News Penguins Team Notes

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins could get first look at Tristan Broz this week

The Penguins will try to snap their November slump by calling up one of their top prospects for his NHL debut.

Tristan Broz, 2021 second-round pick turned top-line center in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, was called up by the Pens ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the visiting Buffalo Sabres.

Tristan Broz opened today with a genuine, humble nod to everyone who helped him turn a dream into reality.

More on his first-ever call-up to the NHL: https://t.co/pz7oMqiPd1 pic.twitter.com/Wbbospfnh3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 24, 2025

Broz, who started out his college career with Minnesota before transferring to Denver, helped the Pioneers win the 2024 national championship with an overtime game-winner to help his team advance past the Frozen Four.

He was set to debut for the Penguins last season before a diagnosis of mononucleosis derailed that plan,

Broz performed well this preseason but couldn’t beat out 2025 first-round pick Ben Kindel for a spot on the season-opening roster.

While starting the season in the AHL he has recorded 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his first 18 games of the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

“Really strong reports. I think you go back, he had a strong training camp, too… this is warranted,” Dan Muse told reporters Monday about Broz’s time in the AHL this season. “Training camp matters. It matters a lot. He made a good impression. He earned that during training camp.

“So now, he goes in there, and he goes to Wilkes, and he follows it up. He’s playing well on both sides of the puck… He’s a guy who, he’s making plays, he’s impacting the game offensively. For us, our biggest thing is, we want him to jump in and continue to build on what he’s doing.”

Muse added that he’s regularly in contact with WBS head coach Kirk MacDonald, and that general manager Kyle Dubas sends him clips of top prospects like Broz to keep him up to date with what’s going on in the AHL.

“When guys come here, I think it allows for us to be able to say, ‘Play your game. Like, ‘These are the things you’ve been doing well, these are the things we want to focus in on as opportunities present themselves here,’” Muse said.

Tristan Broz has been one of the @WBSPenguins top forwards this season:

-His eight goals are first on the team and tied for 11th in the AHL
-His 13 points (8G-5A) are third on WBS
-Since the beginning of last season, no one on WBS has scored more goals than Broz (27) https://t.co/1bMo9J7uFi

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 24, 2025

Brozer gets us going!! pic.twitter.com/B9MiYfUd1l

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) November 15, 2025

It’s been four years since Broz was drafted, and he turned 23 back in October, so it’s time for the Penguins to finally get a look at one of their top prospects.

Broz skated in Monday’s practice on the Penguins’ third line between Sam Poulin and Tommy Novak, but it’s not clear if that’s where he’ll be on Wednesday.

Bryan Rust missed Monday’s practice due to illness, so Ben Kindel moved up to play on Sidney Crosby’s wing on the top line.

Where Broz ends up skating if Rust is able to return for Tuesday’s practice will be something to keep an eye out ahead of Wednesday night’s 7 p.m. ET puck drop against the Sabres.

Finding a quick fit for Broz will be key to fixing the Penguins’ need for depth scoring while a long list of injured players including Rickard Rakell, Rutger McGroarty, Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari remain on the sidelines.

Dating back to the beginning of the Global Series in Sweden, the Penguins scored have six non-empty net goals in their last four games. Just one of those (Parker Wotherspoon’s opening goal against the Preds during the second game in Sweden) was scored by someone not named Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

The Pens will hope Broz, like Kindel and Harrison Brunicke, is able to adjust quickly to the NHL level and help his team find the depth they need to bounce back from a 2-4-3 November record.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/69446/penguins-could-get-first-look-at-tristan-broz-this-week

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Wilkes Weekly: Getting ready for Hershey

The Wilkes-Barre Penguins went 1-1 last week, here’s Nick Hart from WBSPenguins.com with a recap:

Friday, Nov. 21 – PENGUINS 2 at Hartford 5
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s sizzling start faded down the stretch, leading to four unanswered goals against. The Penguins were out-shooting the Wolf Pack 26-6S when they built a 2-1 lead on tallies by Owen Pickering and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard. However, Hartford scored twice in the second and third periods.

Saturday, Nov. 22 – PENGUINS 1 at Providence 0
The Penguins took back the top spot in the Eastern Conference from the Bruins by shutting them out in a tight-checking affair. Rutger McGroarty scored the night’s only goal while skating shorthanded in the first period. Joel Blomqvist denied all 27 shots faced for the team’s third shutout of the season.

The big, recent news has been the return to action for Joel Blomqvist and Rutger McGroarty, both of whom making their delayed season debuts following injury.

Blomqvist has been spectacular right off the bat; allowing just two goals over the two games he’s played so far this season, including posting the shutout mentioned above against Providence. The Penguins certainly have a ton of riches in net this season within their organization between Blomqvist, Sergei Mursahov and Arturs Silovs all performing exceptionally well.

McGroarty has scored a goal in each game, including this beauty of a shorthanded goal against Providence.

MCGROARTY SHORTY

For every shorthanded goal we score, Borland and Borland will donate $250 to the Penguins GOALS foundation. This is shorty #3 on the year! pic.twitter.com/TNDBeOvRCu

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) November 23, 2025

Given that McGroarty didn’t have a preseason and has barely played hockey in the last seven months, patience will be required to get him back up to speed, though he’s showing the signs of readiness.

Across the board, the flow of talent is starting to come back to Wilkes. Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany are now in town and will be around for the short-term, which forced corresponding moves to assign Finn Harding and Scooter Brinkley to Wheeling and boost the defensive depth chart quite a bit. That’s the positive area, considering many of the AHL team’s top forwards from the beginning of the season (Heinen, Poulin, Koppanen Koivunen) are in Pittsburgh. The list of forward departures grew one larger with the promotion of Tristan Broz to the NHL for the first time.

One area that could help is Philip Tomasino, back in the AHL for the first time since the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs. If Tomasino can match the professional attitude and success of players like Heinen and Ryan Graves that took their demotion in stride without pouting or effecting their game it would be a tremendous boost to a forward group that could badly need it.

That boost will be needed, WBS has a tough week coming up. Tomorrow they play at Hershey, their rival and traditional powerhouse AHL program. Wilkes will be back in Hershey on Saturday, after a quick return home to play Lehigh Valley on Friday night. The Phantoms are off to a strong start as well with an 11-5-1-1 record.

Overall, it’s been a success so far for the Pens’ AHL club, who remain in first place in the Atlantic Division, albeit second in points percentage to Providence. The margin of error at the top is very close, with Lehigh on both team’s heels and those Bears lurking as well. Last year’s Calder Cup runner up, Charlotte, aren’t doing too bad for themselves either to make one heck of a strong top portion of the division. (As a reminder, the top six divisional finishers qualify for the playoffs, with added importance to finish in the top-two and earn a first round bye). It’s never too early to cast an eye towards playoffs, there’s only 72 regular season AHL games – which means WBS’s season will be almost 30% completed after next week’s games are played.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/wbs-weekly/69513/wilkes-weekly-getting-ready-for-hershey

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: The pre-turkey tradition continues

Here are your Pens Points for this Wednesday morning…​

How effective can forward Tommy Novak be for the Pittsburgh Penguins? It appears, under the hood at least, he has some talent to drive play and score goals, but none of that has really translated in a black and gold sweater since the team acquired him last season, which leaves many wanting more. Can he deliver that? [PensBurgh]

Healthy reinforcements may be inbound: Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Bryan Rust are each expected to be available for Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, according to what head coach Dan Muse suggested on Tuesday. [Trib Live]

With healthy bodies expected to re-enter the lineup, the Penguins also reassigned forward Sam Poulin to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. [Trib Live]

In 11 NHL games this season, the currently injured Ville Koivunen has just two assists. While the offensive touch he started to develop at the tail end of last season and in the AHL this season has yet to fully materialize, he continues to refine his game, believing the breakout could be coming sooner rather than later. [Trib Live]

News and notes from around the NHL…​

The average NHL team is now worth $2.2 billion, according to CNBC’s Official NHL Team Valuations. Where do the Penguins rank alongside the juggernauts like the Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers? [CNBC]

The St. Louis Blues have terminated the AHL professional tryout contract for 37-year-old Milan Lucic. Lucic was signed to a PTO before the 2025 training camp. [NHL]

Is Jim Rutherford about to blow up the Vancouver Canucks? According to Elliotte Friedman’s sources, the Canucks have let other executives know that they are effectively open for business. [Sportsnet]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/6950...-novak-koivunen-nhl-valuations-canucks-trades

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/26/25

Who: Buffalo Sabres (9-9-4, 22 points, 7th place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (10-6-5, 25 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh, MSG-B, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: Tonight starts a stretch of three games in four days for Pittsburgh. They’ll make the quick trip over to Columbus for a game on Friday, then return home to meet the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints on Saturday. Then the calendar turns to December on Monday (seriously!) and the Pens will be in Philadelphia.

Opponent Track: Here come the Sabres? Buffalo is 4-1-0 in their last five, including winning three of their last four games, all coming at home and against some decent opposition (EDM, CHI, CAR). Of course, the Sabres also lost to Calgary last week and are 4-5-1 in the last 10, they still keep you on your toes not knowing exactly what to expect aside from proving they’re capable of winning or losing just about any given night.

Hidden Stat: It’s the traditional Thanksgiving Eve home game for the Pens, which has treated them really well in the Sidney Crosby era. Pittsburgh is 8-2-2 at home the night before Turkey Day in the last 20 years, and they’re 4-1-0 since 2019 following a 5-4 win against Vancouver last year.

Getting to know the Sabres​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Josh Doan – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch

Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn

Zach Benson – Noah Ostlund – Tyson Kozak

Josh Dunne – Peyton Krebs – Brock Malenstyn

DEFENSEMEN

Mattias Samuelsson / Rasmus Dahlin

Bowen Byram / Conor Timmins

Jacob Bryson / Owen Power

Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis

Potential scratches: Jordan Greenway, Zach Metsa

Injured Reserve: Josh Norris, Justin Danforth, Jiri Kulich, Michael Kesselring

• Buffalo has a crowded crease with three healthy goalies, the team not wanting to risk their depth and waive Ellis once Luukkonen came back from an injury he suffered in the preseason (against the Penguins, though they did not outwardly cause it). Luukkonen has been coming on as of late, playing in the last two games and winning them both, allowing only four total goals and posting a .925 save% in his recent outings.
• Josh Norris has resumed practicing after getting injured in opening night and being out ever since. Big shame, he looked amazing in the preseason in the games against the Penguins. Unfortunately staying healthy has been a major issue over his career.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• The Sabres are quickly described as a few awesome players (Thompson, Tuch, Dahlin) then guy, guy, guy. It’s been repeated to infinity but still worth pointing out that for a team that has drafted so high so frequently, their NHL talent in the 20-23-ish range isn’t particularly dynamic, though it does have some nice pieces (Power, Benson, Ostlund and now Doan).
• Injuries have played into that; Benson is a nice little player who will only be in his 10th game of the season tonight, and as mentioned above Norris has been on IR all season besides opening night. Add in the starting goalie being out for the start of the year and that’s some tough cards to pull right off the bat.
• All in all, Lyon did well to hold things together as best he could while UPL was out, and Ellis was a pleasant surprise for a bit by battling and helping the team through a tough spot. Lyon, however, hasn’t played in almost two weeks since allowing two goals on three shots against Colorado and has been shuffled down the depth chart for recent games. On the contrast, Luukkonen made 29 saves on 30 shots against Carolina last game.
• They are getting some progress from younger players turning it around and stepping up. There was some outside consternation about the way Samuelsson was playing, looks like he is off to a fine season averaging almost 22 minutes per game and putting up an impressive 11 ES points in 20 games so far while carrying a team-high +9. Similarly, there were grumblings when Doan was the key piece of the summer trade that sent away last year’s 68-point scorer JJ Peterka and Doan has filled a productive spot in the lineup.

Dealing with adversity

Buffalo is riding high following their 4-1 win last Sunday against the Hurricanes. It’s pulled them out of last place and fueling some belief about something to build on for this next stretch.

The Sabres had one of their most impressive wins of the season against the Hurricanes on Sunday. They’re now out of last place in the conference. 5 thoughts on the team and the state of team: https://t.co/vOBkUTLH1v

— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) November 23, 2025

“This has to be our minimum,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “This is how we have to play every night. It’s competing, it’s skating, it’s doing the little things right, work for the team. That’s got to be our bare minimum. Then we can improve some other things.”

The Sabres still have plenty to improve, like most teams at the bottom of the standings. But the rest of the Eastern Conference has been enough of a mess for the Sabres to stay on the outskirts of the playoff picture. They’ve won four of their last five games and are 3 points behind the second wild-card and 5 points behind the division-leading Detroit Red Wings.

If they’re going to take advantage of an odd year in the conference, the Sabres will need to deal with bad breaks as well as they did against Carolina. The Sabres had a goal called off because of a questionable goaltender interference call. They also had to deal with a few other odd calls by the officials. They didn’t allow that to deter them against an already-challenging opponent.

“I think it’s something we talked about a lot last year, we couldn’t get through it,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “It’s that dealing with adversity, where sometimes stuff isn’t going to go your way and you’ve got to move on fast. We had to deal with some tonight, for sure, and I thought we did. And the way we were playing, I was comfortable with the fact I thought we were going to still push ahead.”

#1 power play vs #1 penalty kill

Buffalo has been very potent offensively so far at even strength. Their 51 5v5 goals ranks 5th in the NHL, which isn’t out of line from the expected goals they generate. The offensive fireworks have come at the cost of defense, where they haven’t been strong to say the least (52 5v5 goals allowed also is 5th in the NHL). Buffalo and Toronto are the only teams currently averaging 3.15+ goals per game scored and 3.15+ goals allowed this season, betting the over in Sabres’ games is usually the play.

Despite that, somewhat surprisingly, their goaltending (unimpressive statistically in every other way) puts on a Superman cape while on the penalty kill. Buffalo has a NHL high .931 save% while shorthanded, by far the best in the league (only two others [TB, COL] have over a .900% while PKing). That figures to be a strong test for the Penguins, who possess the NHL’s best power play. Buffalo is only getting out-scored 8-3 so far this year while shorthanded, and generating those three SHG is probably something the Pens should be mindful about while they’re on the power play.

To complete the fickle and contradictory nature of the Sabres, their wonderful 5v5 offense dries up during the power play that has only converted 17.9% of the time. They can be all over the map like that and not always follow logic about performing well out of no where in some areas, then failing to capitalize in others.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Connor Dewar – Sidney Crosby – Ben Kindel

Kevin Hayes – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Ville Koivunen – Tristan Broz – Tommy Novak

Joona Koppanen – Blake Lizotte – Danton Heinen

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry? Also Sergei Murashov (for now..)

Potential Scratches: Bryan Rust (illness), Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)

IR: Koivunen and Jarry (for now..), Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari

• Bryan Rust has been absent from practice the last two days with an illness, we’ll see if he can answer the bell and play tonight, otherwise the team prepared with the above lines that look about as game ready as they can be.
• Reinforcements look like they’re coming as soon as tonight; Koivunen might be the best note of all, considering he was deemed “week to week” just over one week ago and is already back in team practice. Sam Poulin was sent back to the AHL yesterday, a good indicator that Koivunen will be back tonight.
• Tristan Jarry worked in practice yesterday with Silovs as a typical goaltender, signifying he could be back soon, at least dressing as backup (which would bump Murashov back to the AHL) Acciari and Rakell have been on the ice in some capacity this week, though a little further behind.
• The team has announced Tristan Broz will in fact make his NHL debut tonight, so we’ll get a pregame rookie warmup lap tonight. Broz will become the fourth player to make an NHL debut for the Pens this season already (joining an impressive list of Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and Sergei Murashov having done the same) and become the ninth player with rookie status (the three mentioned above, plus Hallander, Poulin, Koivunen, Pickering and Silovs) to suit up for the Pens tonight.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...w-buffalo-sabres-pittsburgh-penguins-11-26-25

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Happy Turkey Day

In one of the best annual traditions in hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins were at PPG Paints Arena for their annual Thanksgiving Eve game and started the holiday celebrations early with a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Tristan Broz made his NHL debut while Tristan Jarry returned to game action along with Ville Koivunen. Matt Dumba recorded his first goal as a Penguin to get the scoring started followed by Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes, and Connor Dewar. The Penguins will have an off day on Thanksgiving before a Friday-Saturday back-to-back set with the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs. [Pensburgh]

Pens Points…​

No Ben Kindel in the lineup for the Penguins last night against the Sabres. That continues the trend of the Penguins game management strategy for their young rookie to help him better adapt to playing in the NHL. [Trib Live]

Coming off their trip to Sweden, the Penguins now sit among the teams with the fewest games played so far this season. That is all about to change with two more games this week then a heavy December schedule to help catch up. [PPG]

A terrific start to the season has given the Penguins and their fans plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Veteran players contributing, young guns showing their potential, and goaltending holding the fort are all blessings for the Penguins this holiday. [The Hockey Writers]

NHL News and Notes…​

With each passing day the 2026 Winter Olympics draw closer, and with it, the debate surrounding which NHL players will be making the trip heats up. For the United States, the talent pool to choose from has never been this full, thus making the decisions that much harder. [NHL]

Sticking with Team USA, the long awaited jerseys that both the men’s and women’s teams will wear in Italy were released on Wednesday. Going with a throwback style, the jerseys pay homage to the 1960 men’s Olympic team who brought home gold in Squaw Valley. [Sportsnet]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/69528/pens-points-happy-turkey-day

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Tristan Jarry’s name starting to pop up in trade rumors

One clearcut sign that Tristan Jarry is playing better is that now his name is coming up in some trade rumors, both specific and vague. Let’s take a look.

For starters, the Penguins are growing into a good problem. Between Jarry, Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov and now Joel Blomqvist, Pittsburgh has too many quality goalies within the organization. Elliotte Friedman made that point in a 32 Thoughts.

Written 32:https://t.co/XrSeq4Ozi6

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) November 26, 2025

5. Goalie team to watch: Pittsburgh. Four guys ready to play between the NHL and AHL.

Others have been more direct, and Jarry’s name has been the one to come to the forefront.

I’m told 2X @NHL All-Star and @penguins Goalie Tristan Jarry is among
the goalies drawing significant interest as
a potential option for the @EdmontonOilers , keep in mind he played
in Edmonton with the Oil Kings.#HockeyX pic.twitter.com/gDcqv6TOBO

— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) November 26, 2025

Weekes has said things of various quality in the past, but a rumor is a rumor.

Jarry enjoyed a bounce-back start to the season before sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. 3. He has a .911 save percentage and is 5-2-0 through seven starts this year. Jarry is set to return Wednesday.

The 30-year-old struggled last campaign and was waived by the Penguins in January. He finished last season with an .892 SV% in 36 appearances.

Jarry is under contract through 2027-28 at a $5.375-million cap hit. He owns a 12-team no-trade list.

Oilers goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have both struggled to start the year. Skinner’s save percentage is down to .878, while Pickard is among the NHL’s worst at .847. Skinner and Pickard combined to allow eight goals on 30 shots on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars.

Jarry, a native of Surrey, British Columbia, played his junior hockey in Edmonton for the Oil Kings. He won two WHL championships and backstopped the franchise to its first and only Memorial Cup title in 2014.

Not a bad comeback for a goalie who cleared waivers in January 2025. That also becomes a bit of a problem for the Pens, why trade Jarry while he’s playing so well these days? Why not let him turn in those performances for them? Of course, eventually they’ll want to clear the runway for Murashov to be a full-time NHLer but time is on their side in that regard.

Of course, it might not be if Jarry’s performance takes a downturn. But a team like Edmonton, struggling with Stuart Skinner, have more reason to be desperate than the Penguins do at this moment. That should only work to the advantage of Kyle Dubas.

Given how Dubas operates so quietly and under the radar, you’d almost expect something as specific as “Jarry to Edmonton” to not materialize. So far it looks like only media connecting dots that may or may not be there, especially from the Edmonton perspective where they are growing more desperate to seek a goalie upgrade. The Pens do have enviable depth at the position, to Friedman’s point they’re a team to keep an eye on but they don’t have much reason to make a move until another team makes it worth their while. Whether that will end up being the Oilers or not remains to be seen, but people are starting to talk.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/rumors/69553/tristan-jarrys-name-starting-to-pop-up-in-trade-rumors

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Columbus Blue Jackets 11/28/25

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (11-6-5, 27 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (11-9-4, 26 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

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

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens return home to play Toronto tomorrow night before embarking on a three-game road trip next week that will have stops in Philadelphia (Monday), Tampa (Thursday) and Dallas (a week from Sunday).

Opponent Track: Columbus has lost their last three games, though two of those have come past regulation. It hasn’t been the best five-game stretch for the Blue Jackets, who are 1-2-2 in the last 10 days.

Season Series: The Blue Jackets claimed the first game between these teams in a shootout. Tonight is round two for PIT/CBJ this year. They’ll play two more times after this on January 4th back in Ohio and then January 17th in Pittsburgh.

Hidden Stat: Columbus hasn’t won a game by more than one goal since October 29th….Most of their games have been extremely close, needing

overtime in seven of their last 10 games.

Getting to know the Blue Jackets​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Dmitri Voronkov – Adam Fantilli – Kent Johnson

Luca Pinelli – Sean Monahan – Cole Sillinger

Miles Wood – Charlie Coyle – Isac Lundestrom

Zach Aston Reese – Brendan Gaunce – Yegor Chinakhov

DEFENSEMEN

Zach Werenski / Ivan Provorov

Denton Mateychuk / Damon Severson

Brendan Smith / Dante Fabbro

Goalies: Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins

Potential scratches: Mathieu Olivier (injury), Kirill Marchenko (day to day injury), Jake Christansen

Injured Reserve: Erik Gudbrandson, Boone Jenner

• Tough break for Marchenko, who got hurt during the morning skate in Washington and was expected to be out for tonight’s game.
• In better news, Werenski was injured in that game against the Capitals but was able to come back and play the next game against Toronto, looks like CBJ dodged a bullet to avoid an injury to one of their most irreplaceable players.
• Chinakov, a 2020 first round pick, hasn’t found a huge role and has requested a trade. Columbus doesn’t look in a huge hurry to honor the request but it might eventually get in that direction.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Columbus ranks just 24th in the NHL so far this season with 2.79 goals/game, and their top-four goal scorers (Fantilli, Voronkov, Werenski and Markchenko) have created over 50% of the team’s goal total (34 of 67).
• Gotta be at least a little disappointing that Monahan only has two goals and 10 points in 24 games this season after putting up 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games last year.
• Many were ready to see what Greaves could do in his first full season in the NHL, he hasn’t disappointed yet. Merzlikins plays to about the same level every year, Columbus now might have found a goalie that they can rely on.

Keep it close

Columbus isn’t good at much, besides keeping games close and getting them to overtime more often than not. There’s some value in that for the standings. The Blue Jackets only have six regulation wins in the 24 games this season, but they do have 11 wins overall – almost doubling up their win total via extra time. Overall, CBJ is 2-3 in games decided in OT and 3-1 in the shootout for a 5-4 overall record in games that go past the scheduled 60 minutes.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Connor Dewar – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Kevin Hayes – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Ville Koivunen – Tristan Broz – Tommy Novak

Joona Koppanen – Blake Lizotte – Danton Heinen

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Ben Kindel (development plan), Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)

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

• The Pens were off yesterday following their big win over Buffalo on Wednesday night.
• It’ll be interesting to see if the goalie rotation continues. One on hand, you’d think it would settle back in to the successful groove the Pens were in earlier in the year when they rotated Jarry and Silovs evenly. On the other hand, Jarry was awesome on Wednesday and Silovs got pulled in his last outing. There’s games today and tomorrow, so both should be getting the opportunity to play soon enough, just a bit intriguing to see how the team will choose to handle the ordering for an important divisional matchup against a team the Pens could be competing with for positioning throughout the season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...burgh-penguins-columbus-blue-jackets-11-28-25

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon have formed surprisingly strong top defense pairing

When you start analyzing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ surprisingly strong start to the 2025-26 season, the team’s defense or defensive play is probably not high on the list of reasons for their early success. On paper, it looks like the weak link of the roster, especially when you look at the list of names on the left side. Statistically, a lot of the Penguins’ team defensive metrics are …. bad. By the eye test, they have let some third period leads (and big leads) slip away, while often times struggling in their own zone.

The team is winning thanks to some veteran forwards still having some juice to their game, some fresh young talent making an impact at forward, the power play being outstanding, and the goaltending being even better and more surprising.

There is, however, one aspect of the defense that has been legitimately good and productive, and it is the top-pairing of Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon.

This is probably not something a lot of people were expecting when the season began.

For one, even though Karlsson arrived in Pittsburgh as a Hall of Fame talent with three Norris Trophies on his resume, his first two years with the Penguins were wildly disappointing. The offense was still mostly strong, but the overall impact was not there, and as his initial time here progressed it was becoming painfully obvious that he and former head coach Mike Sullivan did not see eye-to-eye on many things. It was a bad fit.

Through the first quarter of the season under first-year head coach Dan Muse, Karlsson looks rejuvenated and is giving the Penguins the exact type of impact they were expecting when they originally acquired him. His goal-scoring numbers are not quite there at the moment, but he is on pace for 50 assists and is playing remarkably better away from the puck, using his skating and instincts in a way we did not really see under Sullivan. His offensive vision and playmaking are also still very much elite, as he displayed on Wednesday night with that pass to set up Kevin Hayes for the go-ahead goal in the third period.

When it comes to Wotherspoon, he was another of the Penguins’ short-term, low-cost free agent additions that just appeared to be roster-filler and potential future trade-bait than anything else. A two-year, $2 million contract for a 28-year-old that had bounced around the NHL and never really played a major full-time role is not something that is ordinarily going to get much attention.

The best way to describe his game so far is probably just … solid. He does not do anything spectacularly well, and while he has had the occasional mishap (that delay of game penalty in Anaheim), he has mostly been an extremely strong complement on Karlsson’s pairing.

As a duo, they have been very good, and by far the most effective of the Penguins’ most-used defense pairings.

In their 322 minutes of 5-on-5 ice-time together the Penguins have outscored teams 12-7 with the Karlsson-Wotherspoon duo on the ice, and possess scoring-chance and high-danger scoring chance shares of well over 53 percent. Their expected goal share is a little lower at only 48 percent, but it is still among the best marks among Penguins defense pairs.

When that duo is not on the ice, and when neither player is on the ice, the Penguins are being outscored 24-31 while their scoring chance and high-danger scoring chance shares see drops of 3-5 percent.

On a league-wide level, there have been 40 defense pairings that have logged at least 200 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time together (all numbers via Natural Stat Trick).

The Karlsson-Wotherspoon pairing ranks:

• Shot attempt share: 52.07 percent (16th)
• Goals scored share: 61.3 percent (8th)
• Expected goals share: 47.5 (33rd)
• Scoring chance share: 53.2 (15th)
• High-danger scoring chance share: 55.4 (9th)

Not quite elite numbers, but consistently strong and above average, and by far the best on the team across almost all of those categories.

The other aspect to their game that might be going a little unnoticed is they have also been extremely effective on the penalty kill together, which is another area you probably did not expect them — and especially Karlsson — to make such an impact.

They have been the Penguins’ most-used defense pairing during short-handed situations, and have been mostly effective, allowing just 4.68 goals per 60 minutes and only 7.39 expected goals per 60 minutes. What do those numbers mean? A team that allows 4.68 goals per 60 minutes of PK team would rank fourth-best in the NHL. A team that allows 7.39 expected goals per 60 minutes of PK team would rank sixth-best in the NHL.

As a team, the Penguins have a top-six PK unit across almost all metrics, including goals against per 60, expected goals against per 60 and their overall success rate (85.2 percent).

No matter the situation they have simply played strong hockey together, and been a nice strength on a unit (the defense) that has otherwise struggled this season. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/...ormed-surprisingly-strong-top-defense-pairing

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Blue Jackets Recap: Crosby, Letang fuel comeback for first OT win of season

Pregame​

Lots of new looks for the Penguins; a goal last game helps elevate Kevin Hayes to the first line, Tommy Novak slides up into Hayes’s former spot on the second line. Ben Kindel is back for this one, bumping Tristan Broz out and Connor Dewar returns to his typical home on the fourth line. Defense holds steady and Tristan Jarry starts in goal for the second game in a row for his first time this season.

How we're lining up in Columbus.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/KFFS5sQDJP

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 28, 2025

First period​

It’s a slow start in the first five minutes or so for Pittsburgh, but they get it in gear and score the game’s first goal. A long o-zone sequence puts Columbus goalie Jet Greaves in a scramble and out of sorts in his crease, the puck goes low to high and Kris Letang finds who else but Sidney Crosby down near the net to redirect the puck in. 1-0.

"SIDNEY ON ONE KNEE, IT'S A GUARANTEE." pic.twitter.com/mz3uK6dM9v

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 29, 2025

The Blue Jackets are able to answer back. Sean Monahan does the honors for his first goal in 10 games when Tristan Jarry can’t control a rebound; neither can Ryan Graves as the puck bounces off his skates and right to Monahan. 1-1 game.

MONNY'S ON THE BOARD!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/FBsrfIAmTl

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 29, 2025

The period comes to an end, both team had a power play during it; the Pens looked terrible, CBJ had a little more zone time but weren’t able to set the cannon off. Shots were 8-7 in favor of Columbus.

Second period​

Pittsburgh gets a very long extended 6v5 chance on a delayed penalty call but can’t score on the power play. In fact, they give up a goal, and Bryan Rust left early after inadvertently skating into a teammate (though he would return to action quickly). Can’t go much worse than that. Miles Wood skates around a sprawled out Crosby and Brendan Gaunce is able to finish it. 2-1 CBJ.

GAUNCER NETS A SHORTY!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/cHvKYKk2ki

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 29, 2025

The Pens barely get any more shots for the rest of the period, Bryan Rust tries his classic drive from the left side to the net but runs out of room, loses an edge and his leg smacks into the goal post. He leaves in pain for the second time in the game.

Columbus beats the clock to extend their lead to 3-1 with 3.3 seconds to play. Charlie Coyle does a great job protecting the puck and keeping Letang from getting to it. Hayes flies by, accomplishing little and leaving Zach Werenski wide open creeping down from his point position. Bad news for Pittsburgh comes from it.

Z ACTIVATED HEATSEEKER!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/yiFBMjYy9i

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 29, 2025

Shots overall in the game are 21-14 CBJ, 14 feels generous for what the Pens have done – a good portion of it has come in a few flurries here and there, nothing consistent or building up. It would have been a victory to get to the room only down one goal and try to recover from there.

Third period​

The Pens come out smoking to start the third, Rust is back and gets the puck following a pinch by Erik Karlsson to seal off the wall. Ivan Provorov can’t gap up to him quickly enough and Rust fires a shot at the glove of Greaves. It hits it and goes in. 3-2 game just 13 seconds in.

That's back-to-back games with a goal for Rust pic.twitter.com/yAzVwFz9e9

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) November 29, 2025

The Pens find an equalizer, and it’s Crosby, of course. A nice bank pass from Tommy Novak puts Crosby behind the defense. In a quick move the Pens captain catches up with the puck and slams on the breaks as he snapes it through Greaves. 3-3.

Sidney Crosby ties Dave Andreychuk for 15th on the NHL's all-time goals list with career goal No. 640! pic.twitter.com/PNbFOrsmiC

— NHL (@NHL) November 29, 2025

Jarry and Greaves trade some big saves to keep the game tied and head to extra time.

Overtime​

Columbus has the puck a bit but they can’t shoot. The Pens get it back and eventually create a 2-on-1 in front of the net. Novak fakes a shot and lays a perfect pass over for Letang. Letang fires in his second goal of the season to give Pittsburgh their first overtime win of the year in their sixth attempt.

COMEBACK COMPLETE

Kris Letang secures the win for the @penguins in @Energizer OT! pic.twitter.com/0ldmhMKBBj

— NHL (@NHL) November 29, 2025

Some thoughts​

• The Pens No 1 ranked power play going 0/2 and giving up a goal to Columbus is a troubling harbinger for the rest of the game. If you only knew just that one note and didn’t know anything about the final score, you’d have to think it wasn’t going to be a winning effort based on that alone. Sneaking out with the full two points wasn’t something to be expected for a while tonight.
• That’s one of the many great things about having Sidney Crosby on your roster. The team can bring a C or D game for most the night, the Crosby factor can show up and give them a fighting chance.
• Jarry did the same, especially in the third period with a couple of very key and clutch saves to keep the puck out of the net. His team didn’t put him in great shape for a while.
• It’s not going very well for Koivunen. In the first period he was slow carrying the puck across the line, causing an offsides. Then Koivunen got the puck on a 2-on-1 and held onto it for far too long, allowing the sliding defender to thwart the play. Whether it’s the game going too fast or Koivunen going too slow, something is a beat off there. Timing can be tricky coming back from an injury but at the same time the performance has to be more crisp there and likely in a hurry to prove he can be better than this at the NHL level.
• Not playing one of Broz or Kindel in the past few days so that Joona Koppanen can play 10ish minutes and a few shorthanded shifts is certainly a choice, and not a good one. Hayes scored last game and got promoted to the top line and that wasn’t a fit either. The roster isn’t ideal but some of the decisions and placement have been questionable to hurt as well.
• Nice game for Rust, took a lickin’ but kept on tickin’. Nothing new for him, his style is going to demand taking some bumps along the way, scoring a goal for the second straight game was a huge moment to answer Columbus’s late goal in the second.
• CBJ has played eight OT games in their last 11, going past the distance is par for the course for them. The Pens were 0-5 in games that lasted over 60 minutes before tonight, finally getting the second point in overtime contests.
• Great job by Novak to contribute two primary assists. Six of his seven assists this season have come that way. When he has the time and space to operate he can work some magic, that little feint in overtime was a great move to help open up the goalie.
• Impressive comeback win for the Pens to enter the third on the road down two goals and get a result. This kind of game makes up for some of the earlier games in the season when they had been on the other end of nights like this to play well but stumble

Quick turn for the Pens, back in action tomorrow night at home when the slumping Maple Leafs come for a visit.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...tang-fuel-comeback-for-first-ot-win-of-season

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

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

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting to know the Maple Leafs​

Projected lines (from Friday’s game)

FORWARDS

Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Nicholas Robertson

Easton Cowan – John Tavares – Bobby McMann

Matias Macelli – Nicolas Roy – Dakota Joshua

Steven Lorentz – Scott Laughton – Calle Jarnkrok

DEFENSEMEN

Morgan Rielly – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe

Dakota Mermis – Troy Stecher

Goalies: Joseph Woll, Dennis Hildeby

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

Injured Reserve: Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo

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

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

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

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

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

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 29, 2025

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

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

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

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 28, 2025

Season stats
via hockeydb (excludes Friday’s game)

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

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Kevin Hayes – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Danton Heinen – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Joona Koppanen – Blake Lizotte – Connor Dewar

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry

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

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

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

Sidney Crosby Kris Letang

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

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 29, 2025

Most OT points all-time:

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

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

— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 29, 2025

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

Pregame​

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

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

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 29, 2025

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

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

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

First period​

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

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

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

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

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

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 30, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

Second period​

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

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

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

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

Spin it DJ! pic.twitter.com/WspxWKl63j

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

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

11 + 55, carry the 1, blah, blah

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

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

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

Third period​

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

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

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 30, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some thoughts​

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

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

Here's the #NHL standings at Thanksgiving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

The week ahead: Big challenges ahead for Penguins

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

Injuries to the forward group have taken their toll.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Win the game in regulation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Gamethread: Penguins @ Flyers

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguin Prospect Update: early December 2025

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

Horcoff going supernova​

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

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

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

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

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

— Pens Prospects (@pensprospects_) November 30, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 30, 2025

Horcoff unleashed pic.twitter.com/vvEB6xzENm

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 23, 2025

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

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 30, 2025

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

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

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 29, 2025

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

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

Ryan Miller’s streak continues​

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

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

— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) December 1, 2025

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

Lucius staying hot​

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

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

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

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

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

Fernstrom’s chance?​

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

Plante leading NCAA in assists​

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

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

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

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

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

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

My latesthttps://t.co/rWBTG9jnCm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Ville Koivunen just needs a goal

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

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

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

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

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

It just has not yet consistently translated into actual goals.

The hope is, that it will.

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

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

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

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

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

I do not think he is a bad player.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rickard Rakell is on that list.

David Krejci is on that list.

Brad Marchand is on that list.

Josh Bailey is on that list.

Andrew Mangiapane is on that list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Crosby chases more history

Here are your Pens Points for this Wednesday morning…​

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

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

News and notes from around the NHL…​

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

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

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

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

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

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

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

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

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

That is starting to happen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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