The Pittsburgh Penguins earned one point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. The game marked the first of back-to-back weekend matchups for the Penguins, who played without two key players: Evgeni Malkin, serving a five-game suspension, and captain Sidney Crosby, sidelined by a lower-body injury.
“I don’t really think that we’ve played up to the level that we had coming off the break,” said Erik Karlsson. “We had a couple of down games here in a row now, and it’s unfortunate timing. But I think we know what we are in here. We’re a good team, and we’re in the position we are for a reason.”
Bryan Rust addressed the impact of missing Malkin and Crosby: “Obviously missing two absolutely incredible players, so that doesn’t help. But we have very capable guys in here, guys that need to and that will and can and that have stepped up for us,. And we got to just continue to do that.”
Head Coach Dan Muse noted before the game that other players would need to step up in their absence. Ville Koivunen was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after being named AHL Player of the Month with 16 points (6 goals, 10 assists) in 11 games.
Koivunen contributed early as he worked the puck down low to Justin Brazeau, who set up Tommy Novak for his 13th goal of the season, giving Pittsburgh an initial lead. The Flyers responded quickly when Trevor Zegras assisted Owen Tippett’s goal.
The Penguins’ third line—Koivunen, Ben Kindel, and Avery Hayes—generated momentum but could not convert further chances. Hayes delivered a notable hit on Cam York before engaging Jamie Drysdale in his second career NHL fight.
Despite outshooting Philadelphia 8-2 in the first period, Pittsburgh ended it tied with their opponent. Rickard Rakell restored Pittsburgh’s lead early in the second period before Alex Bump scored his first NHL goal for Philadelphia following a defensive turnover.
Rust commented on maintaining momentum after regaining leads: “Those are unfortunate because we get the momentum, and we got to keep it. Those next 2, 3, 4 shifts are big to keep the momentum. We don’t need to score again, but we can’t give them life. We got to play hard.”
Karlsson later scored off an assist from Chinakhov after Rakell won an offensive zone faceoff; Denver Barkey then tied it again for Philadelphia.
“They played hard. Gotta give them credit,” Rust said. “They played really hard and in our face. I don’t think we handled that as well as we could have.”
Goaltender Stuart Skinner faced only ten shots through fifty minutes but made several key saves late as both teams remained even.
“I thought for the most part, we kept them on the outside,” Skinner said. “It was an interesting game for a goalie tonight. I think Vladar would probably say the same thing. Not a ton of action but a lot of work in zone.”
Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on two third-period power plays.
“We couldn’t really get our rotations, probably as we wanted to get into shooting threats,” Rakell said. “Still had the chances that were there, but we just didn’t take advantage of it.”
In overtime play at PPG Paints Arena—a venue central to Pittsburgh’s sports culture—the Penguins received another power play opportunity after Vladar took an interference penalty against Karlsson.
“Late in the game like that, body and mind are not working as well as you want it to, and we couldn’t get the looks that we were looking for,” Karlsson said. “It’s unfortunate. It was a great opportunity for us to put the game away, and we didn’t do it today.”
Anthony Mantha, Rakell and Chinakhov all missed their shootout attempts while Zegras scored for Philadelphia—resulting in Pittsburgh’s ninth shootout loss this season.
“Everybody knows that everybody really wants to score in the shootout,” Rakell said. “It might be one of the instances now where we’re gripping the stick a little bit too tight and not really doing what we wanted to.”
With Saturday’s result adding one point toward their standings total—a reflection of their consistent competition within the NHL—the Penguins look ahead quickly with another home matchup against Boston scheduled Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena (official website).
“Playing 82 games throughout a year you’re going to get dips and you’re going to have highs and you’re going to have lows,” Karlsson said.“We just gotto make surethat our lowsare not too lowand don’t lastfor too long.”
“We play agood teamagain tomorrow.We knowit’s goingto be atight game,and it’s agreat opportunityfor us toc omein andare hopefullycome togetheralittle bitbetter thanwe haveinthe previousgames.”
The franchise has seen contributions from Hall of Fame figures over its history (official website). Owned by Fenway Sports Group (official website),the organization remains integralto Pittsburgh’s sports communitywith strongfan traditionsand ties(official website).
