Pittsburgh was kept off the scoresheet for a second straight game, after a 3-0 defeat to Ottawa on Thursday. While the Penguins generated more tonight compared to that contest against the Senators, Head Coach Dan Muse said they’ve got to find ways to capitalize.
“I think we got to find ways to keep working on it, to create better quality there in the offensive zone,” Muse said. “Even tonight, there were things left on the table. And then I think it's also just the execution of some of the chances that we did get. You go through a stretch like we've been going through, sometimes you start to grip the stick too tight. It doesn't work that way. And so, we'll look at it.”
Stuart Skinner, making his second start between the pipes for the Penguins after getting acquired in a big trade from Edmonton, was strong early. It could have been a much different game otherwise. Instead, Pittsburgh was only down by two after one.
“There were a couple of sequences in shifts that you really saw just the way he competes, and he battles,” said Muse, who added that the Penguins were surrendering too much at that point in the game.
“The first one there, I think we're trying to do the right thing,” Muse said. “It's a loose puck battle on a penalty kill, and it ends up being a shot in the slot that's a high-quality shot. The second one, we got a little bit tied up there in the neutral zone there with one of our D and we let them get a shot from that area. Like, we don't want to be giving those up.”
Skinner said as the game went on, the group started to take over. Particularly in the final frame, where they outshot Montreal 17-6 before the Canadiens got an empty-netter.
“Really like how we responded, especially being down three going into the third,” Skinner said. “How the guys came out was impressive.”
