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It’s time for the Penguins to make some lineup changes: 10 observations

November 30, 2025
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PITTSBURGH — The Penguins were blown out by the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-2, at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

It was a peculiar game because Pittsburgh wasn’t outplayed as significantly as the score might have indicated. The penguins outshot the Maple Leafs, matched them in quality scoring chances and played with an abundance of energy most of the night.

None of that mattered when everything that could have gone wrong did, indeed, go wrong.

Goaltenders Artūrs Šilovs and Tristan Jarry had endured thoroughly forgettable evenings. However, just like in his most recent game against the Minnesota Wild last week, Šilovs was yanked from the game after stopping only six of 10 shots.

Jarry wasn’t much better upon entering the game.

The Penguins’ defensive zone coverage was not good, either.

Perhaps every bit as notable in this setback was the Penguins’ inability to finish. They easily could have scored five or six goals on this night.

Ben Kindel was able to score on the power play to even the game in the first period.

Then, Sidney Crosby scored his 16th goal of the season in the third period to temporarily give the Penguins life, only to see the Maple Leafs score twice more to turn the game into a rout.

Seven different players scored for the struggling Leafs, who earned only their third road victory of the season.

Toronto goaltender Dennis Hildeby was by far the best player on the ice, stopping 33 of 35 shots, many of them on high-caliber scoring opportunities.

Up next for the Penguins is a trip to Philadelphia on Monday.

Ten postgame observations 

• What a bizarre game.

Full credit to the Leafs, who were desperate for a victory and very opportunistic. When they received chances to score, they buried them, and the Toronto forecheck caused issues for the Penguins’ blue line all night. Hildeby was outstanding, also.

I loved the energy the Penguins played with, though. I thought it was the most consistent offense they’ve produced in a game in quite some time. Their attention to detail defensively was terrible, and their goaltending was worse. It was just one of those nights.

Still, it didn’t feel like that lopsided a game. The Penguins did indeed deserve to lose this game, but it probably should have been more like 7-6.

• Sometimes, you just need to finish. That’s been an issue for the Penguins at times in recent weeks.

Anthony Mantha had a glorious look in the first period on a feed from Evgeni Malkin, but he was unable to corral the puck in time to release a shot. He’s misfired on multiple wide-open looks in recent games.

Blake Lizotte was stopped on a short-handed breakaway in the first period.

Kris Letang had a wide-open look, skating unimpeded down the right wing in the first period, but curiously didn’t shoot and ended up swooping behind the net with the puck still on his blade.

Hildeby made a sensational save on a Crosby redirection, as the 6-foot-7 goaltender somehow got his right shoulder on a puck that was ticketed for the corner.

Kindel nearly had his second of the night when he took a feed from Ville Koivunen and attempted to go against the grain, but again, Hildeby was there to deny the Penguins on the odd-man break.

This was probably the best goaltending performance we’ve seen against the Penguins all season. They should have scored considerably more goals.

• Some players simply aren’t doing enough to remain in the lineup.

Joona Koppanen has played in 10 NHL games this season. He has not scored a goal, he only has one point and he’s only managed six shots on goal.

Koppanen is fine defensively, but I wouldn’t say he is impactful. He’s been credited with a few hits this season, though I certainly don’t recall any of them. This isn’t an NHL player.

Danton Heinen is a nice guy to have in the organization because he can play a role in the NHL, but you don’t want him in the lineup every night. While he’s been quite productive at the AHL level this season, he has zero goals and one point in nine games, while registering only 10 shots.

Other players are struggling, too, notably Ville Koivunen. He’s young and needs to keep playing, though. He’s part of the future.

Heinen and Koppanen are not. They’re bringing very little to the table. I’d have Rutger McGroarty in the lineup in Philadelphia on Monday. Maybe Tristan Broz should be in there, too. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t hesitate to invite Boko Imama to Philadelphia as well. Things got nasty there last month. History tells us the Flyers will target Crosby or Evgeni Malkin sooner rather than later. Crosby and Malkin are on record as saying they’re more comfortable when tough guys such as Imama are in the lineup. I’d consider it, because that counts for something.

• Is it time to worry about Šilovs?

In general, he’s been good, but he’s been brutal in his two post-Sweden outings. His history suggests that he can be a streaky, volatile goaltender.

Not all of the goals against Toronto were his fault — far from it. There were bad defensive zone coverages and bad bounces, to be sure, but he didn’t look sharp from puck drop.

While Jarry didn’t look good, he rarely does when he enters a game in relief. I’d ride with him in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Dallas.

• I thought Ryan Graves was very poor in this game.

On Toronto’s third goal, a Bobby McMann forecheck made Graves look like he was 5-9 and 180 pounds. To be clear, Graves is 6-5, 230 pounds. It was a very soft-looking play.

Graves’ play seemed to deteriorate after that moment. He’s been much better this season. Hopefully, it’s a blip on the radar and nothing more because he wasn’t sharp.

His defense partner, Matt Dumba, gave up a terrible turnover on Toronto’s final goal. It was a rough night for those guys.

 

• This is the best Kindel has looked in weeks. Perhaps scoring a goal was all that his confidence required.

He skated with authority, and his playmaking was dazzling on a few occasions. It was a much better performance from him.

• I really liked Crosby’s game again. Following Friday’s game in Columbus, I commented that I thought he was on the verge of heating up. I still feel this way.

You can see him finding another gear. This is saying something, since he’s currently on pace for 55 goals.

Crosby, by the way, is now nine points away from matching Mario Lemieux with 1,723 career points. I suspect that will happen during the Penguins’ five-game home stand in the middle of December. I might suggest purchasing a ticket or two.

• Malkin was exceptional in the first period. It was perhaps his best display of skating all season.

That said, he’s now gone three games without a point for the first time all season. He’s also gone seven games without an assist, which says more about who he’s playing with than anything else.

Still, they need him to keep producing because the bottom six is offering precious little offense at the moment.

• The Penguins need to clean up plenty in their own territory. That was a really sloppy performance defensively, and it wasn’t just one or two people. It was almost literally the entire team that was guilty at one point or another.

• That said, I actually liked the energy the Penguins played with. The execution just stunk.

Up next is the biggest road trip of the young season at Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Dallas. That’s about as nasty as it gets. We’ll know a lot more about these Penguins after this trip.




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