One last contest at PPG Paints Arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins before hopping on a plane and heading back out west for their annual California swing that begins on Saturday. Tonight the Boston Bruins come to town as leaders of the Atlantic division and owners of the fourth best record in the NHL at the moment. It will be another difficult test for the Penguins team who continues to drop in the standings as the losses begin to pile up.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Sportsnet
Pittsburgh.
Pens Points…
A little over a month into the season and the direction of the 2026-27 Penguins is becoming a little more clear each passing game. While no one wants to suffer through a bad season with losses piling up, big picture wise it might be the best route they could take. [Pensburgh]
Down on the farm, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continue their up and down start to the season by splitting a weekend pair of games with Utica and Hershey. It should have been a clean sweep, but a blown 3-1 cost them in their matchup with the Comets. [Pensburgh]
You can’t qualify or eliminate yourself from playoff contention this early in the season, but you can dig a hole too difficult to escape from down the line. As the Penguins continue to slide down the standings, that hole gets a bit bigger after every game they drop. [PPG]
Tuesday’s loss to the Golden Knights put the spotlight on the power play struggles in a major way, especially after coming up empty on a late 5-on-3 advantage. Despite constant tweaks to the power play units, there is still much work to be done to get it where it needs to be. [Trib Live]
Another glaring issue for the Penguins as of late has been the play of defenseman Declan Carlile. While fans lobby for him to get replaced in the lineup, head coach Dan Muse offered support to his beleaguered blue liner. [Trib Live]
NHL News and Notes…
After a contentious standoff ended with Connor Hellebyuck being dealt away from the Winnipeg Jets as he requested, the goaltender posted a lengthy goodbye to the city he called home his entire NHL career and thanked the Jets fans for all their support over the years. [NHL]
