The Pittsburgh Penguins buried their own grave with a plethora of turnovers in a 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
It's become quite a story that these Pittsburgh Penguins have been scratching and crawling their way to points without their two best players in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and during their toughest stretch of the 2025-26 season.
Unfortunately, they hit a bit of a roadblock - and it was mostly self-inflicted.
On Thursday, the Penguins lost their second game of their five-game road trip, 6-2, to the Vegas Golden Knights, and it was largely the result of turnovers. Of course, the Penguins weren't the only ones credited with a lot of giveaways - they had 17, while Vegas was credited with 23 - but it just so happened that nearly every mistake ended up in the back of their net.
On the goal that opened the scoring, Vegas took advantage of both a misplay by Penguins' defenseman Parker Wotherspoon and a case of overskating by Erik Karlsson, and Braeden Bowman found Colton Sissons crashing the net front to get the Golden Knights out to a 1-0 lead. And this was despite the Penguins getting the majority of chances, even if the chances that Vegas was getting were grade-A.
And they continued to get those chances in the second. After transitioning the puck into the offensive zone, Vegas was cycling, and it eventually found its way to defenseman Kaedan Korczak in the high slot, who got it to Pavel Dorofeyev down low for his 31st of the season on a top-shelf shot.
But the Penguins had a response this time. With around eight and a half minutes to go in the middle frame, the Penguins' first line of Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, and Bryan Rust was cycling and dominating possession in the offensive zone, and they were eventually rewarded when Rust put a perfect shot-pass on the stick of Rakell, who was waiting at the backdoor, to make it 2-1.
However, Mitch Marner responded less than a minute later with a strong individual effort after he and Dorofeyev gained the zone, and Marner got behind Egor Chinakhov to accept a pass as he was walking across the net front to make it 3-1. The Penguins did respond before the end of the period, though, when Anthony Mantha found Ben Kindel with a perfect seam pass on the doorstep - and they appeared to be going into the third period with some momentum.
But then, the third period was one of the Penguins' worst of the season. Dorofeyev registered his second of the game as well as his third point on the night after Wotherspoon turned the puck over near the offensive blue line in an attempt to get the puck to forward Ville Koivunen, and the Knights broke on a three-on-one opportunity. Marner - breaking down the left side - found Dorofeyev in the low slot area, and he didn't miss, making it 4-2.
Less than two minutes later, Vegas scored off the rush again, courtesy of Jack Eichel, and defenseman Brayden McNabb added an empty-net goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation to give the Golden Knights the keys to a 6-2 victory.
Here are a few thoughts and observations:
- What a rough game for Wotherspoon. He ended up a minus-2 on the evening and was credited with a team-high three giveaways, and it could have been a whole lot worse.
He has been a revelation for the Penguins this season, and he has also been the perfect partner for Erik Karlsson. However, his play since the Olympic break has declined a little bit, and it's been especially noticeable in the last handful of games. But the Vegas game takes the cake as his worst of the season.
It's worth noting that the most games Wotherspoon had ever played in an NHL season prior to this one was 55 with the Boston Bruins last season. He has logged 65 for the Penguins this season, meaning he has played in every game this season.
I'm not saying the grind of the schedule or fatigue is a factor here for sure, but there are mild signs of concern right now for him. Again, he's been spectacular for most of the season, and this could very well just be a rough stretch of games.
But maybe that fatigue is setting in just a bit.
- Koivunen has looked a heck of a lot more comfortable in during this stint than he has at any other point this season. That said, there are still times where you can tell he isn't reading the game at NHL speed, and he does get knocked off the puck quite a bit.
It appears he still needs to add some size, and his play on the wall when Wotherspoon attempted to get him the puck wasn't the best, either. I'm far from giving up on Koivunen, but if he is going to be an effective player at the NHL level, he needs to improve some fundamental aspects of his game first.
- On a positive note, it was another good game from the Penguins' top line of Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, and Bryan Rust as well as the third line of Ben Kindel, Elmer Soderblom, and Avery Hayes.
I like the look of both of these lines right now and how much they've been able to generate. They - like everyone else - have had their moments defensively, but they're carrying play in the offensive zone on most nights.
- It was not, however, a good night for the fourth line, which is very uncharacteristic. A Connor Dewar turnover led to Marner's goal, and the line was on the ice for three goals against - all of which were semi-consequential in the result.
They've been great for the vast majority of the season, but it was not their night at all.
- Silovs was not particularly good, either. He surrendered five goals on 16 shots, and he never looked all that comfortable between the pipes, as he was deep in his net and reading plays poorly. I especially didn't love how he played Dorofeyev's second goal.
He has been really, really good for the Penguins in the back half of this season, and he's known to have a clutch gene. The defense in front of him was not doing a good job, either, against Vegas, but he needs to get back on track fast if the Penguins hope to make the playoffs.
- Speaking of making the playoffs: lucky for the Penguins, it was a pretty good night on the scoreboard for them. The New York Islanders lost in regulation. As did the Carolina Hurricanes, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Boston Bruins. The Columbus Blue Jackets lost in overtime, which did bring them to within two points of Pittsburgh.
They need to simply survive this stretch without both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and so far, they've managed to do that. They've earned exactly half the available points with Crosby out (3-3-3) and Malkin out (1-1-2), and they're still clinging onto second in the Metropolitan Division.
Saturday will mark the final game of Malkin's five-game suspension, and Crosby is practicing with the team during morning skates on the road (the team does not have any practices on off-days due to travel). If they can manage to win one more on Saturday against the Utah Mammoth, that will help them tremendously, and it will set them up nicely for both players' imminent returns.
Every point matters, and the Penguins need to keep collecting as many as possible.
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