RSS Penguins Team Notes

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Wilkes Weekly and WJC Mashup: Exciting times beyond the NHL level

The Wilkes-Barre Penguins remain in first place in the Atlantic Division after a week that saw them go 1-1-1. Nick Hart recaps the games here:

Saturday, Dec. 27 – PENGUINS 5 vs. Hershey 2
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came roaring out of the holiday break, burying five goals in the first period of its first game back. The scoring started early, with Nolan Renwick potting his first of the season two minutes in. Raivis Ansons lit the lamp 92 seconds later, followed by a pair of strikes by Gabe Klassen and a late power-play goal from Phil Tomasino.

Sunday, Dec. 28 – PENGUINS 3 at Lehigh Valley 4 (SO)
Rafaël Harvey-Pinard had a day, but the Penguins ultimately fell in a shootout to their turnpike rival. Harvey-Pinard tucked in a slick feed from Valtteri Puustinen three minutes into the game, then went coast-to-coast for a snipe on the rush early in the second period. David Breazeale notched his first AHL goal swiftly after the Phantoms took the lead in the third period, where Harvey-Pinard picked up an assist. However, Lehigh Valley scored on both of its shootout attempts, whereas Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton was shut down.

Harvey-Pinard was named AHL player of the week for his four point effort in those two games (2G+2A). RHP has been sort of a forgotten player in the NHL mix with the depth and sheer number of bodies the organization has, but he’s having a fine season and is in very good form recently.

Missing from that is last night’s 6-2 loss to Charlotte. Sergei Murashov got touched up for five goals against on 24 shots and got pulled in the rare off outing for himself, Aaron Huglen and Joona Koppanen scored the goals for WBS. The Checkers have given WBS problems this season, winning three of the five matchups so far. Those games count for a sizeable portion of the 11 total losses on the season for the Penguins. WBS is in first place, though they have played a whopping six more games than Providence, who are only four points behind and hold an edge in points percentage.

Since the AHL regular season is only 72 games, the Pens are approaching their halfway point and are in firm control for an easy playoff qualification (the top six teams in the division will make the postseason). Looking beyond that, as always in the AHL format, finishing in the top-two within the division will be the season’s primary focus to get a bye in the first round that is only a three-game series and has tripped WBS up in the last two seasons. That should be a big battle that looks like it’s coming down to Wilkes-Barre, Providence and Charlotte fighting for the two top spots. So far the Pens are well-positioned in that battle, despite their mediocre head-to-head results so far against Charlotte.

The Pens are back in action on Saturday, facing off against Syracuse (second place in the North division with 36 points in 30 games) in what could be a strong test for WBS on the road.

—

To cram another topic into the minor league roundup, the 2026 World Junior Championships is well underway, with several big New Year’s Eve games as is tradition in that tournament. The unbeaten Canadians take on Finland in what should be their toughest early tournament matchup, ditto the unbeaten Americans who will face off against fellow medal favorite (and unbeaten) Sweden today.

Overall it’s been a fairly quiet opening to the tournament for the two Penguin prospects involved. 2025 first round pick Will Horcoff has one goal and one assist in the three games while playing on the top line for the Americans. Harrison Brunicke has one assist in his three games for Canada, playing second pair but also getting a heavy dose of special teams time while wearing an A on his jersey as an alternate captain.

Horcoff’s goal against the Germans was a highlight we’ve seen often this season for getting towards the front of the net and using the shooting ability that’s led him to the top of the statsheet in the NCAA this year to find the back of the net.

Ziemer Horcoff #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/5j6EHLhY1Q

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) December 26, 2025

The true tests for both of these players and teams lays ahead. Today is the last day of round robin action, the single elimination games start on Friday, followed up by a quick turn to the semi-finals on Sunday and championship game on Monday. The US/Sweden and Canada/Finland games today will determine where all of those clubs sit within the bracket. All along many have expected a high probability of a US/Canada collision in the finals, both teams will have to win today to ensure that stays on track. That is no guarantee – especially in the case of a strong Sweden team that should provide an excellent challenge to the Americans today. Many eyes will be on Horcoff to see what he’s got in these crucial moments in the next few days ahead, which will make for exciting watching by the Penguins to see how their budding prospect can perform.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/wbs-weekl...jc-mashup-exciting-times-beyond-the-nhl-level

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins trade Philip Tomasino to Philadelphia for Egor Zamula

A trade of players who recently both cleared waivers! And the rare recent Penguins/Flyers transaction! 2025 is going out with the a bang. Pittsburgh picks up defenseman Egor Zamula in exchange for Philip Tomasino.

The Penguins have acquired defenseman Egor Zamula from the @NHLFlyers in exchange for forward Philip Tomasino.

Details: https://t.co/oxKHyv1NJv pic.twitter.com/2anGBLtk8L

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 31, 2025

From the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired defenseman Egor Zamula from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Philip Tomasino, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Zamula is signed through the 2025-26 season, and his contract carries an average annual value of $1.7 million.

Zamula, 25, has appeared in 13 games with the Flyers this season registering one assist and is plus-4. He’s also dressed in three games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey league, notching two assists.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound blueliner has spent all six years of his professional career with the Flyers organization, recording 41 points (8G-33A) in 168 regular-season NHL games. At the AHL level, Zamula has notched five goals, 51 assists and 56 points in 130 games with Lehigh Valley.

The native Chelyabinsk, Russia represented his home country at the 2020 World Junior Championship, picking up five points (3G-2A) in seven games en route to a silver medal.

Prior to that, the undrafted defenseman enjoyed a three-year career in the WHL split between the Regina Pats and Calgary Hitmen.

Both players, interestingly enough, will remain in the AHL; Zamula is reportedly heading to Wilkes-Barre to start and Tomasino is going to Lehigh Valley. It was also rumored and whispered that Zamula might have eventually gotten towards a contract termination with the Flyers, so we’ll see how long he is going to stay in the AHL to acclimate with the Pittsburgh organization.

Zamula had a pretty good season in the past but has struggled to find a full-time niche in the NHL due to skating concerns. He has been responsible defensively in spurts, however.

Egor Zamula, acquired by PIT, is a depth defensive defenceman who's shown a bit of upside in small minutes, specifically defending the rush. Has also shown an extreme lack of foot speed. pic.twitter.com/3ArH7gRZ1P

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 31, 2025

Zamula and Tomasino might be about mirror images of one another; Tomasino an offensive-minded forward fell out of favor with a soft 2025-26 season. He was working on a one-year contract worth $1.75 million. Zamula is the same but opposite as a defender, on a $1.7m cap hit. Both are of similar ages and get a new start in a new spot, albeit looking like the impacts of the swap might not make major headway for the future of either organization.

The other interesting item might simply be the fact that the Penguins and Flyers even engaged in completing a trade at all. The team’s had not made a meaningful trade of two pro players since 2002 (the Pens did, however, deal a 2011 third round pick in 2010 to the Flyers for the negotiating rights of Dan Hamhuis but they were unable to come to terms and Hamhuis opted to become a free agent. The third round pick, ironically, ended up being traded to Arizona and back to Pittsburgh in time for the 2011 draft, becoming Harrison Ruopp, who never played in the NHL).

Truth be told, today’s deal wasn’t even the first PIT/PHI trade in 2025; back at the draft the Penguins traded the 12th overall pick (that they received from Vancouver in the Marcus Pettersson deal) over to Philadelphia in exchange for the 22nd and 31st overall picks. The Pens would eventually navigate out of the 31st pick and up a little to end up coming out of draft night with Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff. The Flyers took Jack Nesbitt at No. 12. Nesbitt has 28 points in 27 OHL games this season, Horcoff has been off to a hotter start tearing up the NCAA. From the moment of the draft, we noted that the Nesbitt vs. Horcoff development battle will be an interesting one to track over the years, since their frames and styles are very similar and Pittsburgh opted to steer to Horcoff. It’s early yet for a victory lap but that doesn’t look like a bad idea six months post-draft.

Anyways, Tomasino for Zamula is another deal between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and show a swing towards thawing relations among the mindset of trading between rivals. Sometimes it’s been fairly common (the two PA clubs made four trades with one another over a decade-long period from 1992-2002, including the absolute blockbuster that sent Mark Recchi and a future first round pick to the Flyers in exchange for Rick Tocchet, Ken Wregget and Kjell Samuelsson. Imagine that today!) Other times, like basically 2003-24 it’s been incredibly rare to see the rivals get together and make a deal. Today’s transaction is hardly Recchi-for-Tocchet on the magnitude scale, but just as appealing to see previously existing barriers of trading partners continue to fall.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/71065/penguins-trade-philip-tomasino-to-philadelphia-for-egor-zamula

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Detroit Red Wings @ Pittsburgh Penguins 1/1/26

Who: Detroit Red Wings (24-14-3, 51 points, 1st place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (17-12-9, 43 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

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

Pens’ Path Ahead: The grind continues with a pair of afternoon games this weekend. The Pens and Red Wings will rematch in Detroit on Saturday afternoon (noon start), then Pittsburgh stays on the road to see Columbus on Sunday (3:00pm eastern start). Then comes a rare three-day break with no games until the Pens host the Devils a week from tonight.

Opponent Track: The Christmas break came at a bad time for Detroit; their 9-2-1 record to start December was one of the best in the NHL. They came back from the break with a 5-2 loss to Carolina before steadying and getting two wins after that, including a 2-1 home win against Winnipeg last night.

Season Series: This will be the first PIT/DET game of the season, we won’t have to wait long for the second since these teams will meet again on Saturday, as mentioned above. The third and final matchup pops up on March 31st in Pittsburgh.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins have points in 10-consecutive home games against Detroit (7-0-3) dating back to Jan. 13, 2018 (stick tap to Pens PR).

Getting to know the Red Wings​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Emmitt Finnie – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond

Alex DeBrincat – Andrew Copp – Patrick Kane

Michael Rasmussen – JT Compher – Mason Appleton

Marco Kasper – Nate Danielson – James van Riemsdyk

DEFENSEMEN

Simon Edvinsson / Moritz Seider

Ben Chiarot / Axel Sandin-Pellikka

Albert Johansson / Jacob Bernard-Docker

Goalies: Cam Talbot (John Gibson started last night)

Potential scratches: John Leonard, Elmer Soderblom, Travis Harmonic

Injured Reserve: none

• Despite having a name that sounds like he could have been the sixth male lead in It’s a Wonderful Life (hey, it’s still on top of mind this time of year), 20-year old Emmitt Finnie has been a surprise success story in his rookie season. It’s not too often a guy goes from seventh round draft pick to NHL first line in under three years!
• The Pens have struggled mightily in recent years against the DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond combo, which fortunately for Pittsburgh has been slightly split up for the time being. 2024-25 was a slight down season for the three against Pittsburgh, ‘the Cat’ and Raymond still managed to each record five points in three games. The trio all produced six points in three games vs PIT in 2023-24. They have done really well at finding time, space and then filling up the net against the Pens in recent years after making a series of high-skilled passes, plays and shots. Of course, all are talented players that produce points against just about everyone, it’s just at times they’ve taken it to a different level and absolutely wrecked games with bursts of brilliance against the Pens who have looked powerless at times to stop those skilled players. So, uh, good luck!
• Is this going to be the year the Yzer-plan finally bears fruit and gets Detroit back into the playoffs for the first time since 2016? They’re right in the mix, being in first can give a little bit of a false sense of security since some Atlantic teams are right on Detroit’s heels. To make matters worse for them, the two Florida teams have really gotten things in gear the last 15, 20 games to keep the pressure up.

Season stats
via hockeydb

(Note: does not include last night’s game)

• The injury situation has been extremely favorable for the Red Wings in the first half of a season where injuries have been up across the league this year. Detroit has only used 24 different skaters and two goalies (compared to the Pens 33 and 4, respectively) and almost all their key pieces have been healthy enough to play in just about all of the games except for Patrick Kane. Availability can build chemistry and cohesion, it’s been a good formula for Detroit so far.

Mo knows​

There’s a pretty good case to be made that Moritz Seider is the best defender in the NHL, some may prefer the sublime skills of Cale Makar (and it’s hard to argue against it) but Seider deserves to be mentioned right in the tippy top with the Makar’s, Quinn Hughes’s, Miro Heiskanen’s and Zach Werenski’s of the very best around.

Moritz Seider has a 61% on-ice goal share at 5v5.

The Red Wings have a 35.5% 5v5 goal share with Seider off the ice.

The 2019-20 Red Wings had a 35.5% 5v5 goal share.

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 21, 2025

Seider ranks 19th in the NHL among defensemen in hits (69) and eighth in blocked shots (87), while being sixth in points, putting up 24 points (6G+18A) in the last 26 games. He’s right up there in goals against replacement in the whole league, all while averaging just over 25 minutes per game. Still at just 24-years old, Seider is an amazing force multiplier right now.

Key matchup: Similar styles

In a lot of ways the statistical matchup for this game is the meme of the two Spiderman’s pointing at each other. Pittsburgh and Detroit match up similarly in strengths and weaknesses.

Both teams have been top-half of the league in shot-tracked metrics in terms of 5v5 Corsi, Fenwick and expected goals. Both are bottom-half of the league in terms of 5v5 Corsi, Fenwick and expected goals against. Both have very good power plays and middle-of-the-road penalty kills. There are some differences; Detroit has struggled to finish chances, which results in a weak 5v5 actual goals. The Penguins have had better overall goaltending, though that number could be said to be stronger than the current goaltending on hand.

Overall it makes for two teams with similar styles and outlooks. Both are likely to generate a lot, and also give up a lot and have net advantages on special teams due to their strong power plays. Since the Red Wings played and traveled last night, the onus will fall to the Pens to take advantage of that situation and playing a backup goalie in Talbot who hasn’t exactly been stingy this season.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau

Ville Koivunen – Ben Kindel – Rutger McGroarty

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Brett Kulak / Kris Letang

Ryan Shea / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Yegor Chinakhov (?), Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton

IR: Evgeni Malkin, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones

• The Pens were off yesterday, which will make today’s morning skate worth watching for accurate lines. The team will likely look to get Chinakhov into the lineup, we’ll see at which player’s expense. Koivunen stands out as a possible target there.
• The goalie decision will be an interesting one to track too. Skinner is coming off a great game making 27 stops on 28 shots against Carolina, do the Pens give him a little bit of a chance to run with it? Silovs has won two straight games for himself and wouldn’t be a bad choice to go back to either. With three games coming up in the next four days, there will be time for each to play here soon, the splits of which goalie will get two of those games will be intriguing to see.
• Tonight’s promotion is an ‘indoor firework show’ by Zambelli, which at first to me, can’t lie, sounded like the worst promotional tactic since Jackie Moon got a bear to wrestle. Upon doing a little more research, as not to simply make a little joke and disparage the good name of Zambelli Fireworks, it kinda looks like indoor firework shows are extended versions of Goldberg or Cody Rhodes entrances, which I’m sure will be enjoyable for some. Let us know if you experience it if it’s cool or not.

Infographic courtesy of the Penguins

(With 2026, so is the return of the infographic to the previews! Somehow these emails were unknowingly getting hung up in the spam folder to date, whoops!)

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...-detroit-red-wings-pittsburgh-penguins-1-1-26

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Red Wings Recap: New year, same Sid. Crosby, Pens win in OT

Pregame​

Yegor Chinakhov draws into the Penguin lineup for the first time. Arturs Silovs rotates back into the crease, otherwise all is as it has been lately with the lines for the home team.

Tonight's lineup vs. Detroit.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/9sbG1jRvmz

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 1, 2026

Visiting Detroit has the following lines for the night, backup goalie Cam Talbot is in net for the back-half of their second game in as many days.

How we're lining up tonight pic.twitter.com/US19jayyJo

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 2, 2026

First period​

It only takes 20 seconds for the first Pittsburgh penalty of the year, it’s Sidney Crosby for a tripping call. The Pens kill it off, Crosby atones for his infraction by blasting in a beautiful slapshot from long range on the Pens’ first power play of the night soon after. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are in front of the net, blocking Talbot’s view with a pair of Red Wings in the path as well. Crosby fires it in. 1-0 Pens.

Sidney Crosby, folks. pic.twitter.com/yQLgxDJyQp

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 2, 2026

About a minute and a half later, Crosby strikes out of the blue. Brutal Ben Chiarot’s outlet attempt is off the mark and goes right to the Pittsburgh captain, who then quickly puts away his second goal of 2026 in just 5:46 of game-time. Smiles all around for this start.

Come for the goal from 87, stay for the epic celly

Crosby now has multiple points in nine of his last 16 outings against the Red Wings (10G-14A). pic.twitter.com/WLWjYTjYeG

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 2, 2026

Pittsburgh begins a parade to the penalty box, Brett Kulak gets racked up on a questionable offensive zone penalty, later Parker Wotherspoon goes for roughing on an even more questionable play. The Pens managed to kill those off, but then there’s nothing questionable about Tommy Novak accidentally putting his stick across Patrick Kane’s face and drawing a lot of blood. Detroit has a very good power play, after getting all this practice in early they finally are able to convert. Veteran James van Riemsdyk redirects a shot from in tight, not much hope for Silovs on that one. 2-1 game.

JVR nets his 10th on the season. pic.twitter.com/IPppa0Ndv2

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 2, 2026

Almost as much of the first period is played with a Detroit power play (9:27) as it is at normal 5-on-5 (10:17). Some of that was unavoidable but the Pens can’t be taking 10 minutes worth of PIMs in a single period and had to work their way out of that.

Second period​

Bad luck strikes for Silovs, he goes behind the net to play a dump in, but the puck hits a joint and goes to the front of the unguarded net. Silovs can’t recover in time, Andrew Copp has what could be the easiest goal of his career. 2-2 game, 0:50 seconds in.

We'll take it! pic.twitter.com/C6SasJ88MV

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 2, 2026

The Penguins get more and more upset with the officiating, given that the refs are opting not to call a lot in the second period – when Detroit was able to get away with a lot of little things that Pittsburgh was getting send to the box for in the first. The broadcast captures Bryan Rust on the bench, and I’m no expert lip reader but the f-word was clearing getting used. Fast forward a little, the refs send Rust to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct, he went too far for them.

Late in that power play the refs finally can’t avoid making just the second penalty call on Detroit when Lucas Raymond grabs a hold of a Penguin stick. The crowd is heated too, rising to mock cheer the officials for remembering that they’re allowed to penalize more than one team. Pittsburgh can’t convert on their power play.

Not much flow in this game, not a smooth one for the Penguins who are making enough forced and unforced errors to keep this one tied after 40 minutes.

Third period​

Pittsburgh and Detroit both get chances at third period power plays in the first half of the third, neither break the tie.

Another brutal bounce, this time when Dylan Larkin’s shot attempt goes off Erik Karlsson’s stick, which breaks and somehow the puck trickles right to Mason Raymond. Raymond is able to steer it in. But wait, the Pens’ crack video staff instantly saw that Emmitt Finnie brought himself over the blueline before the puck, it’s a quick review and the Red Wings do not have the go-ahead goal with 7:12 after all.

It’s Pittsburgh who pulls ahead, their fourth line puts together yet another high-pressure shift in the offensive zone, hounding pucks and swarming around. Blake Lizotte gets the better of Jack Johnson, err the Jack Johnson looking Ben Chiarot and the puck trickles in. Pens up 3-2.

BLAKE LIZOTTE WOULD NOT BE DENIED pic.twitter.com/avFqsBW6Na

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 2, 2026

The Penguins being the Penguins, they were not yet out of the woods. Jack St. Ivany lifts the puck over the glass and is off for delay of game. The Red Wings buckle down and, fittingly, the Pens look a little awkward and disoriented. Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon run into each other, neither can get back and then Noel Acciari just kinda falls. The Red Wings have a hand in making them look like the Three Stooges out there, tough one to give up late.

Gotta love The Cat! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/mszlXYHbdU

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 2, 2026

Off to overtime. Really after all the twists and turns of this game, I don’t have a problem with that. Both of these teams deserve a point in the standings for tonight.

Overtime​

The game has been crazy and OT is much of the same. Both teams trade odd-man rushes up and down the ice, it’s the Pens who take the last shot. Crosby finds Kris Letang and his shot goes off the iron and into the net to end the game.

OUR GAME-WINNING GOAL HERO IN HIS 1,200TH @NHL GAME! pic.twitter.com/tYMgS9GmxQ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 2, 2026

Some thoughts​

• First things first, 1,200th game for Kris Letang tonight. Seems like it’s always a milestone for someone these days, it’s pretty rare and worth noting when a defender plays that many games with the same franchise. Coming through at the end with the OT GWG is a nice way to cap it off on a year where there have been more tough moments than positive highlights for Letang.
• On that note, Karlsson gets to 900 career points in the ninth-fastest fashion for blueliners after an assist tonight.
• If you’re a goaltender: tend the goal. Silovs made some bad luck for himself leaving the net open. It’s not every day a bad bounce like that happens but it never looks good when it does. In that instance the Penguin defenders didn’t truly need the goalie to stop and settle the puck. Knowing when to go back there situationally might be the takeaway there.
• Luckily for him that ended up being a high-profile mistake that was made up for in the end. Moneypuck had the Red Wings with a total of 6.6 expected goals, Silovs was able to tighten up and finish with a win. He had to earn that one.
• As advertised and expected, Chinakhov has some wheels on him and when he shoots the puck there’s definitely some heat on it. He only had one morning skate and not even a full practice with his new team before today’s game, some time and adjustment period will be needed.
• It’s futile to complain about the refereeing without just sounding like whining. Sometimes the officiating is going to be acceptable, sometimes it will be annoying. The Pens definitely had a case that the way the game was being called in the first period was not the same as it was in the second. That said, you can’t have a team leader like Rust keep digging by venting on the refs and taking a penalty himself. Emotions run hot but a player owes it to the team not to get out of control. To Rust’s credit, he was arguably the best and most active guy out there for the Pens from that point on. Players know when they get carried away and make a bad mistake that they owe it back.
• Video review teams are so good, if they challenge for offsides you can just about bet your bottom dollar that they were able to identify someone a smidge ahead of the play. It’s clinical at this point, that group came up huge for the Pens in the third period.
• Big time game for Crosby with the three points, he ended up punching through but you had to love the nights for the second and fourth lines too. They were all over the place and had firm control of the puck. It’s a wonder they didn’t get more than Lizotte’s late-game goal that ended up almost

It was a fun game, also a very clunky game at times with calls, missed calls, disallowed goals, a couple of late goals and an OT finish that truly could have gone either way. It ended up going the Pens’ way, but Detroit won’t have to wait long for a measure of revenge. Both teams see each other in 38 hours from the time at writing on Saturday afternoon.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...recap-new-year-same-sid-crosby-pens-win-in-ot

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Rakell, Karlsson make Team Sweden

Team Sweden will have the most Pittsburgh Penguin input at the 2026 Olympics with two players on the roster. Both Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson were named to the roster released today.

Representing Sweden at the #MilanoCortina2026 #WinterOlympics… pic.twitter.com/4zkB5heEgs

— NHL (@NHL) January 2, 2026

Karlsson made waves when he was one of the first six players named ahead of the rest of the roster for last years’ 4 Nations Face-off but was NOT one of the early named players to the Olympics. That slight was something he referenced as giving fuel to his season, and he’s responded really well with probably his strongest season in the three years he has been with the Penguins where he’s produced 30 points in 39 games.

The Rakell inclusion is a little unexpected, based off recent play at least. Rakell broke his hand and only has four goals in 19 games so far. He performed really well last season with 35 goals. Rakell was a member of Sweden’s 4 Nations club, but only played two games, he might be back in a depth role.

Pittsburgh won’t have any representatives on the Finland or United States team, not to be unexpected. There could have been a minor push for Bryan Rust, but for a team that couldn’t find room for Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield, Alex Tuch or Cutter Gauthier, it can’t be too surprising that Rust wasn’t a very serious candidate there. The US will have a few Pittsburgh-adjacent ties with Bill Guerin and Mike Sullivan as key figures and Western PA natives J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck making the team and former Penguin Jake Guentzel also a part of the roster.

As already announced, Sidney Crosby will lead the star-studded Canadian roster as their captain once again.

Haven’t seen a release yet for Latvia just yet, but it stands to figure that Arturs Silovs will be involved as a key member since he is one of only two Latvian goalies currently in the NHL (along with Elvis Merzlikins of Columbus).

The Pens will play their last game before the break on February 5th, Olympic action kicks off on the 11th and runs through the gold medal game on the 22nd. Pittsburgh’s NHL schedule picks back up on Feb. 26th.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/71119/rakell-karlsson-make-team-sweden

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Entering 2026 with a win

Here are your Pens Points for this Friday morning…​

Kris Letang scored 58 seconds into overtime (how apropos) in his 1,200th game as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on Thursday. [Recap]

Speaking of Letang, he recently opened up about what drives him as a Penguin in his age-38 season, saying he wants “another taste of the playoffs,” knowing he is closing in on the end of his career. [NHL]

New Penguins forward Yegor Chinakhov is ready for a “new page, a new year” with his new team. [Trib Live]

The 2026 Winter Olympics could be the final Olympic outing for Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. Now that Team Canada’s full roster has been announced, Crosby said he’s excited for the “great opportunity” that comes with representing his home country. [Penguins]

News and notes from around the NHL…​

St. Louis Blues forward Zach Dean has been cleared by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, the team announced on Thursday. [TSN]

Matthew Schaefer, the 18-year-old defensive phenom for the New York Islanders, revealed on Thursday that he’s one of the players on Canada’s injury-replacement list for the 2026 Winter Olympics. [Sportsnet]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/71078/pens-points-penguins-red-wings-letang-crosby-2026-olympics

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Gamethread: Penguins @ Red Wings

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-open-threads/70914/gamethread-penguins-red-wings

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins suspend Egor Zamula for failing to report to the AHL

The Penguins acquired defenseman Egor Zamula on Wednesday in a trade with the Flyers for minor league forward Philip Tomasino. Zamula has now been suspended by the Pens for a reported failure to report to the team’s minor league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.

Acquired earlier this week from #LetsGoFlyers, the Penguins #LetsGoPens have suspended defenseman Egor Zamula for failure to report to AHL Wilkes-Barre.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 4, 2026

The Tribune Review received confirmation from a team spokesman that the suspension is in place.

Prior to the trade, it was reported that Zamula was considering seeking a termination of his contract with Philadelphia so that he could become a free agent and presumably sign with a team that would play him in the NHL. Zamula (and his current $1.7 million cap hit) found no takers when the Flyers placed him on waivers in December.

Zamula got a new organization in last week’s trade, but it did not come with an immediate spot on the NHL roster and as of now it doesn’t look like he’s willing to go along with the Pens’ spot of putting him in the AHL. Pittsburgh certainly had to know this situation didn’t come out of complete left field and was a possibility when they acquired him.

As of now, the Pens could look to retain some of Zamula’s salary in a trade if there’s a team out there that might want to add him on a low cap hit in exchange for likely minimal compensation. Other teams could always sit tight and see if the contract gets terminated and they can pick up the player for free. That, of course, assumes there’s an interested market for a fringe player who recently got passed over on his current deal.

Overall, for the Pens, the trade might sort out for them to have cleared the salary and cash outlay to Tomasino. Tomasino played his way outside of the NHL, and Pittsburgh would have had to pay out his $1.75 million salary to play in the AHL for the rest of the season had they not moved him, being as no other teams claimed Tomasino on waivers when they had the chance in December. If nothing else happens, in essence they accomplished a goal of lowering their payroll costs by shipping Tomasino out and taking on the resolution of whatever comes next with Zamula as a way to get there.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/71186/penguins-suspend-egor-zamula-for-failing-to-report-to-the-ahl

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Columbus Blue Jackets 1/4/26

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (19-12-9, 47 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (18-16-6, 42 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 3:00 p.m. eastern

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

Pens’ Path Ahead: After today is a three-day break for games for the Pens, who aren’t in action again until hosting New Jersey on Thursday. They better make the short break count, the NJ game starts a string of nine games in just 15 days from Jan 8 -22. The good news is five of the next six games after today are home games in Pittsburgh, at least.

Opponent Track: Columbus is still in last place in the division but they’ve tightened the standings up by winning four out of their last five games. That includes a resounding 5-1 win yesterday over Buffalo to break the Sabres 10-game winning streak. The Blue Jackets have only given up seven total goals in their four games played since Christmas.

Season Series: This is the third PIT/CBJ game of the season, neither of the first two ended in regulation. Columbus won 5-4 by way of a shootout back on October 25th in Pittsburgh, the Penguins returned the favor with a Kris Letang overtime goal in Columbus to take a 4-3 win in the November 28th matchup. The fourth and final game after today is coming up pretty soon when the Blue Jackets head to Pittsburgh one more time on January 17th.

Hidden Stat: Don’t think this game is safe in the third period, no matter who might be ahead. Columbus is 30th in the NHL with a .706% winning percentage (12-1-4) when leading after two periods. The Pens are right behind them at 31st with a .684% winning percentage (13-2-4). These teams (and 32nd place Toronto) are the only NHL clubs to fail to win 5+ games so far this season when leading after the second intermission.

Getting to know the Blue Jackets​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Mason Marchment – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko

Dmitry Voronkov – Cole Sillinger – Danton Heinen

Boone Jenner – Charlie Coyle – Mathieu Olivier

Zach Aston Reese – Brendan Gaunce – Kent Johnson

DEFENSEMEN

Zach Werenski / Denton Mateychuk

Ivan Provorov / Damon Severson

Jake Christiansen / Dante Fabbro

Goalies: Elvis Merzlikins (Jet Greaves played yesterday)

Potential scratches: Sean Monahan (injury), Dysin Mayo

Injured Reserve: Miles Wood, Isac Lundestrom, Erik Gudbrandson, Brendan Smith

• An injury to Monahan helped open the door to getting Heinen back into the NHL after last week’s trade from Pittsburgh. Heinen originally went to AHL Cleveland for a game and made his Columbus debut yesterday. Monahan is said to be day-to-day.
• The move to add Marchment via a trade has paid some nice early dividends, the big winger has six points (4G+2A) in six games with CBJ.
• Werenski returned to the lineup for his first game yesterday since 12/20, notching two assists. He’s got 2+ points in each of the last four games that he’s played in.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Columbus remains in last place due to a lack of firepower, ranking 21st in the NHL in goals per game. Johnson and Monahan (who produced 54 and 57 points last season, respectively) have taken a step backwards in that column this year. Fantilli hasn’t been poor this season but he did score 31 goals last year and is running under that pace this season.
• Even a budding star like Marchenko, was in that category of being a minor disappointment until recently — he’s scored four goals in the last five games to make his boxcars look more respectable here lately.
• Greaves has provided a great option as a starting goalie this year, Merzlikins has continued to struggle to keep the goal of of his net when he’s played. The Pens have had some good fortune in the schedule to play 4/5 of their last five games for teams on the second half of a back-to-back, and while Pittsburgh is also in that situation today, it’s a big difference and drop off if they end up seeing Merzlikins in the net today.

Changes coming in Columbus?​

It’s tough for the Blue Jackets to sit in 15th place in the East via points percentage when it comes with a fairly respectable .525%. They were hoping to take the next step this season and that hasn’t happened nearing the mid-way point.

New: "We’re disappointed where we are position wise."

Our annual midseason Q&A with #CBJ GM Don Waddell. We discuss:

-Blown third period leads & why he thinks they're happening.
-Why offense is down.
-Kent Johnson.
-Defense/goaltending. Fedotov?
-More.https://t.co/b1SuKz66dg

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) January 2, 2026

Waddell has started an overhaul, getting Marchment (as mentioned above) and then recouping those draft picks from Pittsburgh to send out Chinakhov is the start of it. More could be on the way but the sheer number of teams ahead of them will make for a challenging climb. Columbus did well to come out and take down the streaking Sabres to better themselves a little more, they definitely should be playing with desperation today and fighting for a place that already could be slipping away if they don’t get it in gear soon.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau

Yegor Chinakhov – Ben Kindel – Rutger McGroarty

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Brett Kulak / Kris Letang

Ryan Shea / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Arturs Silovs (Stuart Skinner played yesterday)

Potential Scratches: Ville Koivunen, Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton

IR: Evgeni Malkin, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones

• Malkin was confirmed as not being on this short road trip, and given the nature of the impressive win yesterday there probably won’t be much in the way of lineup changes aside from swapping in the fresher goalie. If it is Silovs vs. Merzlikins that would make for the rare double Latvian starting goaltender matchup.

Pens looking to keep it going​

The Penguins have suddenly won four-straight games and are right back in the thick of the playoff race. They’re coming off arguably their most impressive and complete game of the season, limiting first-place Detroit to only 12 shots on goal in a 4-1 road victory. Today presents a challenge on the road again and at the end of another hectic stretch of games, they can afford to ‘empty the tank’ with their efforts knowing that a three-day break lies immediately ahead.

Stuart Skinner: "I feel like the team's got a really solid amount of chemistry right now, and everyone's going, you know? From my perspective, it's really fun to watch.”

He saw just 12 shots in Pittsburgh's 3-1 win. More from Detroit https://t.co/Gvb76yDGpf

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) January 3, 2026

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...tsburgh-penguins-columbus-blue-jackets-1-4-26

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Blue Jackets Recap: Pens rally to win fifth straight game

Pregame​

The Penguins get Ville Koivunen back in the lineup for Rutger McGroarty and rotate their goalies.

Today's lineup in Columbus.#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/7JzNj9k88b

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 4, 2026

The Blue Jackets are opting to use the same lineup from their victory yesterday over Buffalo, including keeping Jet Greaves in the net for a second day in a row.

run 'em back against the pens pic.twitter.com/sBdUJLMsD7

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 4, 2026

First period​

The decision to get Koivunen back into the lineup pays instant dividends. Koivunen plays with some hunger in his return to the lineup on his very first shift, sending a shot off the knob of Greaves’s stick and then knocking in the rebound of a Ben Kindel shot from in front to open the scoring just 1:50 into the game.

VILLE GETS US GOING pic.twitter.com/kVXDJ12ZsZ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 4, 2026

Pittsburgh carries all the early play, Columbus doesn’t get a shot on goal for almost six minutes. When they do, they score. The worm starts to turn when Justin Brazeau sent a pass a little off the mark for Anthony Mantha and the latter opted not to shoot the puck as a result. When this team starts passing up shots and looking to make everything perfect, bad things usually follow and it did here. CBJ gets to the offensive end. Denton Mateychuk rips a shot that Dmitri Voronkov deflects downward from point blank range. 1-1 game.

Dento let's one fly!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/ElsJQVxPLX

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 4, 2026

The Blue Jackets strike again just 17 seconds later. Not a great sequence for Kindel as he fails to knock the puck off course coming up the ice and then sees Mason Marchment slip behind him and come free for the go-ahead goal.

MUSH AIN'T MESSIN' AROUND!

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/3pFtVSk3HR

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 4, 2026

Another big turning point happens towards the end of the period. The Pens’ fourth line gets a chance but Connor Dewar can’t put it home. That line gets trapped in their own end, this time a Mateychuk shot is blocked by Blake Lizotte but becomes a bit of a broken play when it bounces straight to Zach Werenski. Werenski quickly feeds it down to Kirill Marchenko to lift into the net from a tight angle. 3-1 game now.

MARCHY BROUGHT THE MAGIC

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/gOhKleMDJw

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 4, 2026

Shots in the first are 11-9 CBJ, nothing for the Penguins in the last 10:42 in the shot department. Pittsburgh was great in the opening 7-8 minutes then watched as the Jackets took control in a major way over the second half of the period.

Second period​

It doesn’t get any better in the early going, Boone Jenner bumps Kris Letang off a puck and then creates traffic in front of the net. That’s all Werenski needs to flick a shot from the blueline that Silovs never sees, which makes it hard to stop. 4-1 game 47 seconds into the middle frame.

Z PUTS AWAY HIS 15th OF THE SEASON

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/dbm83b44ZC

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 4, 2026

Pittsburgh tries to chip away and even builds a few quality shifts but can’t find any goals. They get another chance when Adam Fantilli is off to the penalty box for just the second power play of the game. Nothing comes of a sloppy and disjointed two minutes.

The Pens find their goal before the end of the period. Dewar keeps the puck in the zone and feeds Noel Acciari wide open in the slot. Acciari fires in his fourth goal of the season to bring the score to 4-2 and bring Pittsburgh back within shouting distance.

We have a two-goal game pic.twitter.com/J3vcyRVSQP

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 4, 2026

At the end, the Pens came into the second period two goals, they leave still down by two. Shots overall are 29-18 in favor of PIT.

Third period​

Columbus takes their third penalty of the night. At first it performs really poorly again, the second group gets out there and Tommy Novak fires a one-timer from the middle up past Greaves. 4-3 game and still plenty of time with over 16 minutes left.

The @penguins are now trailing by one! pic.twitter.com/dHTOo9nhec

— NHL (@NHL) January 4, 2026

Silovs gets pulled for the extra player with 2 minutes left, They get setup in the zone for some 6v5 offense but get very little to the net, until Rickard Rakell scores with 12.8 seconds to go!

NO QUIT IN THE BLACK & GOLD pic.twitter.com/sXtkAQ8ju5

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 4, 2026

Well, as mentioned in the preview, both of these teams are allergic to holding third period leads – today it was Columbus coughing up a multi-goal lead.

Overtime​

Kindel, Karlsson and Rakell start things out, they hold the puck for the first 30 seconds, chase it for the next 30, getting it back before getting off the ice.

Play seems to settle as much as it can in 3v3, then the Pens make a change and Crosby sneaks on the ice. Chinakohov played the puck up quickly to Erik Karlsson who laid a pass to the middle for a wide-open Crosby. The captain dekes to the backhand and his five-hole shot slides in. 5-4, Pens win.

Simply a privilege to watch Sidney Crosby do his thing. pic.twitter.com/svP3RcZrWm

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 4, 2026

Some thoughts​

• Great coaching move by Dan Muse to get Koivunen back in the lineup for the first time since Tuesday’s game. It’s one of those things that worked out perfectly, Koivunen wasn’t doing enough to keep playing indefinitely and certainly used the time as a reset to play harder and better, which he did right from the drop of the puck. It was the first 5v5 goal of his career, second 5v5 point of the season since an assist on 11/3 vs TOR. Nice to see him make a little bit of progress.
• Now, perhaps we’ll see if that path is repeated with McGroarty in the future as a scratch for a young player whose effectiveness declined as his stint in the lineup went along.
• There’s a lot of data and research on hand to indicate when a goalie has to play two days in a row that it isn’t a pretty picture on that second day. Coach Dean Evason and Columbus don’t have time for that, or any reasonable option at this point but to go with Jet Greaves two days in a row considering how poorly their backup is. The gambit somewhat paid off today, even if the Jackets ran out of gas. Greaves made 38 saves on 43 shots, and if he wasn’t very strong, Columbus wouldn’t even have made it to overtime to get one point. It did look like Greaves and the whole CBJ team eventually wore down in the third period, maybe that doesn’t happen if they’re fresh, but then again maybe not. Can only play the hand you’re dealt.
• And hey, if this weekend wasn’t classic NHL for you, I don’t know what is. The Pens dominated first-place Detroit yesterday (after beating them on Thursday too). Then today, last-place Columbus looks about 1000 times better than the Red Wings did, requiring a huge effort and last minute goal for Pittsburgh to avoid losing in regulation. That about sums up the parity of the league these days, you play a team in the middle of a hot stretch (Columbus had won four out of five entering the day) and it doesn’t matter what spot in the standings they’re in. Catch a top team at what happens to be a good time* and you can probably defeat them, possibly while looking very good in the process. (*Note: this probably doesn’t apply to Colorado this season, but that’s about it)
• The future is uncertain, volume 659: one week ago Danton Heinen was in Wilkes-Barre, today he played against his now former Penguin teammates in Columbus. Always crazy how quickly life situations can change for a great majority of the league at the drop of a hat.
• Was thinking yesterday about making a note for Rakell’s six shot on goal day against Detroit, but he only scored an empty net goal. Rakell had another five SOGs today (and nine total attempts) and scored a late third period goal of much more significance today. Not a bad weekend for him to be sitting on four goals for the season and bumping that up to six over the course of about 29 hours. Bryan Rust can use the help for as a winger finding the back of the net on that line.
• Chinakhov’s play on the GWG might be overlooked, it worked out perfectly. Most players in that situation slow-play the puck to the point of tedium and pull back to make sure the change has happened and the setup is right to proceed. Chinakhov was aggressive to go up the ice. Nothing ventured, nothing gained when it comes to 3v3 OT, glad to see an instance where players don’t sit back and watch paint dry and force the issue. That could have backfired if Karlsson wasn’t prepared to receive the pass and build on it with one of his own.

That caps off a very satisfying and exciting weekend of Penguin hockey, in two very different games. Pittsburgh now gets a three-day break that they can use in the big scheme of things, but with the way they’re going now it’s almost a shame the momentum will be put on hold for a few days until the next game on Thursday.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/game-reca...s-recap-sidney-crosby-ot-goal-highlights-pens

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

NHL Standings: At the halfway point

In the last Sunday Standings just after Christmas, the situation wasn’t looking so rosy for the Penguins. A 1-5-4 stretch had completely given up all the early-season work the team did to position themselves near the top of the standings and throw them towards the bottom end of the shuffle. With a mind towards Buffalo’s then seven-game winning streak (which eventually grew to 10 before they lost over the weekend), some foreshadowing went along with a line:

Needless to say, about now would be a very fortuitous time to string together a long winning streak

The Penguins apparently took that to heart and won all five of their games coming out of the Christmas break to change the nature of their positioning. For now at least. This included probably their two most complete games of the season in the last week when they defeated Carolina 5-1 last week and later only allowed 12 shots in a 4-1 victory in Detroit on Saturday. Undoubtedly, it was a great time for Pittsburgh to rack up all the points possible.

Just like that, Pittsburgh has shot up the charts as most teams have met or surpasses the midway point of the 82-game schedule. The NHL season is a roller coaster like that, filled with the lowest of lows — like all those blown leads and losses in December, followed by a drastic turnaround coming out of the break. Here’s how the East looks today:

Thanks to that late push, the Penguins hit the middle of the season on statistical pace for 98 points. From preseason expectations, that’s impressive. Their position is in no way secure, being as the Pens are as close from first-place Carolina as they are to 15th place NYR, with both extremes four points in either direction. That outlook is a little extreme given the games in hand situation, but remains a pretty accurate talking point in the notion that there is absolutely no breathing room out there this time of year.

The troubling outlook, as of today, is that several talented teams are below Pittsburgh in the standings (Washington, New Jersey, Florida, Ottawa). The recent winning streak has put the Pens in-line with the other major surprise teams of the first-half, NYI and Philadelphia. Other variable teams that go on similar hot and cold stretches, like Boston and Buffalo, are right in the mix too.

With every team in the East at at least a .523 points% (an 86-point pace) the margin of error is non-existent, for the Penguins and also for everyone else. The standings these days are like standing in quicksand and the picture will surely be fluid and bound to change on a weekly, if not daily basis. That’s shaping up to be simply the nature of the season; string together a couple of wins and a team suddenly is right in the thick of the pack, or even towards the top. Hit a tough stretch and that goes away in a hurry to get shuffled down towards the bottom of the pack as the rest of the conference continues to relentlessly chip away with a point or two in almost every game that they play.

As far as the Penguins go, they have no choice but to continue to taking the season one chunk at a time. The next bit starts on Thursday, kicking off a stretch of nine games in 15 days, and 15 games overall until the Olympic break that starts for them on February 5th. There are four Western Conference opponents in the upcoming segment and several key Eastern matchups with New Jersey, Boston, Tampa, Philadelphia and Columbus on the docket in the near future. There’s still 41 games to go and while nothing meets the absolute definition of ‘must win’ with so much runway left, the importance of all of these games will be absolutely paramount.

That Olympic break will create a major and natural touch point to take stock in how the situation is sorted out a month from now. In the meantime, the division and conference will keep rolling through the waves as the teams keep sorting through a wild season with so many performing so well.

The Pens have been at both ends of the spectrum in the last month, in some ways that’s because they’re a team capable of variable performances. They’re hardly alone in that boat, much of the league has alternated between hot and cold stretches that has had them just about all end up in the 45-52 point zone at the halfway point of the season. That sets up an intense and high-stakes second half where every team can reasonably have some confidence and optimism that they can make a run towards the playoffs with the natural other side of the coin where many of those teams are bound for disappointing endings once it all sorts out.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/71239/nhl-standings-at-the-halfway-point

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins face next decision point on Harrison Brunicke’s season

Harrison Brunicke’s time with Team Canada for the World Junior Championship is now completed. The Canadians won the bronze medal game yesterday against Finland after getting upset by Czechia on Sunday night.

Brunicke played in all seven games, recording no goals and two assists. At times he was alright, but it was hardly a smashing success. In fact, he saw his role reduced as the tournament went on to the point of being the fifth most played defenseman for Canada in the critical game against the Czechs. The hope was Brunicke would shine as an older player and one with pro experience, instead he ended up just kinda being there. Corey Pronman from The Athletic said he “underwhelmed” for an NHL loan. Scott Wheeler from the same publication:

PP wasn’t a natural role for him at this level, even though they tried him there. Want to see him play a little harder in his man-to-man D coverage, too. I actually thought he played better once his minutes moved from 18-20 to 14-15, but the coaching staff had clearly decided he wasn’t a go-to guy, and they tried to spread out the minutes to find that person and never did. Not a confidence-building tournament for him, which is what you’d hope for when you get sent down from the NHL. Skating and potential remain.

In short, Brunicke showed the rust of a player who has only played five games since November 3rd, because, well his only game action since early November was appearing in five AHL games. The ‘developmental plan’ the Penguins have had Brunicke on had him not play in the NHL since he appeared in his ninth game in early November and go to the AHL on a conditioning loan for five games with Wilkes-Barre from November 26 – December 6. That wasn’t a huge runway to enter the tournament at the top of his game and the results showed as much.

There’s been enough time wasted on where Brunicke ‘should’ be playing or best-served playing while avoiding the fact that as a 19-year old he needs to be playing as perhaps the most important variable involved. Given what we’ve seen, that is nowhere close to the NHL level at this time. The AHL is not an option for him this season until his junior season is over, which whether fair, right, wrong or in the middle is the unavoidable way it is this season.

That only leaves one option: assigning Brunicke back to the WHL. The Penguins have been resistant to that to this point but enough data from his performance in the three venues (NHL, AHL, WJC) have come in to present a clear choice

The Canadian junior league is in the midst of rapid change now that several of the top players are opting for the collegiate route before they turn pro. However, several of Brunicke’s peers from Team Canada currently play in the CHL, and ones that are arguably even more advanced than him based on the performances at the recent tournament like Tij Iginla, Jett Luchanko, Cole Reschny, Caleb Desnoyers, Sam O’Reilly, Ben Danford and Kashawn Aitcheson. Most, if not all of these players will due their time in juniors and go onto having fruitful professional careers. Several of those players are ‘24 draft picks like Brunicke was, playing out one more season in juniors. Playing in the CHL for a couple months until Brunicke can rejoin the pro ranks in Wilkes-Barre may not be an ideal situation, but it’s not unprecedented in the current climate and also something that can’t be avoided for much longer either. After a rocky World Juniors, Brunicke could benefit from the regular playing time of a huge role on a team for a few months after playing a total of just 21 games in the last three months at various levels and usually in very limited roles while in the pro ranks.

By sending back Brunicke now before he plays in a 10th NHL game and spends 40 games on the roster, the Penguins will avoid seeing his entry level contract start and having him earn a year towards unrestricted free agency. (As an aside, funny how there was no drama and the question never really came up about Ben Kindel blowing past that 40-game mark since he wasn’t off the NHL roster to be assigned to Team Canada).

No harm, no foul on that front. It hasn’t been a notable past few months for Brunicke on the ice, which is a shame but also hardly unprecedented for a talented young defender to need some time to put everything together. Progress is not always a straight, linear arrow that steadily moves up without a few bumps along the way, doubly so for a defenseman.

The Pens haven’t announced just yet what they plan to do with Brunicke for the balance of the season, but from what they’ve seen there isn’t much way around the fact he has shown that he needs more developmental time in a lower league to build and grow before he can reach his potential in the next stages. Then, with any luck, it’ll be a few short months until they can get him back in Wilkes once his junior season ends to be a part of the AHL team for what everyone hopes will be a deep playoff run.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/pittsburg...t-decision-point-on-harrison-brunickes-season

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Jack Johnson retires, hired by Canucks as a professional scout

Longtime NHL defenseman Jack Johnson has retired from playing hockey and has joined the Vancouver Canucks organization as a professional scout.

Johnson, 38, played for 19 NHL seasons, including a two-year stint in Pittsburgh for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have hired Jack Johnson as a pro-scout.

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 5, 2026

The Penguins signed Jack Johnson to a five-year, $16.25 million contract during the 2018 offseason, eventually placing the veteran defenseman on waivers and buying out the remaining three years of his deal in October 2020.

Johnson bounced around several NHL rosters post-buyout with stints in New York, Colorado, Chicago, and Columbus, where he spent a good chunk of his career before coming to Pittsburgh.

Over six years removed from his time in Pittsburgh, Johnson’s retirement and new gig in Vancouver is a reunion of sorts with Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford, who drafted Johnson in Carolina in 2005 and signed him in Pittsburgh when he was the Penguins’ general manager.

The Penguins are still paying a cap hit on Johnson’s 2020 buyout, which saw the remaining three years of the term of the deal spread across six years.

Former Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson retires and moves into a front office role with several former Penguins' executives.

As a result of a 2020 buyout, he still counts $916,667 against the Penguins' salary cap. This is the last season that cap hit will exist. https://t.co/St2VnE0t6z

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) January 5, 2026

The cap hit, which counts for $916,667, will go away after this current season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/7...ires-hired-by-canucks-as-a-professional-scout

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins waive Egor Zamula, open third roster spot

The Philip Tomasino trade could ultimately amount to a salary dump for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins placed defenseman Egor Zamula on unconditional waivers Monday for purposes of contract termination, according to PuckPedia.

Pittsburgh will be left with 47 roster players and three open spots when Zamula clears waivers, per PuckPedia.

Expecting 25 y/o D Zamula to be on waivers today for purposes of contract termination.
After being acquired by #Letsgopens he did not report to AHL.

Sounds like there’s interest from multiple teams on a new deal and he’ll sign elsewhere.

He’s in the final year of a 1.7M cap…

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) January 5, 2026

If Zamula clears waivers, he’ll become a restricted free agent Tuesday. PuckPedia reports multiple other teams are interested in signing him to a new deal.

For Zamula, that could mean a more cap-friendly deal and potentially more playing time in the NHL.

For the Penguins, it will mean moving out some salary and opening a roster spot down the stretch.

Zamula was acquired by the Penguins in the trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for Tomasino back on Dec. 31. He was suspended by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Jan. 3 for not reporting to the team.

PuckPedia had reported prior to the trade that Zamula was “willing to terminate” his Flyers contract and sign with another team for less money, presumably in hope of getting more playing time in the NHL. The 25-year-old defenseman had spent most of the Flyers’ season as a healthy scratch before he was sent down to the AHL, seemingly for good, in early December.

Zamula was playing this season under a $1.7 million cap hit, while Tomasino had a cap hit of $1.75 million.

The Penguins have now effectively moved Tomasino’s salary off the books without a buyout while clearing out a roster spot.

That extra room could potentially give Kyle Dubas more move to maneuver down the stretch of the season, either with call-ups or trades.

Giving up multiple picks in order to acquire Yegor Chinakhov could be an indication the Pens are at least considering buying at the deadline, although that will likely depend on what the playoff picture looks like by the March 6 deadline.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/71277/penguins-waive-egor-zamula-open-third-roster-spot

 

[JJ]

lmaooooo the pens are STILL paying jack johnson almost a million bucks against the cap this year?? that's absolutely hilarious. rutherford really did a number on this franchise with that signing. five year deal for a guy who was already washed when he signed it. at least it finally goes away after this season, small victories i guess

anyway gotta give credit where its due - five straight wins coming out of the break is exactly what this team needed. that crosby OT winner yesterday was vintage sid, the guy is still absolutely filthy at 38 years old. chinakhov making that aggressive play to set it up was smart too, none of that boring 3v3 keep-away garbage

the zamula situation is interesting though. dude straight up refused to report to WBS after the tomasino trade?? like i get wanting NHL time but that's a bold move. dubas basically turned tomasino's salary into nothing which gives them some flexibility i suppose. whether they actually use it to buy at the deadline remains to be seen

brunicke underwhelming at world juniors is a bummer but not surprising when the kid has barely played since november. send him back to the WHL and let him actually get some reps instead of sitting in the press box "developing" by watching. that whole situation has been mishandled imo

also lol at columbus beating the sabres then getting clapped by pittsburgh. classic NHL parity nonsense. at least my boys got the win over them before that happened

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Predicting Penguin higher/lowers for the second half

The Penguins have reached the halfway point of the season, the top part of their leading scorers looks like this via hockeydb.

Let’s look at which players can pick it up, and who will might taper off in the second half. For these purposes, we’re simply looking at the player had in the first half of the season and whether he will provide more or less than that over the second half.

Second half best bets

Rickard Rakell – this is borderline cheating, courtesy of the long injury absence in the first half. He easily could and should be scoring more than six goals and 15 points in the team’s next 41 games. Nice little warmup to take the slam dunk when it’s right there.

Ben Kindel – can Kindel keep going or will he hit a rookie wall? With the way he’s played lately (three points in the last two games, four in the last five, eight in the last 12), I think Kindel has the staying power to score 19+ points in the second half of the season. He has been piling up more points as the year has gone on, the Olympic break should help as a natural reset for a young player to get a breather.

Erik Karlsson goals — It’s a wonder Karlsson has only found the back of the net three times, striking the iron from a post or crossbar and staying out just as many times as good goals. Karlsson should end up with at least seven goals this season and end up scoring more in the second half than he did in the first.

Second half puzzlers

Justin Brazeau goals — What would you take on Brazeau scoring 13 goals over the team’s next 41 games? Considering he’s got 12 in 27, it doesn’t sound unreasonable. I’m not so sure the magic of shooting 25.0% keeps going that long, but why not? Whether he remains healthy or not could make or break the outcome for doubling his goals.

Tommy Novak — Novak has two career 40+ point seasons under his belt, he’s certainly not incapable of the 42 points that he’s on pace for with a good second half, he makes this portion because he’s tough to project. Is Novak a center or wing? He’s played with Crosby on the first line, played on the second line and at times been a bit out of the spotlight on a lower line, what’s the role moving forward? I wouldn’t be surprised if Novak keeps having a quiet but good season, but then again he had a slow start and was barely a focal point of the team early. Does he slip back to that now that a new piece like Chinakhov is around?

Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty – One on hand, the output required is so low to hit in this exercise, Koivunen would only need six points over the rest of the season, four for McGroarty to pitch in more. On the other hand, both young players might not get the games and opportunities in the second half with Chinakhov on a forward group that is approaching health. Leaning to the unders for both, but those bars are so low to clear that it gives some pause since that’s basically only a couple of really good games for either to chip in more.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin was the Pens best player in the first 10 or 20 games this season. Then he hurt his shoulder and missed a while. He put up 29 points before he got hurt, does he have another 29+ in him for the second half of the season? Missing a chunk of games is always a strong possibility for him too, so I’m torn on this one, it’s not difficult to imagine scenarios where he ends up on either side of second half performances.

I don’t want to say lower but probably lower

Sidney Crosby goals – I mean a 38-year old just can’t score 48+ goals in a season, right? That’s not humanly possible (first place all-time for a 38-year old is Brett Hull’s 37. Johnny Bucyk and Alex Ovechkin are tied for second with 31. As a 39-year old buoyed by the record chase, Ovechkin scored 44 goals last season). The head says to bet Crosby doesn’t have 24 more goals in him for the second half of the season, the head also knows by now not to actually believe in limiting what Crosby could be capable of, which could be having the best ‘old guy goal scoring season’ in NHL history if he keeps it up.

Take the under

Ryan Shea – now that Shea’s down to the third pair he’s not going to get the chance to play as many minutes with top-end forwards. He’ll still be good at stretch passes and in the offensive zone but probably not record 14+ assists in the second half of the season good.

Anthony Mantha – Mantha would need to demolish a career-high of 48 points to have as good of a second half of the season as he did in the first (on pace for 58 points). He’s also a guy that tends to miss some time with injuries over the course of a year and has perfect attendance so far. That spot on the top power play that he’s had for most of Malkin’s injury is going away too. He still is tracking to have a very good season even if it does tail off in the second half.

Kris Letang – maybe having Brett Kulak as a steady and defensively quality partner will help unlock Letang, and his game has been a lot better lately. But do we really think 38-year old Kris Letang is going to end up with 43+ points (last year he ended up with 30 points in 74 games)? That gives some pause, with the concern of injury also very viable to lower the amount of points he produced in the first half.

—

Anything else stand out for guys who will pitch in more for the Penguins in the second half of the season than they did in the first? Bonus points for going more challenging than Chinakhov. And who might see their first half contributions dwindle over the rest of the year?

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/71340/predicting-penguin-higher-lowers-for-the-second-half

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: New Jersey Devils @ Pittsburgh Penguins 1/8/26

Who: New Jersey Devils (22-19-2, 46 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (20-12-9, 49 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

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

Pens’ Path Ahead: Today kicks off another heavy stretch of games for the Pens, starting with three in four days over the weekend with a home afternoon game against Calgary (3:30pm start) and then a visit to Boston on Sunday (5:00pm start). The Pens then return home next week for games against Tampa, Philadelphia and Columbus.

Opponent Track: Well, it’s not pretty. The Devils got pounded 9-0 on Tuesday night against the Islanders. New Jersey has floated towards the bottom of the East with a 6-11-1 record since the start of December. It’s been tough sledding to find their game, going 2-3-1 since the Christmas break and 2-5-1 in the last eight games.

Season Series: NJ took the first game, a 2-1 shootout win back on November 8th. After tonight the teams will matchup two more times on February 26th in Pittsburgh and then on April 9th in New Jersey.

Hidden Stat: The Devils have scored 0 or 1 goals in 11 games of their last 25 games since Nov 18, with a 2.08 goals/game this stretch that easily ranks last in the NHL. NJD has been shutout five times in this stretch, including last game.

Getting to know the Devils​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Jack Hughes – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier – Dawson Mercer – Arseni Gritsyuk

Paul Cotter – Luke Glendening – Stefan Noesen

Ondrej Palat – Cody Glass – Connor Brown

DEFENSEMEN

Jonas Siegenthaler / Dougie Hamilton

Luke Hughes / Brett Pesce

Brenden Dillon / Simon Nemec

Goalies: Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom

Potential scratches: Juho Lammikko, Colton White, Dennis Cholowski

Injured Reserve: Evgenii Dadonov

• The good news is that it looks like Nemec could return for his first game since December 11th after coming off an injury. Cotter, too, looks like he’s approaching a return.
• Palat has been moved down to the fourth line.
• No news on a goalie, but you’d have to think Jake Allen will be going tonight. He’s been the better of the two goalies this season, and somewhat shockingly, the Devils left Markstrom in to crash and burn when he allowed all nine of the goals in the 9-0 loss on Tuesday. They didn’t play Monday or Wednesday, so that certainly was an interesting choice to keep a struggling goalie twisting in the wind like that.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• This is ugly. 80 different skaters on 30 out of the 32 teams have 13+ goals this season, only Calgary and New Jersey aren’t represented. 70 different skaters making up 27 of the 32 teams have at least 34+ points, the Devils again are in the handful that don’t. Those numbers are cherrypicked for maximum effect, the overall meaning remains stark to not have even one of the top 70 point scorers or be anywhere within the top 80 goal scorers so far, that’s a terrible place to be midway into the year.
• As you’d expect, the underperformers are everywhere. Jesper Bratt scored 88 points last season, Nico Hischier had 35 goals, both are way under that. Jack Hughes and Timo Meier combined for 123 points last season, they have 49 together so far. Expensive veterans like Ondrej Palat and Jacob Markstrom have looked more like the problem than solution.

Key matchup: Trying to keep a struggling team down

Is it good or bad to be the next opponent of a team that just loses 9-0 two nights before? The Penguins are about to find out. While it seem fortunate to be playing a team that clearly has a high level of disarray, there’s always the dreaded ‘response game’ to worry about, where NJD will rally and show that the previous outing isn’t one that they are going to try and come back from.

Besides that emotional element, this is one to try and keep a bad team on their downward trajectory. The Devils underperform at scoring, they can’t finish, their goal share is the worst, their goaltenders aren’t very good, their PK stinks. You name it and they’re a hot mess right now.

It’ll be a fascinating watch to see if they quit taking on water and can turn things around. Between J. Hughes, Pesce, Nemec, they’ve dealt with a lot of talent out of the lineup in what ended up being a cascading effect. Many expected by bringing on Sheldon Keefe as coach that the Devils could take the next step forward, so far it’s been mostly a frustrating and troubling season at a critical moment given that a 9-0 blowout happened.

And now for the Pens​

Infographic courtesy of the Penguins

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin – Yegor Chinakhov

Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Brett Kulak / Kris Letang

Ryan Shea / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Ville Koivunen, Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton

IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones, Rutger McGroarty

• McGroarty was placed on the IR yesterday with a concussion suffered in practice when he had a collision with a teammate.
• The question about how Malkin will be used has been answered, for now it appears the Penguins will not reunite him with the successful line he had with Mantha and Brazeau. The good thing is that the coaches can always go back to that by the second or third period if circumstances dictate needing it.
• If the familiar goalie rotation continues it would be Skinner’s turn starting tonight for the Pens. That would line Skinner up to play two of the upcoming three games, just as Silovs last week played that portion of the games.

Pens look to stay hot

While the wheels came off the Devils on Tuesday in their blowout loss, the Penguins are red hot.

From the team (and prior to last night’s games):

The Penguins are red hot with a 5-0-0 record since Christmas (December 25). They rank near the top in multiple statistical categories around the League:

NHL Stat Leaders Since Dec. 25

Category Rank
Wins (5) T2nd
Points (10) T3rd
Goals For (25) T3rd
Goals Against (12) T1st
Power Play (33.3%) 6th

Pittsburgh had an off day on Monday and many a veteran like Crosby, Karlsson, Letang and Rust were able to rest an extra day during Tuesday’s optional practice. Whether the Pens are energized by the break or have lost the momentum with some inactivity will be worth watching.

Another day, another potential move up the ranks for Crosby

It’s a fun and niche trivia note that Ray Bourque (21 seasons 1,516 games with the Bruins) has more assists for one franchise than anyone else. More than Yzerman or Howe for the Red Wings, or Lemieux with the Penguins or even Gretzky with the Oilers. Then again, Gretzky only had nine seasons in the NHL with the Oilers. Crosby, who is on a five-game point streak (5G+7A) is knocking on The Great One’s Edmonton total and as of today is only 26 back of Bourque, so that little trivia note is approaching extinction quickly.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/penguins-...-new-jersey-devils-pittsburgh-penguins-1-8-26

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Revisiting the Jake Guentzel trade tree yet again

The Jake Guentzel trade was one of the first major moves of the Kyle Dubas era. Not only because it involved a core player that won a championship with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but also because it signaled a shift into a more long-term outlook.

It was the unofficial beginning of the current rebuild, or re-tooling, or whatever you want to call it. It has turned out to be a significant trade with a still growing trade tree. It also keeps looking a little better than it originally did.

I was thinking of this over the past couple of days because a lot of the pieces the Penguins acquired as a result of the trade have been in the news.

Forward Ville Koivunen, one of the key prospects/young players acquired in the trade, was just sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday to make room for the return of Evgeni Malkin. The offensive production has not been there, but I am still a believer and do not hate the way he has played. The underlying numbers and possession impacts are promising.

Defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who was selected with the second-round pick the Penguins acquired in the trade, just completed the World Junior Championships and was sent back to Kamloops of the Western Hockey League. It is not a perfect situation, but it is probably the best choice given the options available to them. He got a taste of NHL action, spent half a season around the team, got to play in the World Juniors, and now gets to go dominate (hopefully) in the WHL. He may not have been ready for the NHL this season, but he held his own. That is fine. He is 19. If only there was a level between the juniors and the NHL where a player like this could grow and develop.

If only.

There is another layer of branches to that trade tree, and it remains the section that branches out from forward Michael Bunting.

He was the NHL player acquired in the Guentzel trade, and after about a year with the Penguins he was sent to the Nashville Predators for forward Tommy Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn.

Novak remains in Pittsburgh and is doing about what was expected of him. Solid player. Talented. Probably going to score 15-20 goals with 40-45 points in a variety of roles. He has value. I think he is at least more interesting with a potentially higher ceiling than Bunting.

Schenn never actually played a game for the Penguins before he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets. That is where my attention went this week, because I am not sure if you have noticed, but Winnipeg absolutely STINKS right now.

In exchange for Schenn, the Penguins received the Jets’ second-and fourth-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft. At the time, given that the Jets were on their way to a Presidents’ Trophy winning season with the league’s best record, there probably was not much thought in those picks.

Entering play on Thursday, however, and the Jets have the worst record in the NHL and are one of only four teams with a points percentage below .500 for the season. Not even the return of starting goalie and reigning league MVP Connor Hellebuyck has helped remove the stink from this team. They stink. They absolutely, positively stink. There is also not much in their underlying numbers to suggest any of this is a fluke. They just plain stink. Folks, they stink.

All of a sudden that second-round pick (and to a lesser extent, that fourth-round pick) are going to be looking a little more valuable.

Those would not only be two top-100 picks, the first of those, at this moment, would be the 33rd overall pick in what is considered to be a very deep and very good draft. That gives Dubas and the Penguins a really nice asset that could either be used to, A) Easily move back up into the first round, B) stand pat and still get a solid prospect, or C) use as a trade chip as part of a larger deal for more immediate NHL help.

With Vasily Ponomarev now playing in the KHL, that leaves the Penguins return for Guentzel as being:

• Ville Koivunen
• Harrison Brunicke
• Tommy Novak
• Cruz Lucius (NCAA)
• No. 33 pick in 2026 NHL Draft (as of this moment)
• No. 97 pick in 2026 NHL Draft (as of this moment)

I am not calling the trade a win, because Guentzel is still one of the best forwards in the league and better than every player here. They would objectively be better with him on the team right now. It is hard to call a trade a win when that is still the case.

What I am saying is the Penguins at least managed to get solid value for a rental and have seen the return grow through additional moves. It is still growing. There are good potential pieces here. Perhaps even a couple of NHL players and long-term pieces that could be part of the next contending Penguins team.

This is the one thing that I have really liked about Dubas during his time with the Penguins. The long-term moves and asset management has been extremely solid.

He inherited a team that had the worst farm system in hockey, limited draft picks and an aging, rapidly declining roster. In less than two years the farm system has at least become closer to middle of the pack, there is real young talent on the roster and knocking on the door, and they have more draft picks over the next three years than any team in the NHL. Oh, and the NHL team is still competitive.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/71388/revisiting-the-jake-guentzel-trade-tree-yet-again

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Pens Points: Malkin scores in return as Penguins win sixth straight

Here are your Pens Points for this Friday morning…​

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin returned from a 15-game absence on Thursday, giving even more depth to a Pittsburgh team that has recently found its stride. Malkin, 39, scored a power-play goal as the Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. [Recap]

The Penguins on Thursday assigned rookie forward Ville Koivunen to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. [Trib Live]

The Jake Guentzel trade in March 2024 unofficially signaled the beginning of the Penguins’ current rebuild. But the trade tree has branches that are still growing, and in doing so, continuing to impact the Penguins in more beneficial ways than one. [PensBurgh]

News and notes from around the NHL…​

The San Jose Sharks acquired goaltender Laurent Brossoit from the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday in a multi-player trade that also involved draft picks. [TSN]

Patrick Kane became the 50th player in NHL history to reach 500 goals, as his Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Thursday night. [Associated Press]

The ice surface for the 2026 Olympic Games has become a hot topic, as construction appears to be coming down to the 11th hour. Despite that, some players share similar sentiments to those of Team USA and Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who said last month on his podcast, “I don’t give a sh*t, I’m going over there. Even if it’s not safe, I still want to play.” While several sources have relayed to ESPN that they don’t anticipate any issues over the next month that would prevent NHL players from participating in Italy, others added that there is no Plan B for an alternative tournament should the ice surface not meet standards. [ESPN]

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/news/7139...malkin-koivunen-ahl-nhl-patrick-kane-olympics

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Six of the biggest factors in the Penguins’ six-game winning streak

The Pittsburgh Penguins have emerged red hot from the Christmas break, winning all six of their games in regulation and outscoring their opposition by a combined score of 29-13. When a team gets on that kind of roll, the reasons for success are almost unlimited. 15 different players have recorded at least three points during the streak, and a couple more like Yegor Chinakhov and Evgeni Malkin have chipped in during the partial amount of time that they have been a part of the lineup.

Here are six of the biggest reasons why the Pens have found success.

Sidney Crosby

It starts at the top, the team is following the leader. And their captain is most definitely showing the way. Sidney Crosby has recorded 11 points (4G+7A) during the six-game winning streak, a part of his personal eight-game point streak where he’s produced 14 points (5G+9A). Crosby has multi-point games in each of the last four contests, including an overtime goal against Columbus. He’s hardly the only one pulling the rope in the right direction but that kind of output that includes out-scoring the opposition 11-1 at even strength while personally picking up nine points on the team’s 11 goals scored while he’s been on the ice is a massive place to start.

“Fourth” line

The so-called ‘fourth’ line is peaking after last night’s game against the Devils that saw Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte score goals. Their 70-72 5v5 minutes in the last six games is slightly more than the Mantha-Novak-Brazeau line (who have played in the 65-68 minute range), so it’s been a fourth line in name only, it’s more of a defensive line that has been completely tipping the ice in Pittsburgh’s favor. All of Dewar, Lizotte and Acciari have 21-23 defensive zone starts in the last six games, the next highest forward is Ben Kindel with nine. Despite the territorial disadvantage, the line ranks as the top three players in expected goal percentage on the team in this streak, all north of 60%. As evidenced by last night’s game they are chipping in offensively – all have been on the ice for at least five 5v5 goals. Perhaps more importantly given their starts, goals are not going in their own net as frequently (Acciari has been on ice for two 5v5 goals, Dewar and Lizotte only one).

Newfound high-performing defensive pair

Speaking of ice time, Kris Letang (at almost 119 minutes) and Brett Kulak (115) are by far the 5v5 TOI leaders on the team during this streak. It was a very rocky start to the season for Letang, but he’s now playing his best and steadiest games alongside the veteran Kulak who has slotted in nicely from the December trade with Edmonton. Letang has seen his 2.61 goals against/60 rate from the start of the season through Christmas slashed down to 1.51 GA/60 during the winning streak. Beyond the high-profile swap of starting goalies that the Pens and Oilers made, there’s a reasonable case Kulak’s inclusion in the deal has been the most meaningful part of it so far. Pittsburgh was desperate to add a legit NHL defenseman to their left side and the recent results with Kulak and benefit to Letang show how much that lifted the whole team.

Olympic Swedes

We’ll pair up the duo of Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell here. Karlsson has been the best player on the ice for many stretches (well, perhaps independent of No 87). His mastery and control of games has been on full display with crisp puck movement. Karlsson leads the team with three power play points in the last six games, a clear sign his puck touches and decision making running the point is paying dividends. Everything about his game is in top form, which makes it truly fun to watch with his effortless style and high-end skating that still ranks among the elite in the sport.

Rakell has rounded into form with the team during this streak, getting back into the swing of things after returning from a long injury absence in mid-December. Rakell is the team-leader in shots (21) by a pretty comfortable margin over this six-game stretch, a good indicator for him about being active in the attack where he’s picked up five even strength points during the winning streak. Rakell’s return sets the lineup really well to not only give Crosby two viable top-line wingers but also allow others to slot into places they can be more effective.

Goaltending

It’s been said you could change the name of sport of hockey to goalie due to the importance of the position; naturally that’s been a factor for the Pens in their winning streak. Pittsburgh remains loyal to their goalie rotation, which helped the team to success early in the season in October. The even splits have been working, especially when it comes to riding the Stuart Skinner wave as of late. Skinner has only allowed three goals in his three wins during the streak, posting a .957 save% and playing excellently. That wave may crest and recede with time, a new factor is emerging is workload. Skinner played 50, 59 and 51 games with Edmonton over the past three seasons, in addition to starting him in 23 of the first 31 games this season before they traded him. Less could be more in terms of Skinner slotting in as a 1A playing a pace of 40 games a year instead of the clear No 1. he was with the Oilers.

Arturs Silovs, allowing 10 goals in his three games for a .868 save%, has not been as impressive statistically as Skinner, having a bumpier time with some redirections from immediately in front of him and some weird occurrences like pucks bouncing off the stanchions of the glass. Silovs has seen a 8.8 expected goals against, which might be an indicator the 10 goals allowed isn’t as brutal as some other stats point to. Silovs hasn’t been in top form but has gutted out enough to earn half of the wins in the streak – including two OT games along the way.

Finishing

The Penguins have scored 11 high danger goals on 68 chances during their streak and overall are shooting over 15% at all strengths. Overall on the season Pittsburgh ranks ninth with an 11.4% shooting%. Converting chances into goals is the name of the game, right now the Pens have been doing just that. Crosby and Justin Brazeau are among the league leaders in shooting percentage this season, both have stayed hot with four goals a piece in this streak and pushed up their season marks even higher.

Brazeau’s linemates of Anthony Mantha (three goals, shooting 25%) and Tommy Novak (two goals, shooting 20%) have been right there with him as an opportunistic and lethal trio during the streak. Bryan Rust, not mentioned yet but surely a big factor in the team’s recent success, has kept up with three goals and an 18.8% conversion rate. As mentioned above, the ‘fourth’ line is on a heater, Lizotte has two goals on four shots, Acciari and Dewar each have two more goals and healthy shooting percentages of 18.2% and 14.3% respectively. Overall, 15 players are shooting over 10%, besides Ben Kindel (0 goals but four assists in this winning streak), almost literally every Penguin player is in a groove right now. When every line and virtually every player all get hot at the same time, well that’s when you can outscore your opponents 29-13 and start stacking wins.

—

That’s six factors, there of course could be many more to showcase. Rust has taken over games at times, the Mantha-Novak-Brazeau line has been as instrumental as anyone else, the power play is at 33.3% during the streak, coaching decisions and adjustments along the way have paid off. When a team gets going like this, the saying about success having many fathers is true. Streaks, by definition, don’t last forever, the challenge now for the Pens will be to keep this rolling for as long as they can and see where it takes them.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/analysis/...ctors-in-the-penguins-six-game-winning-streak