/penguins-sabres-preseason-recap-thoughts-on-a-road-win

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

2025-26 NHL Standings Predictions: Metropolitan Division

Another year, another year. Hockey begins next week and we’ll be looking for a more accurate Metropolitan Division prediction than last season. Go check out the earlier one from the week for the Atlantic Division.

Last season, the teams in the Metropolitan combined for 713 total points. That was down from 732 total season prior in 2023-24. This time around? Well, we’re going back to 2024-25 levels and came up with 713 points again without even trying to make it match but upon first impressions. That seemed fitting to leave the division right where it was last season and reflect that it doesn’t have as much strength as we’ve seen from top-to-bottom in the Atlantic.

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Predictions

1. Carolina Hurricanes (53-25-4, 110 points)
2. Washington Capitals (47-29-6, 100 points)
3. New Jersey Devils (42-29-11, 95 points)
4. New York Rangers (41-32-9, 91 points)
5. New York Islanders (38-38-6, 82 points)
6. Columbus Blue Jackets (37-38-7, 80 points)
7. Pittsburgh Penguins (35-38-9, 79 points)
8. Philadelphia Flyers (35-42-5, 75 points)

Maybe it should be called the Mushy Metro this year. The Carolina Hurricanes are loaded for bear, gearing up with Nikolaj Ehlers and K’Andre Miller while bringing back all the rest of their key pieces. The Hurricanes had a down regular season, by their standards, with 99 points — breaking a three year streak of having 110+ points. We’ll say that is a blip on the radar and see them returning to that form. Carolina is a machine that keeps on ticking, if there’s anything to count on this year it’s got to be them having a strong season.

The Capitals have been on quite the roller coaster lately, it looked like their window might have closed after 2022, but they were only out of the playoffs for one year. In 2023-24, they snuck in as a mediocre team but last year they jumped out to a huge lead in the division and ended up first in the conference. Washington’s strength comes from defense and depth, which makes them dangerous goaltending and skill kicks in. They may not win the division this season, but they should remain solidly in the hunt.

New Jersey makes for another team with an unpredictable path, in a way they’re the reverse of Washington to where it looked in 2023 that the Devils window had opened when they took flight and emerged from rebuilding with a 112-point season and winning a round in the playoffs. From there, it’s mostly been a false start- NJD missed the playoffs in 2024, and an injured version of their team snuck into the playoffs last year by two points. It could be assumed that this year with health and a second season of Sheldon Keefe that the Devils can regain their trajectory as a top team. All the pieces are certainly in place but we’re going to split the difference and call them as a strong but not exceptional team. Given their recent history, that might be a stable and positive next step to take.

The next team on the list, in which no one really knows what will happen, is the Rangers. The Athletic’s model has them at 94 points, many others far less than that. I’m not that bold on them however putting them with 91 points is intentional (more below). The upgrade from the way they were playing under Peter Laviolette last season to Mike Sullivan should pay dividends, as will having newly installed captain J.T. Miller for a full season. Both Miller and Sullivan will add some Type-A personalities to the mix. Beyond that, Adam Fox had his best seasons under David Quinn and now Quinn is back as an assistant coach and new free agent addition Vladislav Gavrikov will bring a solid defensive acumen. It might not be pretty at all times for the Rangers, but here’s to thinking between Sullivan and Gavrikov that Igor Shesterkin will be able to rebound into his typical form.

From there, I think the rest of the division has at least two things being true at the same time: they have low expectations and nothing really to lose if the season goes south, and they all have significant limitations that are bound to limit what they’re capable of.

In a way, I’m not sure of the order for 5-8. Pulling out of a hat might go just as well but on this I’m deferring to the team with the best goalie to lead the pack, that being Ilya Sorokin out in Long Island. The Islanders finished with 82 points last season, which wasn’t intentional to leave them back at the same place they were, but something also feels right about that as far as them being relatively stagnant at the NHL level and planning to reload with younger players for the future.

Next up, the Blue Jackets. To pick them sixth is to say one doesn’t believe in their goaltending, and I don’t. Jet Greaves could make that prediction look foolish, but that’s a big ask for an inexperienced goalie that teams are going to get more tape and figure out tendencies and weakness sooner than later. I like a lot of Columbus’s young forwards but the big adds of Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood aren’t that overwhelming for a blueline that has Zach Werenski and a lot of hope that Ivan Provorov doesn’t get content with his big contract, Dante Fabbro keeps his game above the level of a player on waivers last year and a few young players keep growing.

Then come the Penguins, and needless to say Pat Brisson is not going to be happy with how this season works out in Pittsburgh. The defense is too weak and the best players are all on the wrong side of 30. It’s nice and exciting that some young blood isn’t far from making an impact, though arguably the young player the team needed to step up most this training camp in Owen Pickering apparently didn’t do enough to make the roster. The Pens seem fine with coasting in neutral for now, not full on rebuilding but content to let the contracts of their veterans play out while stocking up on young talent. It’s hard to imagine they accomplish much else than that this season, at least until waiting to see how the lottery draft goes (which: luv ya, Gary!)

Bringing up the rear is the Flyers, their off-season hilariously summarized by Down Goes Brown in six words with: “ Fixed the goaltending with Dan Vladar”. That’s no fix at all and Samuel Ersson hasn’t looked any better this preseason. Philadelphia is bringing Todd Reirden back as an assistant under Rick Tocchet, which has to encapsulate the biggest of admiration from Pittsburgh fans for feelings of former Pens assistant coaches can possibly get. The Flyers have had even more top-50/60 picks in the past few years than their in-state rivals. They’re also playing out the string to let their contracts get closer to expiring and wait for help to come one day. And so it will go for them.

—​

Playoffs​

Based on this preview with the one earlier this week for the Atlantic Division we have predicted the following first round matchups:

Carolina (Metro 1) vs. Detroit (WC 2)
Washington (Metro 2) vs. New Jersey (Metro 3)

Tampa (Atlantic 1) vs. NY Rangers (WC 1)
Toronto (Atlantic 2) vs. Florida (Atlantic 3)

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/67567/2025-26-nhl-standings-predictions-metropolitan-division

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens/Sabres Recap: Thoughts as the preseason ends

The Penguins had some decisions to make with 23 skaters for 18 spots and they came up with some interesting ones. No Blake Lizotte, no Ryan Graves, no Avery Hayes, no Matt Dumba or Ryan Shea.

Lined up and ready to roll. pic.twitter.com/9OMyvealOq

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 3, 2025

Pittsburgh struck first in a controversial way when Philip Tomasino got some help and smashed into goalie Alex Lyon and the puck slid into the net along with the two players. No way that counts in the regular season, when the contact happens way before the puck enters the net, but hey, Tomasino got the idea right to take the puck to the paint hard and got rewarded for it.

Buffalo then scored the next three goals of the game. After the third goal, Dan Muse used his timeout and had some words for the team. That was just after the halfway point, the scheduled time to change goalies, but they elected to leave Tristan Jarry in a little longer to not let his preseason end with a sour note.

Harrison Brunicke halved the Buffalo lead by shakin, baking and working his way down the right side of the ice. He lifted a shot off the back of the Lyon’s shoulder and in. 3-2 game.

BRUNICKE GOES SHORT SIDE HIGH!

Elite move, elite shot to bring the @penguins within one pic.twitter.com/BGfcjGox5r

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) October 4, 2025

Sergei Murashov got into the game, but he didn’t fare much better than Jarry. Alex Tuch took a shot from the outside that slipped through Murashov and sat there for Jiri Kulich to tap in. 4-2 game.

The Pens struck on the power play in the third period to draw the score back within one goal. Rickard Rakell slung the puck to the net, possibly in a centering effort but it ended up going in the net just the same.

That was enough to bring on overtime, though it only needed nine seconds to be decided. Crosby won the faceoff and Karlsson took off through the zone. After a few feints, Karlsson fed a great pass across the ice for Crosby to chip home for an easy goal. 5-4 Pens win.

9 SECONDS OF OT IS ALL SID NEEDS

IS READY FOR THE REGULAR SEASON! pic.twitter.com/9a4Tn8X5WG

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) October 4, 2025

Some more thoughts to close out the preseason game action:

• We’ll start with Ben Kindel, to lead with popular demand. He had some ups and downs, the biggest down moment was a learning lesson when Kindel got his breakout attempt picked off, and a few seconds later Josh Norris found Tage Thompson for a goal, since Brunicke had already shifted into going up the ice. That’s what Kindel has to learn, make a basic mistake against this type of competition and they will make you pay. If it’s just up to tonight, Kindel isn’t making it to the regular season this year. The good news for him is it might not be just up to tonight’s inputs.
• Semi-related, from seeing the last few Sabres games, Josh Norris looks ready for an incredible season. Use that info as a fantasy draft tip if it applies. He’s been looking amazing the past couple days when it comes to generating offense.
• Back to the Pens, the second topic du jour is Brunicke. I was impressed before the goal but that standout moment is going to have to stick in the minds of Kyle Dubas and Dan Muse when they’re discussing who should be on the roster. In 2025, the only defenseman Pittsburgh has that can make the play Brunicke did is Erik Karlsson. Brunicke later hit the post in the third period. I don’t know if the Pens will keep Brunicke for opening night, but it’s hard to imagine him making a better case or so perfectly illustrating what he can add to the team. Time will tell if the decision makers for the Pens think he’s ready, but he looks awfully ready with a closing performance like this.
• Staying with the defense, the Caleb Jones and Kris Letang pair got trapped in their own end for two and a half minutes on a shift. Just from watching Jones, not sure what they were trying to accomplish or see or even if this will change any minds — but as a prediction the Jones/Letang pairing either won’t last long or won’t be pretty for as long as it goes. Jones played over 20 minutes tonight, he looked the part of a guy who has been an NHL/AHL tweener for the last two seasons. That he might start out in a featured role with the Pens says more about the state of their blueline (bad) than it does about Jones being any sort of good.
• Similarly, Justin Brazeau with Evgeni Malkin might be a thing since Bryan Rust is out injured for a bit, it hasn’t paid off yet with Brazeau bringing little to the table. Not sure how that one is going to go, he doesn’t have a lot of vision or playmaking ability. He is very big and will actually use his size though, so he’s got that going for him. Not a bad player, just also not one that offers much help for Malkin.
• Muse wasn’t happy with his team at the halfway point, and it’s tough to blame him. I think they had 9 or 10 shots total. No line really looked that good. Malkin took a four-minute penalty early in the game, Sidney Crosby took an offensive zone frustrating slashing penalty. Not much urgency, it is preseason, but it wasn’t the most encouraging performance to start. They played a lot better in the second half of the game, though a lot of that was due to converting on their power plays.
• Jarry gave up three goals in his half of the game, two of them that reflected poorly on him. He literally gave the puck away behind the net on the sequence to start the second goal and on the third goal he over-committed to the right side, then was slow to get back over the to left side of the net when the puck went off the end wall. Jarry wasn’t super-sharp tonight.
• Muse made his bones as an NHL assistant that was really good directing a PK, and those PK’s usually had top forwards playing on it. Rickard Rakell was out there again in that role, he hasn’t really killed penalties as a Penguin but I’m betting we’ll see him get put out there regularly for it this year (especially with Rust out of the lineup). Just a little somethin’ to keep in mind for one difference between the last coach and this one. It’ll be interesting to see if that ever extends to Crosby or Malkin, if not as regulars then at least a little bit more situationally when it might be needed.
• Sticking with special teams, the top power play had the modern day unicorn of two defensemen on it (Karlsson and Letang) joining Rakell, Crosby and Malkin. That makes a bit more sense with Rust being gone and will also bode watching for the regular season if that stays together or not. No criticism here, that might be the five top skill players available at this point.
• Right handed Connor Clifton playing the left side (which he did only one time last season) over players like Shea and Graves was a decision worth raising an eyebrow. Even Dumba has been more of a left side guy over his career, but it was Clifton who got the nod tonight. Something has to give since the Pens have a surplus of right shot defenders, and very little quality on the left side. No matter how it shakes out there’s got to be some right shots playing on the left side this season.
• The Pens looked like this game was lost, then Rakell, Karlsson and Crosby stepped in (and emphasis on Crosby) and the game was won. That will have to be a road map a lot this year to get some positive results, one would think. The good news is that Captain Crosby looks as explosive and dangerous as ever.

Just like that, the preseason games are over. The Pens practice tomorrow and are off on Sunday and then prep to fly to New York on Monday a day before the season starts, so the whole training camp is virtually done too. We’ll see if the ups and downs from tonight’s game has any influence to change how the lineup looks come Tuesday night in Manhattan.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-recaps/67581/pens-sabres-recap-thoughts-as-the-preseason-ends

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Assorted notes: Heinen clears, McGroarty skates, Murashov to play half game tonight

A few random tidbits of news and notes on a Friday afternoon:

Danton Heinen and the five other Penguin players on waivers yesterday all cleared. The Pens didn’t put anyone else on the wire today. They haven’t made the next transaction yet immediately to assign them to the AHL just yet.

Waiver Claims:

Solovyov from CGY to COL
Schwindt from VGK to FLA
Hunt from CBJ to MIN

Everyone else clearedhttps://t.co/so7qgeK2D3 https://t.co/0WL378tHU8

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 3, 2025

The Pens saw some good news with Rutger McGroarty back on the ice skating on his own for the first time in training camp. McGroarty has been listed as out indefinitely with an undisclosed upper body injury.

Rutger McGroarty (upper-body) also getting some work in this morning (assist ⁦@SethRorabaugh⁩) pic.twitter.com/zQgtACLUYB

— Dan Potash (@DanPotashTV) October 3, 2025

The Pens haven’t given much notice about how they will split the team tonight into lines but they are going to give Sergei Murashov the second half of the game. It’s a nice reward for a good camp and chance to see Murashov behind an NHL caliber roster and it also helps to mitigate the risk against Tristan Jarry suffering an injury before the start of the season to only play him 30 minutes instead of going the full 60. It’s a lesson the Pens saw first hand in their last game when Ukk0-Pekka Luukkonen suffered an injury against the Pens. Luukkonen is week-to-week and will miss regular season time.

Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said Tristan Jarry will play the first half of tonight’s preseason finale against Buffalo, and Sergei Murashov will play the second half.

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 3, 2025

On the lighter side, some have noticed that Evgeni Malkin suddenly became listed at 6’5”. Seth Rorabaugh dug out the story behind that, Malkin’s final height never got registered back in 2006 so he officially was 6’3” for many years. Goes to show what all those official heights and weights are worth.

Got some clarification on a slightly odd and granular detail regarding Evgeni Malkin today that I couldn't squeeze into 280 characters: pic.twitter.com/ItKjZDQisA

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) October 3, 2025

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/6757...rty-skates-murashov-to-play-half-game-tonight

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins waive Graves, send several young players to AHL

The roster jam is starting to break up for the Penguins, the team announced today their next batch of cuts to bring them down to 23 players . As part of today’s transaction, four young players who impressed to various degrees this camp in Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Owen Pickering and Sergei Murashov are going to the AHL.

The Pens are going to put a number of veterans on the waiver wire today, including Ryan Graves. Graves still has four years to go on his contract but it has been announced he will be assigned to the AHL if he clears waivers. Others hitting the waiver wire include Boko Imama, Sam Poulin, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Alexander Alexeyev.

Finally, the team announced that Robby Fabbri has been released from his tryout.

The following players have been assigned to @WBSPenguins (AHL) training camp:
– Tristan Broz
– Avery Hayes
– Sergei Murashov
– Owen Pickering
Alexander Alexeyev, Ryan Graves, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Boko Imama and Sam Poulin will be placed on waivers at 2:00 PM and will be assigned…

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 4, 2025

A lot to chew on here. The biggest note has to be the drastic decision to wipe Graves off the team. It’s a completely justifiable move — even the local media could barely drum up stories about him coming in confident and improved this season — and he struggled in the preseason games, looking every bit as mistaken-prone and shaky as he did in his first two miserable years.

Four years left on a contract is an eternity to bury in the minors, though let’s not forget many declared Tristan Jarry would be done and persona non grata with the Penguins ever again and he was back with them not too long after. The path for Graves is long and uncertain, his contract structure with bonuses makes him practically buyout proof (ahh the gift that keeps on giving!) so he’ll likely be out in the wilderness for a while until another team out there with a similarly bad contract might want to flip some players around, but the

After that, the most impactful move might be the demotion of Pickering. It doesn’t come as a sudden surprise, considering Pickering hasn’t been skating with the NHL regulars in practice in recent days and was left off the roster for the final preseason game, though it’s a telling one just the same. Pittsburgh’s left side defense is awful, and the decision makers don’t think Pickering is ready. It’s got to be some company you don’t want to keep for a first round pick to not make the NHL in his draft+4 season. Pickering is still young overall at 21 years old, and perhaps at some point he could work his way up to an NHL look during this season but it’s not encouraging that he’s not ready yet.

Two players who arguably are ready, or showed to be very close were forwards Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes. Both were among the very best showings that the Pens saw in training camp. Unfortunately for them, there is a numbers crunch, and an apparent fascination with the shot blocking and PK ability of Noel Acciari. It doesn’t help that Ben Kindel has broken out. That said, one would think both Broz and Hayes will be in-line to be called up to the NHL at some point during this season. They should be getting their chance if things go right, but then again Broz contracted mono last year – which ties back into futures being uncertain. It was presumed last year that Jack St. Ivany would be back in the NHL, but he got hurt and has yet to come close to reclaiming the spot in the organization that he once had. You never know how things will play out, though smart money is definitely on those Broz and Hayes getting their chance at some point this season if all goes as hoped.

Murashov getting sent down might raise some eyebrows, let’s repeat again the kid is 21-years old in a NHL climate where not many players that age and younger play. Murashov also only has 17 career AHL games under his belt. His talent is impressive but seasoning is needed, the right call is sending him back to the minors gain experience. This year he won’t be bouncing from the ECHL to AHL, Murashov should be getting a hefty amount of time in WBS as their main goalie.

From there, not too many other surprises. Shame about Fabbri not being able to make it, but he didn’t showcase anything extraordinary or make a particularly strong case to show why he belonged on the team. The rest of the cuts were expected.

The Pens will find out Sunday at 2pm if Graves and the rest of the players clear waivers. It’s impossible to imagine anyone will be taking Graves off their hands, the others ought to be safe as well.

All of these roster moves, concurrent with placing Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty on the IR will bring Pittsburgh down to 23 players, the same number they can go into the season. Further decisions could be coming on Kindel and Harrison Brunicke but for now it looks like they are going to get a taste of the NHL regular season and make their debuts.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67594/penguins-waive-graves-send-several-young-players-to-ahl

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Bryan Rust out minimum of two weeks with injury

The questions about the Penguins’ opening night roster took a turn on Thursday morning with the announcement that one of their top forwards won’t be a part of it due to injury.

Forward Bryan Rust will miss a minimum of two weeks with a lower-body injury. pic.twitter.com/74LoZGsodw

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) October 2, 2025

Rust has appeared in one preseason game so far and was active in practices/scrimmages until recently. Being out two weeks “minimum” means that he can go on the IR, which only has a seven day minimum stay. That means Rust won’t count against the 23 players that Pittsburgh will name to their opening night roster, due on Monday.

That’s good news for players like Avery Hayes and Tristan Broz who have turned in impressive preseason performances and are looking to make their respective NHL debuts. It’s also probably good news for veterans like Danton Heinen and Noel Acciari, who now have an open slot to work with that the team wouldn’t have otherwise had with full health.

Rust’s absence opens the door that much further for Ville Koivunen to start the season in a scoring line role either with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin as his center. Without Rust, the Pens still have Rickard Rakell and Anthony Mantha in the mix, and several others like Heinen and Justin Brazeau have spent time playing with Malkin in camp as potential stand-ins. Hayes played with Crosby’s line in the previous game to some success, setting the captain up for a goal. The Pens have plenty of options now that the board has opened up a little bit further with the news that Rust will be out for the start of the season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67548/bryan-rust-out-minimum-of-two-weeks-with-injury

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Sidney Crosby moves back into top ten of NHL Network’s ‘Top 50 players right now’ series

Sidney Crosby has moved back into the top ten in the NHL Network’s “Top 50 players right now” series.

Crosby was ranked No. 11 on the list last year and heading into his 21st season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he’s ranked the 7th best player right now by the NHL Network.

The NHL Network’s “Top 50 players right now” series top 10 was released on Sunday with Connor McDavid at the top of the list for another year.

McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Cale Makar, and Nikita Kucherov round out the top five of the list with Aleksander Barkov ranked No. 6 ahead of Crosby.

Connor McDavid caps off NHL Network's #NHLTopPlayers list! https://t.co/MjmfBpMRrY pic.twitter.com/IgN7wpnZUc

— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) October 5, 2025

Crosby also was ranked No. 5 on the NHL Network’s Top 20 centers right now.

“It’s fascinating to watch,” said former NHL player and current analyst Brian Boyle. “You can learn so much from him, and he’s not done trying to get better.”

Crosby turned 38 years old this offseason and heads into his 21st NHL season, all with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and has yet to finish an NHL season averaging less than a point per game.

The Penguins’ season will get underway tomorrow night when the team travels to New York City to face the Rangers and former head coach Mike Sullivan.

Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/6...-nhl-networks-top-50-players-right-now-series

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Rangers 10/6/2025

Welcome to the 2025-26 season! Here’s everything you need to know ahead of tonight’s reunion with Mike Sullivan at Madison Square Garden.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (0-0-0) @ New York Rangers (0-0-0)

When: 8:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: National broadcast on ESPN, local on SN1 and TVAS

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are back at PPG Paints Arena for the 2025-26 home opener on Thursday against top 2025 pick Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders, two days before the Rangers visit for a rematch. Then it’s back on the road for an early-season West Coast swing that will take the Pens to Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

Opponent Track: After a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024, the Rangers took a huge step back last season and finished with 16 fewer wins. A bounce-back campaign from Igor Shesterkin will be key to getting the Rangers back into the playoff conversation.

Season Series: The Pens went 1-3 and were outscored by a total of 17-8 in four games against the Rangers last year.

Hidden Stat: For the third time in Penguins history, two teenagers are set to make their NHL debuts in the same game as Harrison Brunicke and Ben Kindel make it on the opening night roster. The last time this happened was when Kris Letang and Jordan Staal skated together in 2006.

Hidden Stat II: Ready to feel old? Sidney Crosby had scored 222 points in 160 regular-season games and claimed his first Art Ross and Hart Trophies by then time Kindel was born in 2007, per Penguins PR.

Hidden Stat, Rangers Version: The Rangers have an all-time record of 41-39-15-3 in home openers.

Getting to know the Rangers​

Projected lines (from Monday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Will Cuylle – JT Miller – Mika Zibanejad

Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Alexis Lafreniére

Conor Sheary – Noah Laba – Taylor Raddysh

Adam Edstrom – Sam Carrick – Matt Rempe

DEFENSEMEN

Vladislav Gavrikov – Adam Fox

Carson Soucy – Will Borgen

Urho Vaakanainen – Braden Schneider

Goalies: Igor Shesterkin, Jonathan Quick

Scratches: Matthew Robertson, Juuso Parssinen, Brett Berard

• Since the Penguins last saw the Rangers in February this roster has undergone quite a few changes. JT Miller has been named captain, taking over for now-Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba. Gone are K’Andre Miller and Chris Kreider; in are Vladislav Gavrikov, Taylor Raddysh and one notable old friend— former Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, who will be making his New York debut tonight against the Pens.
• Vincent Trocheck recently gave NHL.com’s Dan Rosen some insight into how he saw Sullivan’s system: “It’s not a man-on-man system where you’re just chasing your guy the entire shift, which a lot of times whenever you are doing that it does take away energy for offense. Any time you do turn the puck over you might not have the legs to get to offense, whereas in this system it’s more reading and reacting. You’re in your area, basically.”
• The Rangers also added former Penguins forward Conor Sheary the day before the season-opener after hosting him on a PTO in training camp.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines (from Monday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Ville Koivunen

Anthony Mantha – Evgeni Malkin – Justin Brazeau

Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Caleb Jones / Harrison Brunicke

Goalies: Tristan Jarry, Arturs Silos

Potential Scratches: Filip Hallander, Connor Clifton, Mathew Dumba

Injuries: Jack St. Ivany (week-to-week, lower body), Rutger McGroarty (indefinite, upper-body), Joel Blomqvist (week-to-week, lower body)

IR: Bryan Rust (week-to-week, lower body), Kevin Hayes (upper body, week-to-week)

• There are 13 returnees on the opening night roster (Rakell, Crosby, Koivunen, Malkin, Novak, Tomasino, Dewar, Lizotte, Acciari, Karlsson, Shea, Letang and Jarry).
• There are also 10 new names (Brazeau, Hallander, Kindel, Mantha, Brunicke, Clifton, Dumba, Jones, Wotherspoon and Silovs).
• With Blomqvist injured, Jarry is a safe bet as an opening night starter.

Penguins youth movement

The Penguins vets weighed in on the youngest members of the roster ahead of puck drop, per Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.

Sidney Crosby on Kindel: “I think he’s got a lot of poise with the puck, a lot of speed. Those two things probably stand out the most. I think he’s using his speed well. He’s finding guys, he distributes the puck really well, and he seems like he’s confident. It doesn’t seem like it’s been too fast for him or anything like that. To this point, he’s done a great job. So, sometimes it takes time to adjust all that. It seems like with every game, he’s getting more and more comfortable.”

Kris Letang on Brunicke: “He’s got tons of confidence with the puck. He has a pretty good set of skills, whether it’s skating, puck handling. Obviously, his confidence makes him really dangerous. He can hold onto pucks and use his patience. So, it’s going to be exciting to see what he can do at this level.”

Kindel will be wearing No. 81, while Brunicke will be wearing No. 45 for those looking to keep an eye out for the youngest Pens.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/67636/game-preview-pittsburgh-penguins-new-york-rangers-10-6-2025

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Gamethread: Penguins @ Rangers

For this first time this season, talk about the game with Pens fans here!

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-open-threads/67672/gamethread-penguins-rangers

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

There is a lot to like about Penguins win in season opener

There is a lot to like about the way the Pittsburgh Penguins played on Tuesday night in their 3-0 season opening win against the New York Rangers. Is it anything that should change your expectations for the season overall? No. It is one game, against a team that probably is not as good as it thinks it is. The Penguins are still probably not going to win a lot of games this season and Tuesday’s performance is not going to change that expectation.

That does not mean you should not still enjoy games like that. Not only because they won, but the way in which they won.

Let’s look at some of the positives overall.

1. They simply played really well​

This is not meant to be an exaggeration or hyperbole, but I thought that was one of the most structured and disciplined 60-minute games the Penguins have played in years. They were crisp. They out-played the Rangers for most of the night. While starting goalie Arturs Silovs stopped all 25 shots he faced to record the shutout, the Penguins did a fantastic job in front of him by limiting the number of chances. They were not giving up multiple odd-man rushes per period (there were almost none against them) and they mostly kept things to the perimeter. Perhaps the most impressive part of the night was the fact they went into the third period holding a 1-0 lead, and not only held on to it, they also significantly outplayed the Rangers over the duration of the period.

The Penguins outshot the Rangers 12-5 for the period and held a near 70 percent expected goal share (1.31 to 0.59), all while protecting a one-goal lead for the first 18 minutes of the period.

They locked the game down. It never seemed to be in doubt or in danger of slipping away, even though it was only a one-goal game until Justin Brazeau added an empty-net tally (his second goal of the game).

When was the last time you saw the Penguins do that to a team? It did not happen often a year ago. Or the year before that, either.

2. You should feel good about the way they won​

Given where the Penguins are in their rebuild, and the type of player they still need (a Gavin McKenna ….. or somebody like him), there is a segment of the Penguins fan base (and media) that is still wondering if maybe they are not quite bad enough this season and that they might be too good. It all seems like a ridiculous premise when you look at the state of the left side of their defense, and even some of their forward depth, and that does not even get into the total wild-card that is the goaltending, but I kind of get it. There are still good players here. Quite a few actually. With more set to return to the lineup soon.

I have made this point here (and elsewhere) before, but I do not have a problem with the Penguins not tearing this thing all the way down. I am okay with them having good players still on the roster. I am okay with this rebuild not being a blatant tank. There was a time 10-plus years ago where I would have been on team tank. My concern now is that I have seen so many of those attempts fail, across all sports, that I just do not know if it is worth doing it. Chicago’s into year three of its post-tank season with Connor Bedard and that team is as bad as it has ever been. I do not want that. The Penguins do not want that. You should not want that.

The goal isn’t to get a particular player. The goal is to eventually rebuild into a good, Stanley Cup contending hockey team. There are a lot of ways to do that, and it does not always require putting your team into a situation where it has to take 10 years to become good again.

The best-case scenario for the Penguins this season for their rebuild is that they play competitive, entertaining games, their young players get better and show progress, and they get some lottery ball luck to go their way no matter where they finish in the lottery standings.

Here is what I am getting at in relation to Tuesday’s game and their 2025-26 season as a whole: If the Penguins win games like that, and win games because their young players make an impact and play well, I am not going to be mad about that.

I know they need a potential superstar to add to their young talent pool. I know this class is loaded with those players at the top. I know picking at the top of the draft is typically the best way to get that type of talent.

I am very well aware of all of those statements of fact.

Even so, I am okay with wins like Tuesday because of who played well and who contributed to it. It was not necessarily a case of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin dragging them to a win (though, they did play well, and especially Malkin). It was a collective team effort where a lot of young players shined and played well.

You want guys like Kindel, Brunicke, Ville Koivunen, and Rutger McGroarty (when he returns) to play well. I will even include Arturs Silovs in that. You want those guys to get better and show they have NHL futures ahead of them and that they are going to be good players. If that happens, they are going to win some games. I am not going to complain about that if that is what happens.

Speaking of….

3. An encouraging debut for the two teenagers​

Say this for Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke: the NHL stage, and especially the stage of Madison Square Garden on opening night on national TV, was not too big for them. Not at all. Not even close.

They did not look out of place at any point. Especially late in the game when head coach Dan Muse was giving them big minutes in a tight one-goal game, and when Kindel was moved to the first line.

While neither player factored into the scoring, they both played solid, strong NHL games that were 10 years beyond their actual ages. You would have never known they were teenagers playing in their first real NHL games when you watched them play.

I thought Kindel was the most impressive of the two, just for the confidence he displayed and the way he always seemed to be in the right place, at the right time, and was willing to do a lot of thankless work along the walls. He was confident, he was in control at times, and he just played a really good hockey game.

This might be a controversial opinion, but if they both play the next eight games the way they played on Tuesday, I would think long and hard about keeping them in Pittsburgh beyond that this season. I don’t want to hear about not being ready, or their development, or any other narratives around sending them back to juniors. While I think Brunicke is probably going to stay no matter what, that is also true for Kindel. I know, his development. Yeah, he needs to get bigger and stronger. But don’t you think there is something to be said for sticking in the NHL for some of that? If he shows he can play, and if he shows he is ready from a skill standpoint, wouldn’t it do him more good to have NHL training facilities, NHL equipment and NHL nutrition to accomplish some of those goals rather than going back to the junior leagues? I think there is something to be said for that.

It is also jumping to a lot of conclusions after one game. We still need to see another eight games from them and see how they play in those games. But if the Penguins want to get young and go with a youth movement, let’s just do it.

4. Arturs Silovs is an interesting player on this team​

Silovs did not have to be spectacular on Tuesday, but you have to love the fact he stopped the shots you expect an NHL goalie to stop and he made the occasional big save when needed. That is another thing we have not seen much from goalies around this team lately. He earned that shutout. While he is 24 years old and a little older than the likes of Kindel, Brunicke, Koivunen and McGroarty, I will still include him as part of the youth movement. There is still some untapped potential and upside here, and given the way he played in Vancouver’s system he is not just a random guy. He might have a legitimate, bonafide future. Sergei Murashov is obviously the Penguins top goalie prospect, and one with incredibly high upside, and he does figure to be their goalie of the future. Even with that being said, there is nothing that says Silovs can not still be a capable NHL goalie.

5. Evgeni Malkin showed he still has something left​

While the Penguins loaded up the top line with Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Koivunen, it left Malkin sandwiched between offseason additions Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha. When you see that as your second line it kind of makes the “are they too good” discussions seem even funnier, but when Bryan Rust and McGroarty return the top-six will probably look very different.

Still, Malkin and his new linemates made the best of their situation and played like the Penguins’ best line of the night.

In 9:34 of 5-on-5 ice-time together that trio scored a goal (the only 5-on-5 goal of the game for either team), had 16-8 shot attempts advantage and controlled more than 80 percent of the expected goals (84.6 percent) and scoring chances (80 percent) when they were on the ice. They also had a 6-3 high-danger scoring chance advantage (66.7 percent) when they were on the ice. Brazeau added a second goal on the empty-net situation, and while Mantha had one or two head-scratching decisions with the puck, he also kept putting himself in good positions.

6. Credit to Dan Muse for his lineup choices​

The Penguins made it clear they were going to let youth take control of the roster this season and were not going to just give veterans guaranteed roster spots or lineup spots. They stuck true to that on Tuesday, with Kindel and Brunicke being in the starting lineup alongside Crosby, Malkin and Letang, while Kindel finished third among the team’s forwards in 5-on-5 ice-time. They sat veteran defensemen Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton. Perhaps the most shocking decision of them all, however, was the decision to go with Silovs in goal over long-time starting goalie Tristan Jarry. Talk about sending a message right off from the start.

Muse not only had the Penguins playing a solid, structured and disciplined road game, he also pushed a lot of the right and necessary buttons with his roster decisions and lineup choices. Very promising debut. From everybody. That is just a really solid win.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/pittsburg...as-a-lot-to-like-about-penguins-season-opener

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Opening with a win

Last season, the Penguins hosted the New York Rangers to open the 2024-25 campaign and were thrashed by a score of 6-0 on home ice. This time around, it was the Rangers playing host to the Penguins at Madison Square Garden to drop the puck on 2025-26, and the Penguins were able to exact a little revenge on their Metro division rivals with a 3-0 victory on the back of a pair of tallies from the newly acquired Justin Brazeau. Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke made their NHL debuts while Arturs Silovs tosses a shutout in his Penguins debut. [Pensburgh]

Next up for the Penguins, the home opener against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Pens Points…​

As Dan Muse enters his first season as a NHL head coach, he’s looking to build relationships with his players along the way. With youth and experience across the Penguins roster, Muse has an unique opportunity in front of him this season. [Penguins]

While the last few Penguins seasons have been loaded with frustration and felt like a slog at times, 2025-26 casts a different feeling even if the team is not expected to be very good. There are many storylines surrounding this team that make this season one to watch. [The Athletic $$]

Of course, not all the storylines around this team will be fun with the ever present rumors and talk about Sidney Crosby and his future with the Penguins a hot topic of discussion amongst the hockey media obsessed with the topic. [ESPN]

In a sports landscape where free agency exists, it’s quite the impressive feat that Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are embarking on their 20th season as teammates, something that has never before been achieved. [Sporting News]

Thanks to the Penguins social media team, fans got a behind the scenes look at a moment that Harrison Brunicke and Ben Kindel will never forget. Watch the moment below.

A moment Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke will never forget. pic.twitter.com/6VxofKPdoi

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 7, 2025

NHL News and Notes…​

For local hockey watchers and prospect followers, Gavin McKenna began his season at Penn State over the weekend and did not disappoint in helping the Nittany Lions get started with a pair of wins over Arizona State. [Sporting News]

Alex Pietrangelo will not play in 2025-26, regular season or playoffs. Due to the new rules preventing cap circumvention for the playoffs, the Vegas Golden Knights had to rule out Pietrangelo for the entirety of 25-26 to get cap relief. [Daily Faceoff]

Early in the offseason, the Washington Capitals accidentally sent out an email stating that 2025-26 was going to be the final season for Alex Ovechkin. That was quickly corrected, but for Ovechkin, season No. 21 could really be his last. [The Hockey News]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67682/pens-points-opening-with-a-win

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Gamethread: Islanders @ Penguins

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-open-threads/67676/gamethread-islanders-penguins

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Recap: Malkamania still running wild, brother. Pens defeat Islanders

Pregame​

The Penguins warm up in yellow helmets and yellow socks, gee I wonder what’s going to happen!

Here’s the lineup, Filip Hallander and Tristan Jarry make their season debuts.

How we're lining up for the home opener.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/myGELRRlfK

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 9, 2025

First period​

The Penguins come out to the ice, and they have taken off their standard black home jersey to reveal a new, yellow alternate jersey.

The longest-tenured trio in North American sports take the ice in Pittsburgh for season 20. pic.twitter.com/ZchAct25nA

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 9, 2025

Pittsburgh got the first power play of the night and it only took 23 seconds on it to score a goal. Sidney Crosby fished a puck away from Ilya Sorokin before the netminder could cover it, and a split second later Evgeni Malkin had put the puck in the net. 1-0 Pens.

A PPG FOR PGH FROM GENO MACHINOOO pic.twitter.com/7CTPsnoB91

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 9, 2025

The Islanders would find a tying goal following a nice zone entry by first overall pick Matthew Schaefer in his debut game. The puck eventually found Schaefer again and Jonathan Drouin found a way to lose himself in between Hallander and Ben Kindel. Drouin’s shot fluttered end over end but somehow the change-up pitch eluded Jarry. 1-1 game.

All tied up! #LGI | @Ford pic.twitter.com/YzpkgwvEhD

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 9, 2025

Shots in the first period were 12-11 in favor of NYI. It was a tale of two periods with Pittsburgh the better team in the early going and then the Islanders starting to take over more as it progressed.

Second period​

New York took the lead, Mat Barzal attacked to the center of the ice and drew Ryan Shea toward that way before leaving a pass to the outside for Kyle Palmieiri. Palmieri ripped a shot from inside the circle back across Jarry’s body to take the lead. 2-1 NYI.

Palms' 1st of the year. #LGI | @Ford pic.twitter.com/VB6FCn3qZy

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 10, 2025

After two somewhat suspect goals, Jarry bailed the Pens out with a tremendous leg save from right in front of his net.

The Pens took advantage of that and tied the game shortly afterwards. Hallander curled up and made a pass over for a streaking Harrison Brunicke. Brunicke shot on the rush by Sorokin. 2-2 game.

Have a night, Bruno pic.twitter.com/65IkVZvIWJ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 10, 2025

The Pens get their lead back with a Sidney Crosby power play goal. Crosby out-muscled Ryan Pulock and worked in towards the back door. It was a 4v3, giving plenty of space for Malkin to simply find the target and make a hard pass for Crosby to deflect into the net. 3-2 Pens.

Who else missed seeing Sidney Crosby score goals at @PPGPaintsArena? pic.twitter.com/228103KCgb

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 10, 2025

New York tied the game 39 seconds before the period ended. Simon Holmstrom fired a pass through Caleb Jones and Maxim Shabanov was able to get a strong shot away quickly to tie things back up.

Maxim Shabanov's first NHL goal! #LGI | @Ford pic.twitter.com/EixdOHp5nf

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 10, 2025

Wild period of action. A lot of swings back and forth in dizzying effect. The tie feels well-deserved for both sides after 40, both have done some good and both have gotten burned.

Third period​

Malkin springs Justin Brazeau for a breakaway and the big guy converts on the backhand. Pens up 4-3 with just over five minutes left.

Justin Brazeau has three goals in two games this season pic.twitter.com/1ge3sISava

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 10, 2025

NYI gets their chance to get back in, rookie Ben Kindel takes a hooking penalty and the Isles pull their goalie with about 2:40 remaining to make it a 6v4 edge. Jarry stood tall on that, and later with a close call with about 14 seconds left on a scramble. After the whistle, Jonathan Drouin dropped Connor Dewar with a cross-check to the head and was assessed a five-minute major.

This being the Penguins, of course they can’t manage the puck and give Barzal one more chance in the dying seconds of the game but Jarry bails the team out with a big save to close out the victory.

Some thoughts​

• What do we think about the new alternate jerseys? They certainly are very yellow. I saw them getting called the floating Penguin, since there is no golden triangle. That logo is big too. Don’t mind the arms with the three narrow black bands, and there is a new style of font for the numbers for the first time in forever which is a nice change. Looks kind of weird that the only bits of white in the whole thing are the outlines of the numbers on the back and shoulders (aside from the white space in the Penguin logo itself) and a very thin strip down the pants. Couldn’t unsee that once noticing it. Not the best, not the worst is the verdict here. Fine for a year or two until the next concept comes around. The longer the game went on, the less I personally liked them. Kinda looked like knockoff Nashville jerseys. Further, the shoulder logo with the igloo and three wavy rivers in a triangle is unrecognizable to the branding and frankly kinda dumb and out of place. I’m talking myself into more bad than good as we go, if you couldn’t tell. But the matte yellow helmets (and no helmet sponsor) was a nice touch, and the white outline on the numbers made that look good. Just could have used a little less yellow and a triangle border on a logo about 85% of the size of what they came up with.
• Came away with a less middling first impression of Schaefer. Seeing him in the NHL was something, his skating does make him look like a left handed Cale Makar with his smooth stride, fast acceleration and impressive top-end speed. High praise indeed, he scoots around the ice and had a lot of confidence with the puck. He did not look like a player in his first career NHL game, it came very naturally to him like he’s been doing it for years. Lucky Islanders to win the lottery draft, based on this first viewing it doesn’t seem like going out very far on a limb to predict that Schaefer is going to be a good one for a long time, and maybe better than simply “good”.
• Second game of the year, second multi-point night for Malkin. He’s come back from injury or 4 Nation breaks or season starts and his legs have looked very good, which they do again at the early stages of this season. This has tended to fade and drop off a bit as time goes on, which given Malkin’s advanced age you’d expect that to happen eventually. 39-year old legs with a couple of knee surgeries aren’t going to last forever, though it’s heartening to note that a lot of his points this season are more a result of positioning or hand-eye plays more than using the jets to generate scoring chances. Perhaps some of what he’s doing could be sustained – even if the 2.5 points average per game can’t. As always for a player and personality like Malkin, him flying around the ice will draw attention, but the secret with him is that it’s never truly been about his physical form. It’s the mental/confidence side of the equation, when that part of his game is clicking right, he’s still a great player. When that’s hard to get going and believing in himself, he’s not. Right now is clearly one of the good times and hot streaks fueled by the joy/excitement of playing well.
• Great move by Brazeau on his goal in the third period. It was a goal scorer’s type of goal to pull the puck out of his skates while on the rush, sell a forehand deke enough to fool a pretty darn good goalie and then go to the backhand AND lift the puck. That was after dragging his leg at the blueline to make sure he would stay onside (that’s where a 6’6” frame comes in handy). All in all, super impressive, let the good times roll for that whole line. Brazeau now has two games with the Pens and two GWG’s, not half bad.
• It’s only been two games, so let’s not run him off the team but there haven’t been very many visible moments for Ville Koivunen on that Crosby line or when they are he’s being bumped off a puck and the play goes to die. Bryan Rust can’t get healthy soon enough. There’s a place somewhere for Koivunen but maybe not in the spotlight of that role right now. It hasn’t been a large sample yet but the first line isn’t working with no points there yet, and with Koivunen only playing 11 minutes at even strength tonight, that might already be beginning. Hallander, Kindel and Tommy Novak all got at least a shift with Crosby+Rakell. Koivunen’s got to pick it up or show something in a hurry or he’s not going to stay in that spot for much longer.
• On the other side, a goal is going to come soon for Anthony Mantha. He drew a penalty in the second period driving to the net and then put a deflection/swing on a puck out of mid-air later in the period that put extra velocity on it.
• You don’t see many games that feature a 1st career goal and a 625th career goal. Nice job by Brunicke to open his account; he had a few fumbles in his own end – as a rookie defenseman is bound to have and he also showed the skating and hockey IQ to jump up in the play and the skill to finish, which is his uncommon traits. On the other side, just another day at the office for Crosby to out-work an opponent and get to a great scoring spot and put the puck in the net.
• The Tristan Jarry experience was in full effect tonight. That’s not meant as a compliment or a dig as much to attempt to explain a goalie that makes it complicated. The first two goals he gave up were enough to make you shake your head and wonder how an NHL goalie could get beat on those shots (the first more so than the second). Then Jarry makes a great stop from point blank range and the Pens tie the game. Jarry turns away a shorthanded breakaway and his team is able to take the lead soon after. Not pretty, not perfect, but enough to win with some great third period saves too including at the last second on Barzal. Last season at his worst, Jarry would have let the two weak goals snowball into three or four goals and gotten himself pulled out of the game and the team would limp to a blowout loss. For one night at least he was able to hold the worst at bay and recover to do enough to play winning hockey.

Two games in and two victories for the Penguins. Just as everyone suspected, eh? Fun start to the season with the power play clicking, the Malkin line firing in goals left and right and the defense holding it together against all odds and conventional wisdom. Rematch time on Saturday night against the Rangers.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...ll-running-wild-brother-pens-defeat-islanders

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

How to make sure PensBurgh shows up in your Google search

As many of you are likely aware, Google searches are … different these days.

[The good news is Google is offering a solution for folks who like to get their news from specific sources. If you want to help PensBurgh — while also streamlining all your Google searches — there is now a way.

Simply click on this link and add PensBurgh as one of your “Source preferences.” That’s all there is to it!

Back in August, the tech giant debuted a feature called “Preferred Sources.” It’s a way for Google to prominently feature the results from websites you trust, like PensBurgh:

“With the launch of Preferred Sources in the U.S. and India, you can select your favorite sources and stay up to date on the latest content from the sites you follow and subscribe to — whether that’s your favorite sports blog or a local news outlet. …

“When you select your preferred sources, you’ll start to see more of their articles prominently displayed within Top Stories, when those sources have published fresh and relevant content for your search.”

As some of you might know, AI searches are hurting outlets around the world and in all spaces. We’ve worked hard at PensBurgh to build a brand you can trust and rely on for Pittsburgh Penguins coverage. Our goal is to serve you, the fans.

If you’re a fan of our work and want to get the best Penguins coverage possible, this is an excellent win-win to improve your Google searches while helping PensBurgh out.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/67738/how-to-make-sure-pensburgh-shows-up-in-your-google-search