Parker Wotherspoon experienced a notable few days, starting with the Seattle Seahawks’ advancement to the NFC Championship game and followed by a return home as the Pittsburgh Penguins began their road trip in Seattle. Wotherspoon opened scoring in the Penguins’ 6-3 victory, with around 20 supporters present, including his billet family from his junior hockey years.
“Pretty cool moment, yeah,” Wotherspoon told SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Dan Potash during intermission.
Connor Dewar scored shortly after Wotherspoon’s goal, adding a shorthanded breakaway. Dewar matched his career high of 11 goals set in the 2022-23 season and later secured the win with an empty net goal.
“Love it when you see him get rewarded on the offensive side,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said. “He’s got skill. You see it there on the shorthanded goal, you’ve seen it throughout the year. But I think his offense usually starts with just doing all the right things there away from the puck. It’s always great when you see him get rewarded.”
Seattle responded with two goals to tie before Sidney Crosby, marking his 1,400th NHL game, won a faceoff that led to Brett Kulak’s first goal as a Penguin.
“That was a heck of a shot,” Stuart Skinner said. “Really good play by them. Big faceoff, a clean faceoff to get Kuly in a good spot, and then we were just able to go to the net, and he was able to pop one. So, it’s a special moment for him. Very, very much deserved.”
Muse commented on his team’s consistent approach: “I thought we just kept playing,” Muse said. “There wasn’t too much in terms of those heavy momentum shifts the other way. I thought we just kept responding. I thought it was a good kind of business-like approach there to the game, which is what you want to see. I thought that carried through, honestly, the whole game.”
Justin Brazeau added another for Pittsburgh early in the third period before Seattle narrowed the gap on a power play goal at 7:47. Rickard Rakell extended Pittsburgh’s lead late in regulation; Dewar finished scoring into an empty net.
The Penguins have increased their offensive output recently despite missing defenseman Erik Karlsson due to injury.
“It’s great for these guys to be chipping in,” Muse said. “I think we want everybody to be involved in the offense. And obviously, they have been the last couple of games. I think we’ve been seeing it… We need everybody chipping in there and working to impact both sides of the puck.”
Pittsburgh recorded 32 shots compared to Seattle’s 23.
“I feel like it was just a battle. It was a little bit of back and forth pretty well the whole game,” Skinner said. “But for me, it was yeah, they had some O-zone time, but not a ton of shots tonight. And that’s big props to the guys in front of me blocking shots.”
Skinner has now won five out of six starts since joining Pittsburgh from Edmonton alongside Kulak.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I think the whole squad in here is feeling confident. And I feel like when everybody in here feels that way, it kind of rubs off on anybody… So for us as a team, I feel like we’re going [in] a really good direction here.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins, founded in 1967 and based in Pennsylvania’s largest city outside Philadelphia, compete at hockey’s highest level within North America and have achieved multiple Stanley Cup victories while supporting youth programs and community outreach efforts.
