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Why the Penguins are ‘starting to believe’ in themselves after loss to Devils

November 8, 2025
eswar6424


NEWARK, N.J. — It didn’t feel like a loss in the Penguins’ locker room on Saturday afternoon at the Prudential Center.

It felt like a team that’s starting to believe in itself.

The Penguins earned a point and probably deserved two, out-playing a good New Jersey Devils team in a building where things rarely go the Penguins’ way. New Jersey emerged with a 2-1 shootout victory, and the Penguins emerged feeling a bit frustrated but very optimistic about where this season could be going.

Entering the season, sports books in Las Vegas gave the Penguins around a 9 percent chance to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Through 20 percent of the season — it’s not a huge sample size, but it’s not a small one, either — the Penguins are 9-4-3, which is good for 21 points. They’re in second place in the Metropolitan Division and, at the time of the loss, the Devils are the only NHL team with more points. They’re 5-3-2 on the road. The Penguins’ plus-10 goal differential is the NHL’s fifth-best mark. Through 20 percent of the season, the Penguins are on pace for 108 points and, while that kind of pace might not be sustainable, the idea of the Penguins being a playoff contender isn’t starting to sound unreasonable.

It wasn’t just that the Penguins got a point in New Jersey on Saturday, but rather how they dominated most of the game that left an impression on the locker room.

“It should give us a lot of belief,” Sidney Crosby said. “A lot of confidence.”

He’s not the only one who is starting to feel good about this team. While the Penguins entered the season with low expectations from the outside, the locker room under Crosby always finds a way to generate a healthy amount of optimism before the season.

Erik Karlsson said that he felt good about this team a month ago, but feels really good about it currently.

“I think we are all feeling that,” he said. “We feel like we’re a good team right now. Look at how we’ve put together good games, the way we’ve controlled play, the way we’ve held onto pucks. That makes you believe a little bit more. And we are starting to believe.”

Karlsson has been one of the stories of the season, and his mesmerizing puck possession skills were again on display against the Devils. The veteran is clearly a better player this year, and the Penguins are better because of it. Karlsson clearly believes there is a positivity flowing between the Penguins and first-year coach Dan Muse’s coaching staff.

“We have good individual players,” he said. “And now we’re finally starting to feel good as a team. The roles are starting to slot in. You know what’s expected of you. You do the things you’re good at, and not the things that someone tells you to do, that you can’t do.”

The Penguins utterly dominated the second period of this game and were the better team in the first 40 minutes. New Jersey probably had the edge in the third, before the Penguins again grabbed the moment in overtime.

Only Artūrs Šilovs’ inability to do much of anything right in shootouts — he’s stopped only one of eight offerings this season — and an extraordinarily bad Kris Letang turnover kept the Penguins from earning two points in Newark.

“We did so many good things,” Crosby said. “Big kills. Artie was great for us. Defended hard. Created chances. We just have to find a way to get that other point. But we did many good things.”

The Penguins host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday in what figures to be Sergei Murashov’s much-anticipated NHL debut. They then travel to Sweden, where they will take on the Nashville Predators in Stockholm next Friday and Sunday, respectively.

One of the most prominent Swedish players in the world is feeling good about his team.

“We’ve struggled against Jersey for as long as I’ve been here,” Karlsson said. “And from what I hear, it goes back longer than that. But we went toe to toe with them. We controlled the play. I think we’re a good team.”

Ten postgame observations

• Šilovs obviously has a problem right now in shootouts, where he has stopped one out of eight attempts. You don’t need me to tell you that this is a horrible number, and making matters worse, he’s looked like he’s guessing instead of just playing the position in those moments. So, yes, that needs to be corrected.

But … he’s been outstanding and he was again in this game. He stopped 23 of 24 shots against the Devils, including one of the best saves of the NHL season against Jack Hughes in the second period.

He’s 4-2-3 with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. I’m not about to give him a hard time. And remember, he’s only 24 with limited NHL experience. This is a goaltender who you should feel excited about.

• I thought this was one of the Penguins’ better performances of the season. The score might lead you to believe that it was a boring game, but it wasn’t. Jake Allen played a very strong hockey game, which was the biggest factor for the Devils.

But this was a fine performance from the Penguins, who almost never play well in this building. They were absolutely the better team most of the afternoon.

It’s been a tough stretch of schedule for the Penguins, starting last week. They earned a point in Philadelphia, won in Minnesota, lost to a good Jets team on the road, had their implosion in Toronto, then rebounded with three out of four points against a couple of good teams in the Capitals and Devils. There is a quiet confidence about this team.

• Letang’s turnover, which led to Arseny Gritsyuk’s goal, was simply unacceptable.

Making matters worse, Letang was at the end of a long shift, which would typically produce a simpler play in that situation.

Earlier in the shift, he forced a pass to Evgeni Malkin in the offensive zone.

Letang has been playing better during the past couple of weeks, which is important. But one undeniable problem with his game has always been his obsession with making the low percentage play when he sees it. If he were a quarterback, he’d throw the deep ball in double coverage every time instead of taking the check down to the running back. It’s just who he is. But the turnover that led to the Gritsyuk goal was very bad.

• Karlsson was simply sensational again. I can’t say enough about how he’s playing right now. Admittedly, I never saw this coming after how he played during the previous two seasons.

This is a completely different player and it’s clear that the new coaching regime has been wonderful for him.

• Malkin has been one of the stories of the season and is playing at a high level.

But I’d have Ben Kindel ahead of him in the three-on-three rotation. I just don’t think Malkin has the wheels for it anymore and he gets tired very quickly on three-on-three shifts, which is a problem. Malkin’s been great. Not knocking him. But I don’t think the three-on-three is for him anymore.

• Speaking of Kindel, he was excellent again. He is truly a revelation. Every aspect of his game is clicking.

There is a subtle quality to this game that you just don’t see in teenagers at this level.

• Ryan Graves scored the Penguins’ only goal. It wasn’t a work of art, but it was needed.

Goal aside, Graves played one of his best games as a member of the Penguins in this contest. Graves and defense partner Connor Clifton were outstanding. I have to think the Penguins will keep that pairing together for a bit. They earned it with their performance today.

• Brenden Dillon, not a particular friend of the Penguins, crushed Tommy Novak with a hit in the first period.

The Penguins weren’t thrilled about the hit, which did not receive a penalty. I think the initial contact was to the chest, though there was some head contact there. Given Dillon’s history — he broke Teddy Blueger’s jaw with a dirty hit and received a three-game suspension for a hit to Noel Acciari’s head two seasons ago — it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt entirely.

Garrett Rank, another person I wouldn’t qualify as a pal of the Penguins, only gave the Penguins one power play all game. Crosby commented following the game that you “typically get more” than one power play when you carry play to this point. Read into it what you will.

• Anthony Mantha immediately challenged Dillon to a fight after the hit and held his own.

The Penguins have had many guys willing to do that kind of thing during the past couple of years. That kind of thing goes a long way in the locker room.

• The duo of Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar on the fourth line is absolutely exceptional right now. High-level stuff.




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