Takeaways: Penguins' Losing Streak Extends To 3 In Messy Loss To Vegas

Last season, a Western road trip at the end of January ended up defining the rest of the 2025-26 season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Starting in Seattle and ending in Vancouver - with Calgary and Edmonton in between - the Penguins went 4-0 and then won the next two at home, putting together a six-game win streak that set them up nicely before the Olympic break. 

Of course, the team's current Western swing isn't the only one this season, and their game against the Vegas Golden Knights Satuday marked only their ninth game of the season in an 84-game schedule. 

But it's hard to imagine that this road trip could be going any worse. 

The Penguins dropped that game to the Golden Knights, 6-2, after a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche the previous night to secure a three-game losing streak and a 3-5-1 overall record. Goaltender Sergei Murashov stopped only 13 of 18 Vegas shots on goal before an empty-net goal by Brett Howden at the end, and the penalty kill surrendered a power play goal against for the second straight game after allowing just one the entire season prior to Friday.

It's very early in the season, but the Penguins know they can't dig themselves too deep a hole to begin with. 

"It's early," captain Sidney Crosby said. "But we've got to correct some things, for sure."

For the third straight game, the Penguins allowed a goal early in a period. In this one, it was Rasmus Andersson, who rifled a shot past Murashov just a minute and six seconds into the game after being left uncovered breaking into the slot area. Then, a similar thing happened off the rush on Vegas's second goal four minutes into the game, when Noah Hanifin was left entirely uncovered on the left side as the Penguins' defense overcommitted to the passing Jack Eichel on the right, allowing him to walk in uncontested and set up a shot to make it 2-0.

Mark Stone tipped a Trevor Connelly shot on the power play with a little more than two minutes left in the first to make it 3-0. The Penguins responded with a power play goal of their own six minutes into the second period - their first power play goal in 21 tries - courtesy of a Tommy Novak shot hitting Crosby on the way in to cut the deficit to two.

The power play seemed to give the Penguins some much-needed momentum, and the tables began to turn. The first line entered the offensive zone a minute after the power play goal to continue that momentum.

Inexplicably, Crosby, at the right point, quite literally dished a short, clean pass to Connelly, who took it the other way and put it home on the rush, restoring the three-goal lead. Four minutes later, right after the conclusion of a four-on-four, Vegas were down low in the offensve zone, and Knights' defenseman Brayden McNabb found Shea Theodore across the slot on the right side - again, uncovered - and he one-timed it home .

That made it 5-1, and the Penguins, despite getting a net-front goal from Evgeni Malkin early in the third and getting some chances offensively, never quite recovered and couldn't generate anything sustained. 

Here are a few takeaways from this one:

- It's being said after each and every game, but basic mistakes are causing this team to bleed goals against. 

Crosby's pass was a head-scratcher. He had other options there, and I'm not sure what he was thinking when he made that pass. The fact that, on three goals, defensive zone coverage was blown entirely to leave players enough time and space to make and eat a sandwich is not encouraging. 

On the fifth goal, all four Penguins in the play seemed to just be floating in the d-zone on the left side after the puck battle was lost. It's one thing if they're making offenses work for goals, but they're hardly doing that right now. 

As Crosby said, it's early. But they need to find a way to fix these things quickly and play better systemic hockey.

- All that said: To emphasize, it's game nine. 

Social media, in the age of "ragebaiting" and monetization, always amplifies reactionary takes. And, to be fair, this team is making it very hard right now not to be reactionary. 

But remember December last season? The Penguins went on an eight-game losing streak, plummeted in the standings, blew several leads, and played stretches where it looked like they had never played the sport before. But they put together that six-game win streak in January and made the playoffs comfortably largely without the late-season services of their best player.

Of course, this isn't the same exact team, and it's certainly not the same blue line. There are legitimate reasons for some concern.

Despite the shortcomings nine games in, though, it's been only nine games in an 84-game season. Objectively speaking, they're three points out of a playoff spot, and they're two points out of the basement after the Philadelphia Flyers finally - in their 10th game of the season - earned their first win Saturday against the Ottawa Senators. 

This team is not as bad as it is playing right now, and it might not be as good as it played in the season-opening 7-0 rout of the Flyers or in the 2-1 defensive clinic win against the Dallas Stars. It's somewhere in between. 

Many of the mistakes the Penguins have made are fixable and mental, which is what makes the product on the ice right now all the more frustrating. 

- On a positive note, Rickard Rakell looked a whole lot more like himself in this game. 

Prior to Friday, every aspect of Rakell's game looked disjointed. He began to get some momentum during the Colorado game, and in the Vegas game, he tied for the team lead in shot attempts alongside Erik Karlsson with six. He was more engaged offensively, passes weren't going straight to Knights' players with frequency, and he was crashing the net. 

Rakell is a good player, and he is also a snakebitten one. Despite how rough things looked for him in the earlygoing, he seems to be turning a corner.

- Midway through the second period, the Knights were rushing into the Penguins' zone. Defenseman Kaedan Korczak - a former Golden Knight - hauled down Brett Howden. While flat on the ice, Howden missed a play on a puck, and his stick swiped the feet of Penguins' defenseman Sam Girard, who went airborn and crashed into the base of the boards, with his right shoulder taking the brunt of it. 

- Girard got up on his own and went back to the bench, but he then went back to the room and didn't return. It didn't look good, and the Penguins already have the injured Trevor van Riemsdyk rehabbing an injury in Pittsburgh. 

The Penguins play the Utah Mammoth Monday in Utah. Blueliner Ryan Johnson was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), which is an indicator that van Riemsdyk might be back. 

If not, Pittsburgh will have to make another roster move before Monday's game, assuming Girard is not good to go. 

- This wasn't Murashov's best performance, either, after a rough fourth goal against in the Penguins' loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday. 

But folks should not be making any assumptions about Murashov's long-term future quite yet. Not only has the defense let him down substantially, but the team as a whole has not played well enough to win in any of his four starts this season. 

Most of all? He's played nine NHL games and is 22 years old. 

If the Penguins are going to get younger, that has to come with the understanding that there will be growing pains with their younger players. That includes Murashov. 

So, I wouldn't be writing off his talent after four games. 

- On the topic of getting younger...

Before Saturday's game, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that Penguins' GM Kyle Dubas is willing to trade veteran forwards to make way for youth. Sure, this may not be breaking news if you've been paying attention the last couple of years, but the fact that it is being officially reported by Friedman isn't a nothing burger.

Although Friedman said "forwards," many have pointed to Rakell, Bryan Rust, and defensemen Girard, which makes sense. But keep an eye on Karlsson, too. The 36-year-old has nine points in nine games this season, is on the final year of his contract, and possesses a full no-movement clause.

Karlsson wants to win. If the Penguins don't right the ship soon, it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see his name out there early in the season. He can stand in as an immediate No. 1 or No. 2 defenseman on a playoff-bound team, and if dealt earlier in the season, the Penguins should get a sizeable return. 

Of course, that would almost surely be throwing the towel on the season, so any movement with him in the short-term is unlikely until the Penguins figure out exactly who they are as a team. If they start winning again, I imagine that would change things as far as the Penguins and Dubas weighing keeping Karlsson as well as the possibility of Karlsson asking out. 

Just something to keep in mind. As alluded to by Friedman, a trade on the forward front seems far more likely in the immediacy, especially with Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes currently tied for third in the AHL in scoring with nine points in six games. 

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