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Here are your Pens Points for this Friday morning…
The Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to South Florida on Thursday to fight the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Pittsburgh, led largely by its captain, Sidney Crosby, and Tristan Jarry, had an answer for everything the Panthers did on Thursday night, leading to an impressive 5-3 win. [Recap]
Sidney Crosby has tied Mario Lemieux’s franchise record for the most multi-point games. [The Hockey News]
The Penguins have boasted an impressive, if somewhat unforeseen, record in the early stages of the 2025-26 season. But, as Gretz pens, we’re about to see what this team is really made of, as they prepare to play what’s expected to be a much more difficult slate of games over the next few weeks. [PensBurgh]
Some notable off-ice news concerning the Penguins: the team no longer owns the development rights to the Lower Hill District site where the Civic Arena once sat. The Penguins, along with Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Sports and Exhibition Authority, reached an agreement in 2007 to give those rights to the team as part of a deal that helped keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. But that deal expired at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Development rights have reverted to the URA and SEA. [Trib Live]
News and notes from around the NHL…
Is Gavin McKenna in any real danger of being unseated as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2026 NHL Draft? [Sportsnet]
Former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan will be joining the National Hockey League’s hockey operations department, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. [TSN]
Thursday’s game between the San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers was monumental in many respects. San Jose notched its first win of the season, a 6-5 OT thriller, but what led to the Sharks earning two points was something else entirely: a five-point night from teenager Macklin Celebrini, including three goals and two assists. Celebrini is the fourth teenager in NHL history with multiple five-point games in his career, joining Dale Hawerchuk, Bryan Trottier, and Wayne Gretzky. Elite company. [The Sporting News via Yahoo!]
With their 5-3 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday night the Pittsburgh Penguins improved to 6-2-0 on the young season, making them easily one of the biggest surprises in the NHL through the first two-plus weeks of the season. Nobody expected this, even with a relatively soft early season schedule.
It has been fun to watch.
Along with the team itself being a major surprise, there have also been some surprising individual developments on this team through the first eight games of the season.
Let’s talk about five of them.
Ben Kindel
In the span of about four months Ben Kindel went from being viewed by a lot of upset fans as a reach of a draft pick to looking like he is already a damn good NHL player at 18 years of age. Kyle Dubas and Wes Clark may have simply cooked with this pick.
Kindel is a surprise not only for the fact that he made the NHL roster in his draft year — an extremely rare accomplishment for a pick outside of the top-five — but also because he has legitimately been one of the team’s best players. That is not an exaggeration or hyperbole, either. He simply has been, even if it is not yet producing a lot of goals and points for himself. Even so, he does have two goals in his seven games (and both of them were on staggering shots) and has some of the best underlying numbers on the team when it comes to scoring chances, expected goals and driving possession.
He is not a passenger next to Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. He is driving his own line, and doing so in a really impressive manner. His playmaking is obvious, his defensive play and diligence without the puck is shocking for a teenager and he just always seems to be in the right place, at the right time and always making something positive happen when he is on the ice.
There are not enough positive things to say about him and his play with the Penguins so far this season. He belongs here. Right now. They are nuts if they send him back to junior hockey. They are simply nuts.
Harrison Brunicke
Everything that I just said about Kindel can also be applied to Brunicke, the team’s 19-year-old defenseman.
His presence on the roster is not as big of a surprise as Kindel because I think there was always an expectation that he might be here this season. He is a year older, already had an NHL training camp under his belt (where he impressed) and was rapidly rising on the team’s prospect board. The surprise might be the fact that he has played really well as a 19-year-old defenseman in the NHL.
I think he has had a few more noticeable tough shifts than Kindel has, but that is to be expected with a young defenseman. Overall, though, it is hard not to be impressed with what he is doing and the way he looks when he is on the ice.
I thought one of the most impressive plays he made so far is one that did not even result in a goal. He took a pass off the rush in San Jose, deked around a defender and then just absolutely wired a shot that rang off the post. If that shot had bounced into the net instead of away from it, it would be one of the Penguins’ prettiest goals of the season. Even as it is, it was still a fantastic glimpse into the skill and talent he possesses and what he can do on the ice and with the puck.
The Penguins farm system has improved significantly over the past two years. Kindel and Brunicke are two shining examples of it, and they are already making impacts in the NHL. It is encouraging for both now in the short-term and in the long-term future.
Justin Brazeau
Evgeni Malkin has two new wingers in Brazeau and Anthony Mantha, and they have been an impressive line offensively so far. Putting two big bodies on Malkin’s wings has taken some of the physical pressure off of him, and at times they have simply bullied their ways to goals. Brazeau has also showed some shockingly smooth hands and already has five goals on the season. They have not been garbage goals, either. Some of them have been strong displays of skill. He is not going to keep scoring goals at this pace, but he did enter this season having scored 16 goals in 95 games (around 15 goals per 82 games) and has had some big offensive years at the lower levels. Maybe there is something here.
He scored 61 goals in his final OHL year (and 39 the year before), and had some strong years in the American Hockey League offensively.
It always just seems to take him a couple of years at each level before he figures it out and really starts to shine.
Late bloomer? Just a lucky streak to start the season? Whatever it is, I do not think anybody expected five goals and eight total points from him through the first eight games of the season.
The goalies
This has been the Penguins’ biggest question mark for years, and it is one of the things that still gives me pause about fully buying into this fast start for the season. We have seen this movie from Tristan Jarry before where he plays great early in the season and then struggles in the second half. So we will have to just see how it plays out. But the Jarry-Artus Silovs duo has been mostly fantastic this season as part of their rotation.
Between the two of them their .920 all-situations save percentage is the fourth-best in the NHL and their .934 save percentage is sixth-best in the NHL.
They each have a shutout, they have each been solid by making the routine saves and an occasional spectacular save. They have simply been very, very strong.
Erik Karlsson
It was very tempting for me to include Connor Dewar or somebody from the fourth line in this spot, but I will give them an honorable mention for their strong play. They have really had some nice momentum-changing shifts in games. Still, I am going to go with Karlsson as one of the biggest surprises, even if that seems weird to say about a three-time Norris Trophy winner and future Hall of Fame player.
It just got to a point with him during his first two years in Pittsburgh where most of the fanbase just gave up on the idea of him being the player they hoped he would be. The points and the offense were always there, but the overall play was not always there. The mistakes. The lapses. It was almost as if he had finally become the player his harshest critics had always thought he was throughout his career, and that maybe his days as an elite player were finished.
Maybe they are not? Because these first eight games this season might be the best hockey he has played as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Which is kind of wild to say because he has yet to score a goal and has five assists in the first eight games. The offense is not yet there, but the overall play mostly is. Whether you think the Penguins can make the playoffs again before his contract expires with him being a part of that, or if you still want to view him as potential trade bait, him playing well is an important development.
Maybe Mike Sullivan hated him. Maybe he hated Mike Sullivan. Maybe they hated each other. Maybe Dan Muse is just getting the best out of him, as he seems to be doing with everybody on the roster right now.
Who: Columbus Blue Jackets (3-4-0, 6 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (6-2-0, 12 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Broadcast in the local markets on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sportsnet Ohio, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens are looking at a busy next week mostly spent on the road. The stretch starts out with a back-to-back set of games at home against the St. Louis Blues on Monday and on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, followed by road games in Minnesota, Winnipeg and Toronto in a span of five days.
Opponent Track: After losing three of four games to start the season, the Blue Jackets have recently turned things around with back-to-back wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and at the Dallas Stars.
Columbus is coming in on the second half of a back-to-back after losing 5-1 to Alex Ovechkin and the visiting Washington Capitals on Friday night. But that final score doesn’t reflect how close things were for most of the game. The Blue Jackets were within one goal until early in the third period, and Washington head coach Spencer Carbery said afterwards he believed “we just stole two points.”
Season Series: The Pens are playing in Columbus on Nov. 28 and Jan. 4, followed by another home game against the Jackets on Jan. 17. Last season the Blue Jackets won the first two games of the series before the Pens came out on top of a 6-3 victory in March.
Hidden Stat: Since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL in 2000 the Penguins have conceded just four regulation losses to the team (24-4-1 overall record). One of those four losses took place on Nov. 15 of last year.
Getting to know the Blue Jackets
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Dmitri Voronkov – Sean Monahan – Kirill Marchenko
Boone Jenner – Adam Fantilli – Kent Johnson
Cole Sillinger – Charlie Coyle – Mathieu Olivier
Zach Aston-Reese – Isac Lundestrom – Yegor Chinakhov
DEFENSEMEN
Zach Werenski / Denton Mateychuk
Ivan Provorov / Damon Severson
Dante Fabbro / Erik Gudbrandon
Goalies: Elvis Merzlikins (Jet Greaves started last night)
Potential scratches: Miles Wood (injury), Jake Christiansen
Injured reserve: None
- Blue Jackets forward Miles Wood returned to practice Thursday for the first time since Oct. 13, when he took a high stick to the face he said left him afraid he had lost his left eye, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. He remained sidelined for Friday’s game against the Caps.
Season stats
via hockeydb, does not include last night’s game against the Caps
- Denton Mateychuk, a 2022 first-round pick skating on the Blue Jackets’ top pairing during his second NHL season, scored his second goal of the season on a Sean Monahan assist Friday night.
- The penalty kill has been a serious issue for the Blue Jackets so far this season. The team headed into Friday’s matchup with Washington having killed off an NHL-low 60 percent of penalties so far this season. You can find multiple examples from early in the season of the unit breaking down and allowing an opponent an all-but unchallenged opportunity at the netfront.
Top cheese deserves a second lookpic.twitter.com/aVycV4Utqk
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) October 10, 2025
- The Capitals took advantage of those struggles by scoring back-to-back power-play goals late in Friday night’s third period.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines (from Thursday’s game)
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Evgeni Malkin – Justin Brazeau
Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Filip Hallander
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Caleb Jones / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Philip Tomasino, Mathew Dumba, Harrison Brunicke
IR: Kevin Hayes (upper body), Jack St. Ivany (lower body), Rutger McGroarty (upper body), Joel Blomqvist (lower body)
- The Penguins are heading into tonight’s matchup on a four-game winning streak. Should the Pens remain in the win column tonight, it would mark the team’s longest winning streak since November 2023.
- Sidney Crosby is on the rarest of goalscoring streaks. He has scored on all five of his last five shots while recording at least one goal in each of the Penguins’ last four games.
It’s the last October Sunday of the year, and just like that we have teams approaching double-digit games played in the NHL. The season is still young, but more data and games are rolling in.
Let’s go around the circuit to check on all the teams in the Metropolitan Division and check on the week that was. So far, this division is off to a great start, almost every team is on target or exceeding what was expected of them through the first few weeks of the season (the Rangers may be the sole exception and certainly aren’t in a comfortable spot at the moment).
New Jersey — Seven straight wins for the Devils! This week New Jersey came out on top against Toronto, Minnesota and San Jose, by a combined score of 12-4. Impressive stuff going on in NJ, it’s all systems go for them right now. Things don’t get any easier with a home-and-home starting today against Colorado.
Pittsburgh — Anyone else noticed the Pens lead the NHL with an all situations 13.97% shooting percentage? No matter! The vibes are sky high, let’s see how long this hot roll will continue. Maybe it goes for a while, and Pittsburgh fans deserve feeling good after a few years of just kinda hanging around. It’s a credit to them so far that they’ve been able to convert so many chances to goals and get off to a much stronger start than anyone could have expected.
Carolina — The Hurricanes were on the road and took on three elite Western Conference teams this week in Vegas (4-1 loss), Colorado (5-4 shootout win) and Dallas (3-2 loss). Tough road to go down there. As an aside and only place to ramble on this tangent; the game against the Avalanche featured them wearing Quebec Nordiques jerseys and Carolina wearing the Hartford Whalers getup. Many loved it, and obviously they are great jerseys and primo nostalgia but I did not like it. That’s just rubbing it in. You’re not the Hartford Whalers, you killed the Whalers by moving them. Imagine if the Penguins moved to Kansas City and played a game with the old logo? Awful. Hardly the biggest deal and maybe the point was a surface level ‘oh that’s nice’ reaction, just not a fan of teams reverting back to their franchise’s past that they were the ones who destroyed.
Washington — The Caps sandwiched two wins around losses to Vancouver and Ottawa to start and end the week. Last night’s game was fun, Alex Ovechkin celebrated game 1,500 with Washington in a 7-1 loss. Linus Ullmark lost his mind and skated all the way down the ice to get involved in a scrum. We could use more goalie fights these days.
NY Islanders — Over the past few years the Islanders have been scrappy, resilient, stubborn but typically boring or a chore. Now with Matthew Schaefer (and to a lesser extent Emil Heineman and a healthy Mat Barzal) are the Islanders…frisky and fun? It’s quite the turnaround from being a team to slog through games to now being an exciting one. This week will be a huge one to find out just where NYI stands, they have a road trip that takes them through Boston, Washington and Carolina.
Philadelphia — The Flyers might be getting their legs under them, after losing three of the first four games to start the season, they’ve now won three out of four including a shootout win over the Islanders yesterday. The Trevor Zegras experiment is going well out the gates, Zegras has eight points in the first eight games with Philadelphia. Goalie Dan Vladar has been playing some really good hockey lately too, strangely enough with his history.
Columbus — Last night was a nice response game in Pittsburgh for the Blue Jackets, who absorbed a tough 5-1 loss the night before to Washington. Columbus is another team on the rise that is a fun watch. Two or three times their defensemen had to pull pucks off the goal line to prevent goals, everyone is pitching in!
NY Rangers — Mike Sullivan is not having a good time so far in New York. The Rangers need to “learn how to win” and have played some situationally terrible hockey. The ironic thing is that Sullivan has gotten NYR above water in chances and shored up their awful defensive play from last year. They still have a lot of work to do to get things settled in, Sullivan hasn’t been able to erase the turmoil.
The IR list for the Penguins is growing. A few days after Caleb Jones was lost for eight weeks with a lower body injury, Rickard Rakell will now be on the shelf for 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery on his left hand.
Rakell was struck in the hand in last night’s loss to Columbus. He has been a staple on the first line with Sidney Crosby and has eight points (3 goals and 5 assists) in nine games this season. The Penguins have started out a strong 6-2-1 on the season but will now have to deal with losing one of their top forwards for the future.
An internal replacement could be on the table, Ville Koivunen has excelled in the AHL with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in nine games with Wilkes-Barre this month after being sent down following two quiet games in the NHL to start the season.
Koivunen was back with the NHL team in practice on Sunday.
Beyond Koivunen, there were other choices as well. Danton Heinen is leading the entire AHL in scoring with 12 points. Tristan Broz is also off to a good start with six points in seven AHL games. Pittsburgh only has 12 healthy forwards currently on the roster and figure to need some depth from someone in the minors, since the Pens are about to start a busy stretch of the schedule with three games in four days (and four games in six days, five in eight) and have been managing the workload of 18-year old Ben Kindel.
For now, it will be a big blow to lose Rakell, who was third on the team among forwards in ice time and among their leading scorers. Rakell is one of two Penguins who has averaged over a minute per game on their power play and penalty kill (Bryan Rust being the other), so his loss will be felt in a trickle down manner to press many others up a level. That begun with Anthony Mantha taking Rakell’s spot last night on the team’s top power play group.
The first two weeks of the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins season have gone way better than anybody expected, and this past week was no exception. I looked at the three games they were facing a week ago and realistically expected three or maybe four points out of it. They ended up getting five. The games against Florida and Columbus were definitely not their prettiest of the season, with the latter arguably being their worst performance of the season outside of the late, dramatic comeback.
While the Penguins were beating up on the bottom-tier teams on the schedule to open the season, the games in Florida and against Columbus were more about goaltending stepping up and some serious shooting percentage swings going their way. That is not a sustainable recipe for success, so it will be interesting to see if they reverse that trend, or if maybe some cracks in the strong start are beginning to show.
The schedule also gets a little tougher this week with games against St. Louis on Monday, Philadelphia on Tuesday, Minnesota on Thursday and Winnipeg on Saturday. The latter three games begin a four-game road trip (tied for the second-longest trip of the season), while they also play their first set of back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday with the Blues and Flyers.
This is a big change in the schedule based on the way the season began.
Not only have the Penguins mostly drawn favorable matchups, they have also had a lot of scheduling advantages where they had yet to play a back-to-back while they played multiple opponents on the back end of back-to-back.
All of that helps.
Now it is going to swing the other way.
As for the opponents themselves, the Blues are off to a bad start in the standings, but are not getting any goaltending help. They have pushed the pace of play in their games and are one of the top teams in expected goal share, scoring chance share and high-danger scoring chance share. What’s held them back has been the league’s worst 5-on-5 save percentage. It will be a big test for the Penguins to see if they can reverse the trend from the past two games.
I am still not sure what to make of the Flyers at this point, but Dan Vladar has been off to a surprisingly good start in goal and Trevor Zegras looks like he might be getting a bounce back with a fresh start in Philadelphia.
Matvei Michkov, however, has been quiet so far. You have to think a breakout game is coming from him at some point.
Minnesota’s early performance is simply not matching the talent on paper. I liked this team a lot coming into the season and thought with better injury luck they could be a sleeper team in the West. Instead, they have been awful with only three wins in 10 games and some nasty underlying numbers to go with it.
Winnipeg on Saturday might simply be their toughest game of the season.
That is eight possible points on the schedule. If they get more than four that would be quite an accomplishment given the opponents and schedule.
But even more than the opponents and the games, the most intriguing thing to watch this week will be some individual players. Specifically as it relates to the teams youngest players.
The injury to Rickard Rakell has opened the door for Ville Koivunen to return. I was not a fan of sending him down initially, but he went to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and simply dominated while he was there. Whether he gets an opportunity on the top line in Rakell’s absence, or slides into the third-line next to Ben Kindel and Tommy Novak I want to see if he can get his production in Wilkes-Barre to carry over to the NHL. He only played a few shifts with Kindel in the first two games, but they were very, very strong.
Then there is the Kindel and Brunicke situations.
Kindel has played in seven games.
Brunicke has played in six games.
Both players sat out games this past week with Brunicke sitting back-to-back games and Kindel sitting against Columbus (along with Brunicke).
That means Kindel is two games away from the nine-game mark that could result in him getting sent back to Calgary and Brunicke is three games away from potentially being sent back to Kamloops.
My opinion on this has not changed from a week ago. I think both players are NHL quality right now and have earned a spot here this season. They are not struggling to keep up. They are playing at a high level and making significant contributions. Kindel has arguably been one of their best players. Actually, I do not think there is much of an argument for it. I just find it really hard to believe that there is anything for them to gain in the Western Hockey League where they will likely dominate 16-and 17-year olds when they could be getting NHL training, NHL coaching and NHL everything while also getting to learn from a handful of Hall of Famers. Especially when they look good enough to play at this level.
They should stay strictly from a hockey standpoint, even if they continue to sit out every handful of games as part of the “development plan” as the Penguins are calling it.
From a purely selfish perspective, they just make the team more interesting to watch. Not only because they are fresh faces and bring major, significant long-term upside, but also because they simply bring a new energy that has been lacking.
Without them in the lineup on Saturday, and with Koivunen still in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, there was not a lot of juice or excitement for that game. The Penguins played like it until the last five minutes. There was a whole lot of “what’s the point to this season if this is the lineup?” to it. It looked like a lot of the slow, lifeless hockey we saw a year ago with no long-term upside in the lineup. Novak and Filip Hallander were absolutely crushed without Kindel centering their line. Connor Clifton was a nightmare on the third defense pairing. It was a boring glimpse into what the season might look like if Kindel and Brunicke go back to juniors and players like Kevin Hayes eventually return to the lineup.
I know Koivunen is back and McGroarty will be back soon, but if you are going to look toward the future and go young, then you might as well do it. Especially when the young players you have as potential options in the lineup are good enough to contribute right now.
A fan was seriously injured after falling from the upper concourse during a Penguins game at PPG Paints Arena. | KDKA-TV
A fan was seriously injured Monday night after falling from the upper bowl during the Penguins’ game against the Blues at PPG Paints Arena.
The team said in a statement that the fan fell to the lower bowl and was immediately attended to by medics and arena personnel. The fan was then taken to the hospital.
A Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson said the person’s injuries are considered life-threatening.
Another individual in the lower bowl where the fall occurred was evaluated by medics but declined being taken to the hospital.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said that detectives from the police bureau’s Major Crimes unit are investigating the circumstances surrounding what led up to the fall.
A photo shared on social media by Pittsburgh comedian Matt Light showed the upper balcony area where the fall took place.
The photo appeared to show broken glass covered by a black sheet.
“Our concerns remain with the individual and his family at this time,” the team also said.
Fall at PPG Paints Arena the most recent at Pittsburgh’s three sports venues
Earlier this year, the baseball world came to a halt when Kavan Markwood fell over the right field wall at PNC Park and onto the playing surface during a Pirates game.
Markwood was critically injured in the fall. Doctors said he suffered several injuries, including to his skull, brain, spine, ribs, and lungs, CBS News Pittsburgh reported.
Worker at Acrisure Stadium falls 50 feet from scoreboard
Over the weekend, a worker at Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore suffered serious injuries after falling 50 feet from the stadium’s scoreboard.
The man who fell was working Saturday night to prepare the stadium for the Steelers’ game against the Packers following the Pitt game, CBS News Pittsburgh report.
From the recap last night:
Asked and answered, come on back to the NHL Owen Pickering!
The Penguins have had a unique problem in that they don’t have enough left shot defenders. Almost always the opposite is true for NHL teams. Caleb Jones suffering a lower body injury last week meant the team has attempted to rotate through Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke and Connor Clifton filling the two spots on the third pair in the past few games. All are right shots. It hasn’t been a smooth process to watch unfold, as can be seen from the raw emotion of the recap. The Pens badly needed the added structure that comes with a left shot playing on the left side and a right hander on the right side.
That’s where Pickering will come in to have a chance and steady the third pair. Pickering did spend quite a bit of the preseason with Brunicke on an all-rookie pair, and performed well in Wilkes-Barre scoring four points in seven games on their first pair defense.
Huge opportunity for Pickering to show his stuff and start establishing himself in the NHL in his draft+4 season, a time where it would be wonderful for his future career prospects that he gets it in gear and starts moving up the ranks. It’s also interesting to a degree that it’s Pickering, and not veteran Ryan Graves, who is coming up to Pittsburgh at this time. Barring injury, it might be a long, long time (if ever) before Graves is back in a Penguin jersey.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins kept on rolling last week, lining up and knocking down three more wins to push their record to a perfect 7-0-0-0. Nick Hart at WBS Penguins with the succinct recap:
Goalie Sergei Murashov’s big week earned him the honor of being named the AHL Player of the Week.
Everything has been about perfect in every way, but the minors leagues being the minor leagues, nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant in this world, the only guarantee being the knowledge that pieces and parts will be switching out at the drop of a hat. Pittsburgh has recalled arguably WBS’s best forward (Ville Koivunen) and defenseman (Owen Pickering) in recent days and neither might be back in the minor leagues any time soon. WBS is still well-stocked but it never takes long before the parent club starts rewarding the minor league team’s best performers and shaking up the mix down a level for the team to have to regroup and press forward in a different manner.
Pensburgh alum Tony Androckitis had a nice feature on Pickering and the finer points of his game.
The week ahead should be a doozy, Wilkes gets Providence at home tonight in a matchup of unbeaten teams. As WBSPenguins.com pointed out, it’ll be a strength on strength matchup with the PBruins’ offense generating 4.76 goals/game going up against the Pens top AHL defense in goals against/game at 1.43. From there, the weekend schedule lightens up with a home game against Bridgeport (a team WBS has found a ton of success against recently) and then a trip to Utica on Saturday night for a game against the 0-5-1 Comets.
Here are your Pens Points for this Wednesday morning…
No rest for the weary. The Penguins hit the road to Philadelphia on Tuesday, one night after defeating the St. Louis Blues, as the Penguins kicked off a four-game road trip. Pittsburgh looked like a tired team in the second half of a back-to-back, but managed to find a third-period equalizer thanks to Sidney Crosby to earn an overtime point. A chaotic overtime that included a video review to wipe out both a Penguins AND Flyers game-winning goal and a nasty post-whistle scrum led to the shootout, where Philly would get the winner’s point. [Recap]
The Penguins are 7-2-1 through their first 10 games as of Tuesday afternoon, becoming one of the early surprises across the league as October nears its end. Just how good is this team? Is any of this early success sustainable as the long season slogs on? Gretz tries to answer some of these questions and more. [PensBurgh]
The Penguins, looking to stabilize the left side of their defense, which has been one of the few weak spots, especially after losing southpaw Caleb Jones for several weeks, recalled left-handed defensive prospect Owen Pickering on Tuesday. [PensBurgh]
Nearly 24 hours (at the time of writing) after a fan fell from the upper bowl of PPG Paints Arena, both the Penguins and public safety officials remain tight-lipped on details surrounding the condition of the victim or what led to the incident. [Trib Live]
News and notes from around the NHL…
Former NHL center Ryan Kesler has been charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Michigan, according to multiple media outlets. [ESPN]
The Dallas Stars and star defenseman Thomas Harley are nearing a massive extension, Elliotte Friedman reported on Tuesday. [Sportsnet]
On a team full of early season surprises, there might not be a bigger individual surprise than the play of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Justin Brazeau.
Entering play on Thursday, the Penguins’ 12th game of the season, Brazeau is second on the team with six goals, third with 12 total points, and along with fellow free agent addition Anthony Mantha has helped form a physically imposing second line around Evgeni Malkin that has, at times, downright bullied their way to goals.
The Penguins talked a lot this offseason about needing to get bigger, and they certainly achieved that with the 6-6, 232-pound Brazeau and the 6-5, 240-pound Mantha. Of course, just adding size for the sake of adding size is not exactly a winning formula. You also need to have some talent and production to go along with that size to make it meaningful. It is hard to argue with the early results from both players, especially as they have performed alongside a suddenly rejuvenated Malkin.
But while Malkin is one of the best players in the history of the sport, and Mantha has had extended stretches of being a legitimate top-six NHL forward in his career, Brazeau’s early success is the one that has really come out of nowhere.
When the Penguins signed him to a two-year, $3 million contract over the summer you probably only gave it a passing glance and viewed it as potential bottom-six fodder for a possible lottery team.
What else are you supposed to think about a 27-year-old forward that entered the season with 16 goals in 95 NHL games? It’s not exactly somebody you are expecting to fill a top-six role or stand out in a meaningful way.
Then he came out on opening night and not only scored the first goal of the Penguins’ season, he did so by displaying smooth hands and undressing one of the best goalies in the world.
Then he simply has not stopped scoring.
It is not like he is scoring garbage goals around the net and having Malkin fire shots in off of his body for goals, either. This is not a Michael Bunting situation here. He has earned a lot of these goals and displayed some surprisingly strong puck skills on some of his other goals, and some plays that did not result in goals.
The skill has stood out just as much as the size and power.
But maybe the skill shouldn’t be all that surprising, because it’s not like he has not had success at the lower levels offensively.
It has just always taken him some time to figure out each level before he really starts to shine.
In his last year in the OHL he scored 61 goals and had 113 points (yes, he was overage for the level, but he still scored — a lot). He scored 39 goals the year before and continued a consistently upward trajectory offensively. And that’s really been his calling card at every level.
Slow start. Gradual improvement. And then eventually figuring it all out and becoming a productive player for the level. Whether it was in juniors, the AHL or apparently now the NHL it is usually around year three where the offense starts to catch up with everything else.
While he has not generally been associated with offense, the Maple Leafs were still extremely high on his talent when they originally signed him for the 2019-20 season, and everybody associated with coaching him just raved about his combination of size and skill.
It’s not like recent hockey history hasn’t seen similar players, with similar builds, follow similar paths and start to blossom as NHL players in their mid-20s.
Mason Marchment did not start playing Major Junior hockey until he was 19 years old, did not get drafted, did not play his first NHL game until he was 24 and entering his age 26 season had scored just two NHL goals in 37 games. Now he is a legitimate 20-goal, middle-six winger.
Johan Franzen had a similar combination of size and skill, and while he was a third-round draft pick, did not actually make it over to the NHL until he was 26 years, and by age 28 had only scored 22 goals in 149 NHL games. Then by year three he was at times a physical freak. Think back to those 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Finals and how much you hated him.
Chris Kunitz did not have quite the size of Brazeau, Marchment or Franzen, but still played a similar power-forward game and had to work his way up as an undrafted player that did not get his first real look until he was in his mid-20s. We know what he did in the NHL.
Now, I’m not suggesting that Brazeau is going to turn into Johan Franzen, or even Mason Marchment. And for every Franzen and Marchment success story, there are probably 25 similar stories that did not end the same way. I am just saying it would not be a completely unheard of path.
And Brazeau’s early play is at least making it seem possible that he could follow that path.
The biggest red flags with his early success are the simple fact he IS playing next to a Hall of Famer and he IS currently scoring on 28.6 percent of his shots. The former point is helpful, and the latter point is just not going to continue. But it’s not like he was a low-percentage shooter during his first two years in the league. He entered this season having scored on 13.3 percent of his shots. A very fair, solid number.
He is currently averaging 1.9 shots on goal per game.
Let’s just, for laughs, say he maintains that shot on goal pace over the next 71 games. That is an additional 133 shots on goal.
- If he scored on just 8 percent of those shots that’s still an additional 10 goals this season and gets him to 16 for the season. That would also only be a 10.5 percent shooting percentage for the season as a whole, a drop from what he did his previous two years.
- If he scored on just 10 percent of those shots, that is an additional 13 goals and gets him almost to the 20-goal mark for the season.
- If he scored on his career average pace (13.3 percent) that is an additional 17 goals.
So even with some expected shooting expected shooting percentage regression the rest of the way, he is still in a good position to have a strong season offensively. That is what the good start has done for him.
There are also some encouraging signs from an underlying numbers standpoint. He is not only scoring goals, he is getting chances. Among 288 forwards that have logged at least 100 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time this season, Brazeau currently ranks sixth in individual high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes (7.46 per 60 minutes) and 11th in individual expected goals per 60 minutes (1.41 per 60 minutes).
Perhaps that is a reflection of playing alongside Malkin, and/or being put into a lot of favorable offensive situations (which that line certainly is, more than any other Penguins line at this point). The bottom line, however, is that he is in good positions to score, and he is.
His strong underlying numbers in those areas are not exactly new this season, either. Over the first two years of his career in Boston and Minnesota he still produced individual high-danger chances and individual expected goals at an above average rate. Among 458 forwards with at least 500 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time, he ranked 162nd (individual expected goals) and 107th (individual high-danger chances). That is comfortably in the top half of the league in both areas.
I do not know what the rest of Brazeau’s season, or his long-term future, is going to look like, but he has definitely become one of the more intriguing players on this roster and one that is worth watching. And when you dig down a little deeper into his career, the way he plays, and what his on-ice process has actually been there is some reason for cautious optimism.
It is not just the young prospects coming through your organization that are important to develop for long-term success. Sometimes you have to stumble upon some hidden gems as well. Especially when they cost you little against the salary cap and come with minimal risk.
The Pittsburgh Penguins made the decision on Thursday that they are going to let 18-year-old rookie forward Ben Kindel use the first-year of his entry-level contract by playing him in his 10th game of the 2025-26 regular season. They had the option to save that year and send him back to his junior league team after his first nine games. There was no way that would have made sense given the way he played those first nine games for the Penguins. Not only as he exceeded pretty much all expectations anybody could have had for him in his draft year, but also because he has arguably been one of the Penguins’ most consistent and best forwards, even if the traditional box score line does not always show it.
He showed why he has been that important yet again in the Penguins’ 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Simply put, his line helped change the game.
Again.
As it has consistently done, and as it has done for the second time in as many games this week.
Think back to Tuesday’s game in Philadelphia, and how sluggish the Penguins looked through the first 40 minutes. After two periods they seemed to have nothing going for them, and very much looked like a team that was playing its third game in four nights and the second part of a back-to-back (with travel) against a rested team. The line that finally gave them something was the Kindel, Ville Koivunen, Thomas Novak line. They had an extended shift in the offensive zone, created some big chances, and finally helped swing the game in the Penguins’ favor. From that point on the Penguins turned the tables on the Flyers and pretty much controlled play the rest of the game, eventually leading to a Sidney Crosby game-tying goal to help them at least get a point in the standings.
That line did the same thing on Thursday.
Early in the second period the Penguins were trailing, 1-0, and did not play the strongest first period. Add in the bad luck of having a potential game-tying goal taken away (on a very questionable and controversial call) and it was easy to think they simply might be having a tough night.
Then the Kindel-Koivunen-Novak line took over, again, and produced the game-tying goal when Ryan Shea scored his second of the season.
From that point on, the Penguins were in complete control of the game and systematically dominated it. It was some of the best hockey they have played all season as part of their now 8-2-2 start.
Shortly after Bryan Rust scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Penguins the lead, Kindel scored his third goal of the season and showed that he belongs on the top power play unit.
Anthony Mantha eventually added his sixth goal of the season on an empty-net to secure the win.
Those are all just box score details. Important details, sure, but they do not tell the story of the game.
The story of the game is what the Penguins’ third line of Kindel, Koivunen and Novak was able to do. Because it was objectively speaking the team’s best line of the night, and the one that completely turned the game in their favor.
That trio played 8:58 of ice-time together during 5-on-5 play, and during that time they not only outscored the Wild by a 1-0 margin, they also had a staggering expected goals share of 91.8 percent, accumulating 1.02 expected goals for the Penguins, and allowing just 0.09 for the Wild. The Wild did not generate a single high-danger scoring chance against that trio and only one scoring chance of any kind. The Penguins generated nine scoring chances with that line on the ice, four high-danger chances and a goal.
What stands out the most about that performance is they started more shifts in the defensive zone (four) than any other Penguins line, while the Minnesota Wild forward they saw more than any other was none other than Kirill Kaprizov, not only their best player, but also one of the best players in the NHL.
The forward they saw the second-most was Marco Rossi, who entered play on Thursday averaging a point-per-game.
They mostly faced the Wild’s best players and not only shut them down, they completely dominated them.
With an 18-year-old center leading the way.
When it comes to driving possession and dictating the pace of games, the numbers point to Kindel being the Penguins’ most efficient player this season and his line being their best. That is not an exaggeration. That is not hyperbole. It is not hype. It is just reality. Individually, Kindel has a 58 percent expected goals share when he is on the ice. No player on the team with at least 100 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time has a higher mark. Offensively speaking, the Penguins are generating 3.67 expected goals per 60 minutes with Kindel on the ice. That not only leads the Penguins, it is top-15 in the entire NHL. He is also the only player in the top-20 that does not have an offensive zone start percentage higher than 50 percent (Kindel is starting just 47.1 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone).
The Penguins are asking a lot of him. He is delivering.
The goals are not yet always there, but given the talent that line possesses, and the way they are pushing play, you have to think/hope the goals will start to be there.
This is also why I do not care about what line this is considered on the team’s hierarchy of lines. Call it the first line, second line, third line …. whatever. Just let them play their game and let everything else take care of itself. Your third line does not have to be a checking line or a grinding line. It should be another line capable of scoring and another line capable of pushing the pace of play. If you can put three skilled lines on the ice, you should do it and not overthink it. This is a big reason why I think the NHL is the best development place for Kindel at this point, and why pairing him up with somebody like Koivunen (another young player with skill) can be beneficial for both of them and the team. Keep them together until they give you a reason not to keep them together.
An exciting, if perhaps unexpected, month of October for the Pittsburgh Penguins came to a close last night with a 4-1 road victory over the Minnesota Wild to push their record to 8-2-2 as the calendar flip to November. The Penguins trailed 1-0 after the first period where they had a goal wiped off the board due to a suspect goalie interference call. That turned out to be a non issue for the Penguins who rattled off four unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes of the game to claim another victory and notch a point in eight straight contests. [Pensburgh]
Halloween will serve as an off day for the Penguins before they begin their November slate on Saturday in Winnipeg.
Pens Points…
Not every move has panned out for Kyle Dubas since he took over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but what he’s done as a whole has certainly tipped the scales in the Penguins favor both in the short term and, perhaps more importantly, in the longer term. [The Athletic $$]
Aside from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, no one has been hotter for the Penguins this season than Justin Brazeau. The towering forward figured to mostly help the team fill out the bottom six, but injuries pushed him up the depth chart and he has seized his opportunity. [Pensburgh]
By playing in last night’s game against the Wild, Ben Kindel has appeared in 10 games this season, kicking off his entry level contract. Players on ELC deals can play in nine game before being sent back to juniors without their deal officially beginning. That is now off the table for Kindel. [PPG]
This is a huge step for Kindel in his continued development as a hockey player and he becomes the first Penguin to take this route since Jordan Staal. It also serves as a stamp of approval from the front office that they trust Kindel and believe he is better served taking NHL minutes. [Penguins]
NHL News and Notes…
Another big potential 2026 free agent comes off the board with the Colorado Avalanche and Martin Necas agreeing to terms on a new eight-yard contract extension. Necas was dealt to Colorado last season as a part of the Mikko Rantenen trade with Carolina. [NHL]
There is a ton of great, young talent currently playing in the NHL and there is much more on the way in the coming years. Matthew Schaefer went from top pick to the NHL without thinking twice and Ivan Demidov might be the most exciting young player in hockey at the moment. [ESPN]
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (8-2-2, 18 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division) @ Winnipeg Jets (8-3-0, 16 points, 2nd place Central Division)
When: 3:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Broadcast in the local market on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, TSN3 in Canada, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: This road trip wraps up Monday with a 7:30 p.m. ET game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Pens then get two days off before returning home for a Thursday night matchup with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
Opponent Track: The Jets and the Penguins are two of the seven teams in the NHL heading into Saturday with eight wins this season. Winnipeg got there thanks to a 5-1 start to the season, and they’re coming in to tonight’s matchup after another set of back-to-back wins.
Season Series: The Pens won’t see this Jets team again until March 21, when Winnipeg makes the trip to PPG Paints Arena.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins just closed out one of the best Octobers in franchise history. The team has only topped eight wins this month in 2009 and 2013, per Penguins PR.
The @penguins will close out October with an 8-2-2 record. The only other seasons they had more wins in October?
– 2009-10: 11-3-0
– 2013-14: 9-4-0
The team's 18 points this month are the second-most points in the month of October in franchise history (2009-10, 22).pic.twitter.com/5Euv0jGAx3
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) October 31, 2025Getting to know the Jets
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Gabriel Vilardi
Vladislav Namestnikov – Jonathan Toews – Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter – Morgan Barron – Tanner Pearson
Cole Koepke – Parker Ford – Brad Lambert
DEFENSEMEN
Josh Morrissey / Dylan DeMelo
Logan Stanley / Neal Pionk
Haydn Fleury / Luke Schenn
Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck, Eric Comrie
Potential scratches: Gustav Nyquist
Injured reserve: Adam Lowry, Dylan Samberg, Cole Perfetti
- Jets winger Gustav Nyquist “tweaked something” during Thursday’s win over the Chicago Blackhawks, head coach Scott Arniel told reporters. He is now sidelined with a day-to-day injury and won’t play against the Pens tonight.
- The Jets’ top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi has been on the ice for 11 even-strength goals so far this season. That’s tied for the most in the NHL heading into Friday, per MoneyPuck. (The Pens’ Big Line of Brazeau, Malkin and Mantha is tied for second after being on the ice for nine).
Season stats
via hockeydb
- Scheifele went into Friday ranked second only to the Vegas Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel for the NHL points lead with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) through the first 11 games of the season.
- Vilardi, who scored twice Thursday night against the Blackhawks, is also playing at a point-per-game pace (4-7—11). The Jets would love to see a breakout campaign from him after three straight 20-goal seasons led to his six-year extension in July.
- Former Chicago Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews made his comeback this season after missing the entirety of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns. He’s so far recorded six points (two goals, four assists) in what has so far been an impressive return as the Jets’ second-line center and a member of the second power-play unit.
- Reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck is once more off to a dominant start to his 11th NHL season. He’s so far posted a .921 save percentage and 2.34 goals against average, and the Jets boast a 6-3-0 record in his nine starts.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Filip Hallander – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Evgeni Malkin – Justin Brazeau (0r Philip Tomasino, if necessary)
Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Owen Pickering / Harrison Brunicke
Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Philip Tomasino, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton
IR: Kevin Hayes (upper body), Jack St. Ivany (lower body), Rutger McGroarty (upper body), Joel Blomqvist (lower body), Rickard Rakell (hand, out 6-8 weeks), Caleb Jones (lower body, out 6-8 weeks)
- Justin Brazeau wasn’t on the ice for Friday’s practice, and Philip Tomasino took his place on the second line. The good news is, NHL media reports that was just maintenance. That will come as a major relief given that Brazeau’s six goals in 12 games have been a key part of the Penguins’ hot start to the season, and that the Pens are already short one top-six forward after losing Rickard Rakell to injury.
- Harrison Brunicke got another shot at swapping in for Matt Dumba alongside Owen Pickering on the bottom pairing.
- Based on the goalie rotation that has formed this season it would be Arturs Silovs’ game in net should that continue.
Pregame
The Penguins get Harrison Brunicke back in the lineup, Matt Dumba goes out. Also out for the game is Justin Brazeau (undisclosed upper body injury, day-to-day), which gets Philip Tomasino back in the action. Arturs Silovs takes his turn in net.
How we're lining up in Winnipegpic.twitter.com/CeDyqP9agZ
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 1, 2025First period
Ugly start for the Penguins, Gabriel Vilardi finds himself come open down by the net and makes a tricky play to bank the puck off Silovs and into the net. Surprise goal 15 seconds into the game comes almost out of no where.
Winnipeg keeps the pressure up and scores a second goal soon after from right in front of the net. Brunicke gets bulled through by Parker Ford and then Brad Lambert is able to avoid Brunicke tying up his stick and scores his first career NHL goal.
First NHL goal for Brad Lambertpic.twitter.com/sC6d1J5nEB
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 1, 2025
Soon after, Sidney Crosby is in the penalty box. The Pens’ PK has been solid lately and keeps this one from getting way out of hand early with a successful kill.
Pittsburgh stabilizes through the rest of the period, getting another big PK stop when Evgeni Malkin takes a penalty. The Pens get a few shots and some isolated bursts against Jets goalie Eric Comrie but don’t solve him in the opening frame.
Second period
The second starts the way most of the first went, Winnipeg scores early. Slick play by Jonathan Toews to pull up and make a great pass that turns into an easy finish for Vladislav Namestnikov to score his sixth goal of the season. 3-0 Jets.
The Pens get a power play but it doesn’t change their fortunes. Silovs, whose job is to tend the goal, comes out of it and holds the puck along the wall. Then he panics and fires a pass straight into the wall ahead of him and it’s downhill from there, Kyle Connor ends up in between Silovs and the empty net, so the Pens’ erstwhile goaltender throws his stick to prevent the goal.
Arturs Silovs MISPLAYED the puck in the corner and threw his stick to trip up Kyle Connor
Connor scored on the subsequent penalty shotpic.twitter.com/ESSG95FNSO
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 1, 2025
That’s a penalty shot, which Connor makes short work of Silovs on the backhand deke to extend the lead to 4-0 Winnipeg.
Penalty shot
Shorthanded
KC IS NASTYpic.twitter.com/8fWMi4rBQu
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) November 1, 2025
Pittsburgh gets a power play and their first goal of the game. It’s one of the more painful one of Sidney Crosby’s career, scored off an Erik Karlsson slapshot that flies into Crosby and then bounces into the net. Always hurts a little less when it goes in the net. 4-1.
Well, at least it won’t be a shutout.
Third period
Winnipeg starts the period springing Connor on a breakaway, Silovs is there to deny him.
The Pens score with 9:33 to play, great effort by Blake Lizotte to drive to the net. Goalie Comrie accidentally used his stick to knock it in. 4-2.
We have a two-goal gamepic.twitter.com/08FskhcpZ7
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 1, 2025
Pittsburgh pulls Silovs for an extra attacker, doesn’t work. Connor scores to set the final score at 5-2.
Some thoughts
- Dan Muse’s starting lineups are fun — this time Manitoba natives Connor Dewar and Owen Pickering got the nod today, but the drawback is that the Jets got their first line out there against Pittsburgh’s third pair defense. That resulted in the puck in the Pens’ net in 15 seconds. We’ll see if Muse keeps mixing up his starting combos with players that usually don’t play together or in that situation, especially on the road where the other team can exploit matchups.
- Brunicke has been a scratch in four of the last five games and at this point he’s played like a guy who was only getting his second game in the last 11 days. The power Ford put on Brunicke in the first period was troubling in the sense that’s about the first time he hasn’t looked physically ready to handle an NHL opponent. Today was Game No. 8 for Brunicke, he can still be returned to junior and having his contract slide another year. At this point that’s becoming a more apparent solution to let Brunicke go dominate, play a huge role, go to World Juniors and join up with Wilkes-Barre when his junior year ends.
- Silovs was trying to help but got out of his element in the second period. It was already a 3-0 score and his team was barely able to show signs of life, so what’s the difference at that point. At least that didn’t happen as a momentum-turner in a close game. But I was also thinking out of those first two early goals, Pittsburgh was getting saves on those types of shots in the first few weeks of the season. Maybe that doesn’t last forever and those goals are going to eventually start to get through— only one team had above a .907% all situations save% last season and the Pens entered today with a .921% mark — which made the start of the game feel like some regression in real time.
- Besides that, gotta tip your cap to the Jets, they had a great game. There’s a reason they won the Presidents Trophy last season and have started this season with a 9-3 record; they’re a great team that’s capable of making an opponent endure a long day. Today, unfortunately, the Pens were that opponent. I don’t think the Pens even managed many 3v3 or 2v2 rushes, let alone any odd man rushes. Winnipeg was great at closing off the walls and also not allowing anything up the middle at the same time. Impressive stuff.
- Where have you gone, Justin Brazeau? The big guy’s absence was noticeable, fortunately it was declared at only day-to-day and hopefully won’t be that major.
- The Pens changed up lines to chase goals in the third period, so of course ironically the only goal they got came from the fourth line that remained unchanged. Malkin jumped up with Crosby-Rust, Novak bumped over to the middle with Mantha-Tomasino which left Kindel to center Koivunen-Hallander. Not much came of it, but always nice to see the coaches go back to Crosby-Malkin for as much as possible. Neither of the top lines had much going on, between the players like Tomasino and Hallander that are just kind of there and the more star players not getting much going. This was a game the Pens started to miss Rickard Rakell and Brazeau for how those absences end up impacting the rest of the roster.
It’s been a long road trip for the Pens, and it’s not over yet. The team heads to Toronto for a Monday night game against the Maple Leafs and then they’ll finally get to return home.
