Talk about the game with Pens fans here!
It’s been a little over a month since the trade with Edmonton sent Tristan Jarry for Brett Kulak, Stuart Skinner and a second round pick. To add a little more commentary on what was touched on earlier on this website today, the trade has been aging better by the day for the Penguins. What started out as a nice escape to clear the troubling contract of Jarry (who went back to the IR soon after the trade) turned out to enhance the Pens quite nicely so far on the ice.
There’s the future second round pick, which has no short-term relevance besides beefing up the reserves. Kulak’s addition to Pittsburgh has finally provided them with a second top-four caliber left-side defenseman and served to make Kris Letang look the best he has looked in…quite a while. Much has been made of Letang’s decline — and to be fair, time waits for no one and the 38-year old has looked every bit of his age recently. Then again, last season Letang’s most common defense partner was Matt Grzelyck, this season it was Ryan Shea prior to Kulak joining the team. It’s about 14 months overdue, but finally Pittsburgh has a partner for Letang with an above-average defensive impact, so it’s probably no wonder that the results the Pens have seen on the ice out of Letang have drastically improved once the blueline was addressed.
That alone would probably make the Edmonton trade enough of a success, but the headline-grabbing focus is naturally going to be on the goalie-for-goalie swap. It’s not every day in the NHL these days that you see two teams exchange starting goalies for one another. Skinner can a polarizing figure, although so far the Pens have to be thrilled. Skinner has five quality starts out of eight per hockey-reference, so far easily out-pacing Jarry’s one quality start for Edmonton. Jarry does have that IR stint working against him there, but as Beau Bennett taught us the best ability is availability and that’s another point in favor of the deal working out favorably.
Skinner can tend to ride extreme highs and lows, right now he’s caught a groove with a 4-1-0 record since the Christmas break that features a .941 save% and only allowing seven goals in those five games. In that stretch, the Penguins have commanding wins over three division rivals (Philadelphia last night, New Jersey last week, Carolina back on 12/30). In all of those games Skinner was not only one of their best players on the ice, he was a driving factor in every victory.
Trades often live on in relitigation for months and years afterwards so it surely is early to plan a parade or anything, but what a short-term boost that deal has provided for the Penguins to this point. The Oilers, despite Jarry’s injury, are 9-5-2 since the deal in their own right, so they’re probably not too mad about how things have gone lately either — since in an indirect way the move served to open a path for Connor Ingram’s return to the NHL where he has looked fairly sharp.
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Speaking of decisions paying instant dividends, Kyle Dubas has to feel assured about locking Blake Lizotte up for three more seasons earlier this week, not that he likely had many doubts about it in the first place. The length of the term isn’t back-breaking but it’s still a sizeable and notable one for a 28-year old with fourth line upside. It’s well-worth the commitment when a player is as capable as Lizotte to make an imprint on a game like he did last night against Philadelphia.
Lizotte scored a goal that ended up standing as the game winner and later threw a massive clean hit that triggered a response fight where he handled himself nicely (albeit, against a non-fighter in Matvei Michkov).
BLAKE LIZOTTE ABSOLUTELY LEVELED DENVER BARKEY
No love lost in the Battle of Pennsylvaniapic.twitter.com/6QmyIAbneq
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 16, 2026
The supporting cast players for the Pens has been a massive issue dating back to the start of this decade. In 2021, perhaps Pittsburgh’s last best season where they won their division, Pittsburgh saw a +18 mark in goals for vs goals against at 5v5 when neither Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin were on the ice. By 2022-23, the first time they missed the playoffs, the Ron Hextall built team had slumped to -24 in that same category.
This season, the Pens are back strongly in the playoff hunt over halfway through the season and thanks to players like Lizotte and his frequent fourth linemates of Noel Acciari and Connor Dewar who have been on the ice for more goals for than against. When a team’s fourth line is not getting outscored despite the harsh defensive starts, that’s a good sign that they are going to be doing at least alright. Overall in the 5v5 category the Pens still have some work to do to with the performance of their mid-lines (players like Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen have all been out-scored at 5v5) but so far they’ve definitely found something to work with and some major improvements from their depth, to which Lizotte will continue to be a key piece for the foreseeable future.
In previous early years of Dubas’s stint with Pittsburgh, a veteran on an expiring contract like Lizotte would have been traded away by the deadline. Whether this re-signing indicates a significant step into a phase of retaining key contributors or is a one-off remains to be seen, though it certainly is a strong piece of evidence that the Penguins are looking to hold what they can instead of defaulting into strictly selling off all parts when the time comes.
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Furthering the theme of improving the current roster, the acquisition of Egor Chinakhov has shown promise as an upgrade as well. Chinakhov’s stat-line with Pittsburgh isn’t overwhelming (three goals and an assist in eight games), his impact has been notable with his speed, shot and even a contribution of a shootout goal. Chinakhov is still something of a reclamation project coming off his stint in Columbus (he only manufactured three goals in 29 games at the start of the season with the Blue Jackets) yet there’s been encouraging early returns with the change of scenery.
In some ways, Dubas and the Pens have to hope this could be a case of “you get what you pay for” when comparing Chinakhov to a similar last year acquisition of Philip Tomasino. Chinakhov cost a fair bit more (a second+third round pick, compared to just a fourth rounder for Tomasino) and that is due to having a little bit more to work with. Last night’s short-side goal on the rush demonstrates an example – Chinakhov has the tools to generate game-breaking ability. Whether or not he has the consistency will be a lingering open question for a while. Finishing ability like this is worth the price, now it’s just about seeing how often he can deliver.
Fit in the frame of the big picture, it might also be pointed out that the move from adding second round picks — which Pittsburgh did under Dubas in every year in a stretch for the 2024-29 drafts (besides jockeying for draft positioning in 2025) — into now sending out a second round pick to bring in an NHL caliber player is some evidence of a sea change in the current organizational strategy. Whether it was trading away Jake Guentzel, Conor Timmins, Anthony Beauvillier, Luke Schenn, Tristan Jarry and Reilly Smith or taking on the bad contracts of Kevin Hayes and Matt Dumba, the Penguins operated for a couple years in a way of strictly accumulating second round picks. Now, in one instance at least, the worm turned the other way and Dubas acted on previously stated intentions to turn a pick into a current contributor.
The takeaway at this point shouldn’t be a drastic shift into an expectation of full-on spending, though it does seem notable that the tide could be starting to change in this regard depending on the inputs of the team. In the end, Dubas might get the best of both worlds where his ample cap space allows him to scour the league for future 22-25 year old players with potential while retaining more draft capital than just about everyone else in the league to use to select more than his fair share for the future too.
Because, ultimately, responding to the team’s inputs has been Dubas’s role in the past few years. He threw some caution to add/retain players like Erik Karlsson, Ryan Graves and Tristan Jarry in year one, when that didn’t work out in the standings, management shifted gears accordingly to pare down on players like Guentzel and Marcus Pettersson who needed new and expensive contracts, without dealing away quality performers like Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell who didn’t. The Pens got younger and suffered a bit to take lumps in losing key contributors without immediate replacement. Now that the team is in the hunt, it makes the situation appropriate for the manager to make moves that dovetail as good for the present while being good for the future, a fitting category for all three of the team’s transactions of the last month.
When the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers earlier this season, my immediate reaction was that it was probably a trade that needed to happen and had a good chance of working out for the Penguins. Perhaps in multiple ways.
It was a great time to move Jarry’s contract, it opened the position in the future for Sergei Murashov to eventually take the spot, they got a solid future asset in a second-round pick (even if down the road a few years) and were also getting some short-term NHL help.
Brett Kulak seemed like nothing special, but he is a legitimate NHL defenseman that has had some success in the league. The Penguins do not have a lot of depth at the position, and every viable NHL player you can get there can help.
Stuart Skinner has had the same inconsistencies and highs and lows of Jarry, but carries them on a significantly cheaper salary cap rate for this season and with no commitment beyond this season.
At the time, I argued that it would be nearly impossible to project which goalie would end the season with a higher save percentage from that point on, and no answer to that question would surprise me.
After Thursday’s win against the Philadelphia Flyers, Skinner has now appeared in eight games with the Penguins and has seen his save percentage climb from .891 with the Oilers, up to .901 with the Penguins. He is also on a little bit of a roll that has seen him win four of his past five starts, allowing just seven goals in the process.
Jarry, meanwhile, has only appeared in four games with the Oilers (due to injury — which was always another concern with him) and in that limited sampling has seen his save percentage drop from .909 with the Penguins down to .878 with the Oilers.
I am making no proclamations on either number. They are both insanely small sample sizes and my original point on both of them remains the same — they are largely the same goalie with the same inconsistencies and both of their performances are going to fluctuate and vary wildly throughout the season. You can split hairs on them, but the contract situation and long-term outlook beyond this season is the most important one.
But I also think Kulak has been a useful addition.
He is by no means a difference-maker, but he has at the very least given the Penguins a competent NHL defenseman, something they have not really had enough of from the start of the season. He has not only seemed to be a good fit next to Kris Letang, the Penguins as a team have been playing better defensively over the past month. It has been a steady upward trend to begin with for them going back to the start of the season, but things have really improved over the past 15 games.
The primary focus behind the trade itself was almost certainly financial and cap-related. But getting a couple of useful players in the short-term is also a nice bonus. Especially when both of them should be movable by the trade deadline if things go south with the season and the playoff race between now and then. If things keep progressing in a positive direction and the Penguins have a couple of useful players that might be able to help in that push.
Here are your Pens Points for this Friday morning…
The Pittsburgh Penguins welcomed the Philadelphia Flyers to Pittsburgh on Thursday for a rather meaningful Metropolitan Division clash. Two minutes into the game, the Penguins claimed a 1-0 lead via a Justin Brazeau tally and never looked back. Sidney Crosby recorded another goal and assist, as Pittsburgh earned an easy 6-3 win. [Recap]
Heading into Thursday night’s game, rookie forward Ben Kindel hadn’t recorded a goal in 14 games. That’s a noticeably long drought for someone who has been one of Pittsburgh’s better players to this point in the season, but it’s important to remember that, for an 18-year-old rookie, a drought like this is quite common. [PensBurgh]
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Tristan Broz and goaltender Sergei Murashov were selected for the American Hockey League’s All-Star Classic event. [Trib Live]
News and notes from around the NHL…
As of Thursday afternoon, the New York Rangers were sitting dead last in the Eastern Conference, with many wondering if they will shape up to be sellers by the March 6 trading deadline. If they continue to sit well out of contention, how will that affect Artemi Panarin’s future in the Big Apple with unrestricted free agency looming? [TSN]
I guess the media dubbed Thursday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights the Mitch Marner Bowl, with this being Marner’s first game against his boyhood squad after leaving in a trade that signaled the end of the “Core Four” era. [Sportsnet]
The Boston Bruins retired Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 jersey on Thursday, honoring the 6-foot-9 Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman who led the franchise to a 2011 Stanley Cup victory. [Associated Press]
Who: Columbus Blue Jackets (21-19-7, 49 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (22-14-10, 54 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: This is the last game the Penguins will be playing in Pittsburgh for almost two weeks. The Pens are about to take off on a West Coast road swing through Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver over the next eight days, starting with a 5 p.m. ET Monday game against the Kraken.
Opponent Track: The Jackets are heading into the weekend on a three-game win streak. Elvis Merzlikins had a succinct answer when asked Thursday what’s changed for the Jackets:
Season Series: This marks the last time the Jackets and Pens will meet this season. All three prior games in this season series have gone to overtime, with the Penguins losing in a shootout in October but winning in overtime in November and earlier this month.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins are in a playoff spot in no small part thanks to their success against division opponents this season. Including their 2-0-1 record against the Blue Jackets, the Pens have gone 9-1-3 against teams in the Metropolitan Division so far this season. (Last season, Pittsburgh missed the playoffs after going 9-13-4 against division opponents).
Getting to know the Blue Jackets
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Cole Sillinger – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko
Boone Jenner – Sean Monahan – Kent Johnson
Dmitri Voronkov – Charlie Coyle – Mathieu Olivier
Danton Heinen – Brendan Gaunce – Mikael Pyyhtia
DEFENSEMEN
Zach Werenski / Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov / Damon Severson
Jake Christiansen / Erik Gudbranson
Goalies: Elvis Merzlikins, Jet Greaves
Potential scratches: Denton Mateychuk (day-to-day), Egor Zamula, Zach Aston-Reese
Injured Reserve: Brendan Smith, Isac Lundestrom, Miles Wood, Mason Marchment
- Blue Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk is day-to-day after taking a hard hit from Brandon Tanev during the Jackets’ Sunday win over the Utah Mammoth. Columbus general manager Don Waddell said the team doesn’t expect the injury to be long-term.
Coaching change in Columbus: The Blue Jackets fired former coach Dean Evason last week after one and a half seasons and a 19-19-7 start to the 2025-26 campaign. Evason told The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline he was “blindsided” by his dismissal.
The switch allowed the Jackets to bring in Rick Bowness, 70, who had most recently coached the Winnipeg Jets for two seasons from 2022 to 2024. He hasn’t been with the team for very long— he got the job offer Monday afternoon and joined the team Tuesday morning, per ESPN— but he’s since led the Jackets to wins over the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.
Bones got the boys ready to go
CBJ x @PNCBank pic.twitter.com/tJ0gjt6C8V
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 14, 2026
Season stats
via hockeydb
- Kent Johnson played a season-high 20:55 during his first game with Bowness. The Jackets could be hoping to see some more production from the second-line winger if he keeps getting more playing time going forward.
- Like the Penguins, the Blue Jackets have at times had a problems with holding on to late leads through the first half of the season. They blew third-period leads 15 times in their first 47 games, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. When asked about that habit after the Jackets held on to a comfortable lead in Thursday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks, Bowness said, per Portzline: “I don’t even worry about it. It was before I got here. I’m just not worried about it… That’s in the past. I know how I want us to play, so that’s the bottom line. And we’re building on that.”
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin
Anthony Mantha – Ben Kindel – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Brett Kulak / Kris Letang
Parker Wotherspoon / Jack St. Ivany
Ryan Shea / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Ryan Graves, Kevin Hayes
IR: Erik Karlsson, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones, Rutger McGroarty
- The Penguins had an off day Friday after Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Flyers.
- Sidney Crosby has 69 points (24 goals, 45 assists) in 48 career games against the Blue Jackets, which ranked behind only Patrick Kane for the most among any active NHL player. Kris Letang meanwhile leads all NHL defensemen with 14 goals against the Blue Jackets, his highest total against any single team, per Penguins PR.
- The Penguins are 14-1-4 in their last 19 games against the Blue Jackets, and they’re 16-0-2 in their last 18 games against the Jackets at home, per Penguins PR.
- The Pens’ special teams have been thriving lately. They’re heading into Saturday’s matchup having gone 16-for-16 on the PK over their last four games, and they’re currently ranked second in the NHL with a 29.4 percent power-play success rate.
Pregame
The Penguins use what they have been lately, Arturs Silovs gets his turn in the goalie rotation.
Lined up and ready for hockeypic.twitter.com/kaOXCpKag7
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 17, 2026First period
Columbus gets the first goal of the game, a shot from Zach Werenski hits Noel Acciari and drops right to Zach Aston-Reese. Aston-Reese is quicker than Silovs as his quick shot slides on in. 1-0 CBJ to open things up 2:42 into the proceedings.
Back in his old stompin' grounds!
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/xdHYYBFzt9
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 18, 2026
The Pens answer back in short order, matching the unlikely goal-scorer of Aston-Reese with a player scoring his first of the season for himself in Connor Clifton. Nice job by Clifton to stay activated deep in the offensive zone and finish off the goal to tie the game.
Cliffy nets his first as apic.twitter.com/Uyz5ke23GE
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 18, 2026
A Columbus turnover in their own end happened at the wrong place at the wrong time, and to the wrong guy. Sidney Crosby is there to grab a misplayed puck, he quickly centers the puck for Rickard Rakell to direct on net just as fast. 2-1 lead for the Penguins.
BRB WATCHING THIS ON REPEATpic.twitter.com/vel3tKI3JM
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 18, 2026
Good reaction from Pittsburgh, Columbus only had two shots after their goal in the last 17+ minutes of the period.
Second period
The Blue Jackets make a strong response early, the Pens get a power play but do little with it and the Columbus momentum keeps building up. They strike when Kirill Marchenko fires up out of no where in the neutral zone to grab a puck on the rush and shoot it in. 2-2 game.
MARCHY BROUGHT THE MAGIC TO PITTSBURGH!
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/MKT9jHpEz5
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 18, 2026
Things don’t get much better for the Pens, most of their opportunities are few and far between. It looks like both teams might get to intermission tied but Danton Heinen redirects an Erik Gudbranson point shot late in the period and Columbus is back in front, 3-2.
DANTON BURIES ONE
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/H8F8Okmzqp
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 18, 2026
Bad period for the Pens, can’t say it was undeserved. Columbus outshot Pittsburgh 13-8 in the period, most of the Pens’ chances were one-offs and not much in the way of consistent pressure.
Third period
Pittsburgh starts the period well by killing an overlap of a second period penalty, Clifton and Crosby flash to get chances that narrowly miss out on hitting the back of the net.
The aggressive play leads to some CBJ chances, Silovs does well to stop Adam Fantilli on a breakaway and fight off a 2-on-1 rush.
The Pens get a glorious opportunity with a late power play with 7:49 to go, still looks bad and doesn’t help.
It takes until about the 1:35 mark to get Silovs out of the net for the extra attacker, it doesn’t take long for the Pens to make it count with another 6v5 goal against Columbus late. Kris Letang shoots for a deflection, Crosby obliges with a typically outstanding redirect into the net past Elvis Merzlikins. 3-3 with 1:01 to go.
Overtime
Crosby-Malkin-Letang start it out for the Pens. Ben Kindel sneaks on the ice and gets a shot, Merlikins stops him.
Merzlikins keeps the game going with two point-blank stops on Evgeni Malkin. Silovs does his part with a stop on Charlie Coye from righti n front.
Crosby and Novak get really good looks at the net too before time expires but no one scores.
Shootout
The Pens go first, it’s Rakell. Merzlikins stays with the dekes and pokechecks the puck away when Rakell gets too close.
Kent Johnson takes the first turn for Columbus, dekes to the backhand and scores.
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Crosby is picked to shoot second, he goes with his move to shoot for the glove, but only hits the glove and can’t score.
Fantilli gets the chance to win the game, Silovs makes the stop on the low shot.
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Egor Chinakhov has to score against his former to keep the game going, his shot to the blocker side hits the net.
Marchenko could win it for CBJ, he was 5/5 on the season but Silovs comes up huge with a stop.
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Bryan Rust leads off Round 4 with the teams even. He bobbles the puck near the net and doesn’t get much of a shot off.
Coyle goes for the Blue Jackets with yet another chance to win, and this time they do after a strong forehand deke outmaneuvers Silovs.
Some thoughts
- A cool little aspect of Malkin playing the wing these days is that sometimes his shift can bleed into when Crosby comes on the ice. That can’t happen when both are centers and change onto the ice for one another. Malkin extended a shift in the first period while the puck was in the offensive zone and got to generate a bonus chance out of it. Fun wrinkle about his move to the wing.
- Dan Muse and the Pens look loyal to their goalie rotation, which you can’t knock too much given how well things are going across the board and how condensed the schedule is in this Olympic year. That said, if the concept of rotating goalies is going to stay, the question might shift to how long the team will stay loyal to Silovs being a part of that rotation? That’s a bigger picture question for a different day but one that might be worth asking when Silovs has won eight out of 22 decisions with a GAA over 3 and save percentage under .890% when Joel Blomqvist (.925 save%) and Sergei Murashov (.923%) are performing well and a phone call away for an alternative that could be performing better.
- To that end, Moneypuck had Columbus with a 1.4 expected goal total at the point Silovs had surrendered a third goal.
- One area Muse has remained too stubbornly loyal to is the shootout order and picking veterans who aren’t performing (Crosby) to go ahead of players who are (Chinakov). Once again, Chinakhov very nearly never even got an opportunity to shoot, the game could have been decided before Round 3 since neither Crosby or Rakell were able to score. This is a very correctable area, maddening to see it continue tonight, and know it’s probably not going to change next time either. It’s tough enough to win shootouts (where the Pens are 1-7 this season) since the goalies aren’t very good at stopping shots, failing to put the shooters in the proper alignment is makes the odds of success even slimer.
- This was a sneaky tough position for Pittsburgh to be in, seeing Columbus days after a coaching change (and 2-0-0 coming into the night under Rick Bowness). The former coach seemed to be somewhat unpopular among the players, there’s always that period of revitalization, extra energy and a boost from a new voice coming in. That doesn’t make for an easy opponent, even if it’s not exactly a stacked lineup to deal with. The Pens probably don’t have room to complain too much in the sequence of the schedule since they’ve seen so many opponents in b-2-b situations lately (plus the good fortune of facing Philadelphia last way in full-on collapse mode) but that uncontrollable element worked against them tonight.
- Cool to see Clifton get a goal, he played with confidence the rest of the night after that. As mentioned before, the Karlsson departure from the lineup makes for a great opportunity for Clifton to play regularly for the first time in a while. He hasn’t been poor so much as just lacked for the chance. Now it’s here. Clifton was probably one of the more noticeable better players on the ice for the Pens. And yes, I do mean that as a sort of backhanded compliment towards most of the rest of the team that should not have that be the case.
- The Pens’ power play (0/3 on the night) might not be the singular reason they didn’t win, but it’s high on the list. Looking back, that early second period power play where they did nothing and Columbus only took off from there was a huge turning point in the game from the dreaded ‘what could have been’ type of thoughts. Then getting a chance to tie the game in the third period and get back in it disappeared without much coming of it. Big turnaround from Thursday night when the power play was incredibly effective (albeit, against a majorly struggling Philadelphia PK played a part in that discrepancy as well).
- I don’t have the statistical backup at the moment but boy it sure feels like the 6v5 goals at the end of regulation where a goalie is pulled is way up this season. If not for the whole league, then certainly for the games Pittsburgh has been involved in. Luckily for the Pens, Columbus has been as allergic as they have this season when it comes to preserving third period leads.
- Things you don’t see every day is eight total OT shots (and no goals). It usually doesn’t take that many looks at the net to end a game in a 3v3 format.
- This game is tough to reconcile the question on if Pittsburgh got a fair shake or not at the end of the day. In some respects, maybe not: the expected goal count was 5.25 – 2.6 in the Pens’ on Moneypuck. On the other hand, the Pens were bad on the power play and had large stretches of unimpressive play. They certainly deserved getting something out of this one, all things considered it would have been pretty nice if someone could have scored in OT. Certainly enough players (Kindel, Malkin, Crosby, Novak) took great shots and had the chance. They couldn’t do that so taking the old school equivalent of a tie (one point) is ultimately fitting.
The next game is about 44 hours from when this one ended, which isn’t too bad. The part about it being, what about 2,500 miles away in Seattle might be the more daunting aspect.
Talk about the game with Pens fans here!
CHINAKHOV 
