Heading into Saturday’s matchup with Ottawa, the Penguins hoped to build on the momentum from a successful California road swing, where they took two of three wins and came together as a team with some off-ice bonding.
And not only was the team back at home for the first time in a while, but it was also the Penguins’ annual Hall of Fame Game. There was a pregame ceremony to induct the Class of 2026, headlined by a standing ovation for beloved franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
They did get off to a strong start, opening the scoring. But the Senators had the better of the play in the second half of the game, and earned a 4-1 win.
"I think we felt pretty good about the way we played for a good chunk of that road trip. But this was a different team that we played in comparison to those three games on that trip,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “It was a little bit more wide open. I think this was a tighter game, a little more physical, and we have to be able to produce chances in that type of game. They just played better, you know? That's basically what it comes down to.”
The Penguins generated some early chances against a defensively stout and patient Senators team backstopped by Linus Ullmark, a former Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goalie. They seemed to get rewarded early, with a puck deflecting off Tommy Novak and in. But the Senators successfully challenged for offside.
Novak found one that counted in the final seconds of the period, with his linemates helping to set up the play. First, Ben Kindel fed the puck to Egor Chinakhov, who did a tremendous job of catching it in stride with coverage. And while Chinakhov, who hit a post earlier in the period, has the best shot on the team, he opted to set up Novak, who redirected the pass top shelf.
“If you go through the game, I thought the first period. I walked out that first pretty happy with things. Not just the goal at the end of the period, but the period as a whole,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “I think that's kind of the way you need to play against a team like this.
“And then I thought the beginning of the second, it was there, and then I thought we got away from it in the back half of the second. I think we got stubborn with it. Like some of the things that were working in the first period, we didn't stay with it long enough.”
The Penguins couldn’t find another goal, while the Senators got two. Both came off turnovers: one in the defensive zone at the 8:41 mark and one in the offensive zone at the 16:12 mark. As Muse has said, it’s a game of mistakes, and if one happens, it’s about not compounding it afterward.
“I thought we had an opportunity there at that first one to maybe put some shifts together and build some momentum, and start to tilt the ice back our way, and I didn't think we did that,” Muse said. “I thought we actually ended up putting together some shifts that went the opposite of that, keeping momentum.”
It didn’t help that the power play also struggled to generate any momentum on three chances, one in the opening frame and two in the middle. The Senators made it difficult on the entries, which the Penguins expected. They also knew the Senators would be pressuring if they gained the zone.
“That’s where that puck support becomes really important,” Muse said. “I thought there were some opportunities tonight where we could have been working cleaner in order to get it set up, and get ourselves set up.”
That all being said, the Penguins were only down by one as the third period wore on. But at the 14:18 mark, a falling Tim Stützle managed to swing a shot on net and get it through Sergei Murashov before he could get properly set. It was a timely goal for Ottawa and a tough play for the rookie goalie, who made several excellent stops throughout the night.
“I thought he played well,” Muse said of Murashov, who earned the start after picking up his first two wins of the season out West. “I think it was a little bit of a tough bounce there on the last one, we'll go back and look at that. But I thought he came up with some big saves. He competes.”
The Penguins finished with just 17 shots on the night, while the Senators, who sealed the win with an empty netter, had 34. While that makes the game seem more lopsided than it was, the Penguins still had more they could have done to make it harder on Ullmark.
"I thought they did a good job of just protecting the front of the net, whether it be blocks or boxing out,” Crosby said. “We didn't get enough second and third opportunities from the pucks that we put in there. And that was probably the difference."
The Penguins don’t play again until Thursday against St. Louis, with three practices scheduled before that night. The coaching staff plans to make the most of it.
“We got four days here. We're going to evaluate some things and make some decisions going into this next game,” Muse said.
