SEATTLE — Another game, another loss, another injury. And, the way things are tracking, another lost season.
Any hope the Pittsburgh Penguins had for reaching the postseason following their hot streak before the holiday break has nearly been extinguished as they endured yet another blow in a 4-1 loss against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday afternoon. Their Western swing started with an impressive win in Los Angeles, but the Penguins have since been outscored 9-2 by the lowly Anaheim Ducks and Kraken.
Sidney Crosby scored the Penguins’ only goal but a series of defensive breakdowns in front of Joel Blomqvist very much decided the outcome early in the third period.
The Penguins have drifted to 14th in the Eastern Conference standings despite playing more games (51) than any team in the East other than the Boston Bruins.
“Not a good feeling,” Kris Letang said.
Making matters worse for the Penguins was the departure of Evgeni Malkin.
One game after losing Bryan Rust with a lower-body injury — Rust didn’t play against Seattle — Malkin was injured midway through the first period. He returned for a shift after injuring his left knee but immediately returned to the locker room.
Mike Sullivan offered no update on Malkin’s condition following the game.
The Penguins utterly dominated the second period but two Letang gaffes helped Seattle take a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes.
After a fairly forgettable first period ended scoreless, the Penguins came out storming in the second period. After a dominant Penguins shift, a Letang turnover led to a Seattle odd-man rush and Oliver Bjorkstrand’s goal.
GOOD GUY OLIVER BJORKSTRAND! pic.twitter.com/FBugXvw3IB
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 25, 2025
“I just misplayed the puck at the wrong time,” Letang said.
Crosby scored off a Rickard Rakell feed from the slot, giving the Penguins some much-needed life.
The captain doing captain things 💪 pic.twitter.com/ZU9mlJ6QJB
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2025
Letang’s miserable second period was just getting started, however.
With Cody Glass already in the penalty box, Letang was assessed a cross-checking penalty, forcing the Penguins to kill a two-man advantage for the better part of two minutes.
Vince Dunn made them pay.
GOT A PPG FOR DUNNER!!! pic.twitter.com/Mdp46Sj5O0
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 25, 2025
Letang was not happy about the penalty call.
“I see every game the way defensemen play Sid and Geno (Malkin),” Letang said. “They play them really hard, just like what I did. I was really surprised that they called that.”
If the first two Seattle goals were largely the result of Letang’s mistakes, the final two were simply an example of the Penguins’ baffling inability to play sound, positional hockey in the defensive zone.
Eeli Tolvanen made it 3-1 Seattle early in the third period thanks to some defensive incompetence.
this whole sequence was BEAUTIFUL to watch 😍 pic.twitter.com/d9yfzYBRE4
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 25, 2025
Michael Bunting and Erik Karlsson went into the corner together, following the puck. Simultaneously, Matt Grzelcyk went behind the net instead of stopping at the vacant net front.
Everything about the play was awful from the Penguins’ perspective.
“We can’t give up easy offense,” Drew O’Connor said. “We did that way too much today.”
Matty Beniers put the Penguins away, taking advantage of a Karlsson turnover to give Seattle a 4-1 lead.
matty with that ICE COLD finish 🥶 pic.twitter.com/NmoCsvJWDb
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 25, 2025
“It’s real frustrating,” Sullivan said. “I thought, for the majority of the game, we carried the play. But you can’t hand teams easy offense like we did. It’s just too easy. It’s just too easy.”
Ten postgame observations
• Malkin was injured midway through the first period on an awkward-looking play.
Evgeni Malkin’s knee bends awkwardly on this collision with Stephenson. pic.twitter.com/3dd3P4pUZH
— SasquatchNHL (@SasquatchNHL) January 25, 2025
Malkin stuck his leg out toward Chandler Stephenson, who was carrying the puck. It was Malkin who absorbed the worst of the meeting, his left knee bending in a concerning fashion.
The 38-year-old Malkin appeared stunned on the ice for a moment before going to the bench. He stretched his left leg for about 30 seconds on the bench before exiting for the locker room.
About five minutes later, Malkin returned for one shift. He didn’t skate fluidly on that shift and went directly to the locker room without even sitting on the bench.
The Penguins announced a few minutes later that Malkin was done for the day.
I asked Sullivan if he had an inkling of how serious the injury was, but he said he was unsure.
While Malkin is not producing anywhere close to his past exploits, the Penguins are a much lesser team without him. Malkin and Rust being out of the lineup for any period is a major problem for a team that has enough of those already.
• In something of a surprise, the Penguins announced before the game that they had sent Owen Pickering back to Wilkes-Barre and recalled Bokondji Imama.
It’s my understanding that the organization’s beliefs are in line with what Sullivan has said about the situation. The Penguins like Pickering a lot, but they want him to get some more work in at the AHL level. They feel like his game has fallen off recently (it has) and want him to play heavy, dominant minutes in Wilkes-Barre.
Logistics played a role, too. The Penguins needed to recall a forward because Rust remained out and Blake Lizotte was too ill to play. Pickering didn’t have to clear waivers to depart for Wilkes-Barre.
Add it all up, and that’s why he went down. Some of this is a philosophical issue. Do young defensemen learn anything at the AHL level once they’ve been promoted? Or, can some time in the minor leagues be helpful? Every player is different, but this is the direction the Penguins are going.
I’d expect Pickering to return to Pittsburgh soon. This is a player that everyone in the organization likes quite a bit.
• I liked what Imama brought to the table in his first game with the Penguins. He has a physical presence about him and was taking runs at Kraken defensemen early and often. The Penguins haven’t had a presence like that in a while.
Imama wasn’t on the ice for a goal against and his line helped draw the Penguins’ only two power-play opportunities.
“I thought he brought a ton of energy for us,” Sullivan said.
• Letang had been playing pretty well before this road trip, but that’s two really bad games in a row for him.
Nothing went right for Letang in this game. He found himself back on the top power play because of Rust’s injury, but that unit went 0 for 3. Crosby set him up for a good look in the third period but he fanned on it.
And, of course, his two second-period blunders went a long way toward the Penguins losing this game.
Letang has done some good things this season and, as of late, has been pretty good. But it’s hard to ignore how much he struggled in these past two games. It’s also hard to ignore that his greatest physical attribute — his powerful, brilliant skating ability — is starting to show the initial signs of erosion. Yes, he remains one of the NHL’s better skaters. But he doesn’t pull away from the pack anymore, not the way he once did.
• Blomqvist was pretty good in this game. The goals he allowed came on two odd-man rushes, a five-on-three power play and a grotesquely played sequence in the defensive zone. Not one was a bad goal.
Honestly, it’s hard to judge a goaltender on a day like this because he never really had a chance on any of those goals. But I thought he was perfectly fine, all things considered.
• Even though they didn’t score, I saw some things I liked in the O’Connor-Kevin Hayes–Philip Tomasino line.
It’s an interesting unit because all three players are so different stylistically.
The Penguins need to get some offense from someone in the bottom six.
“We did some good things but we didn’t score,” O’Connor said. “And that’s what we need to do.”
• Pierre-Olivier Joseph was a healthy scratch, as he and Pickering were replaced in the lineup by Ryan Shea and Ryan Graves.
Shea and Graves were fine. Nothing special, but solid enough.
The Penguins were not happy with Joseph’s game against Anaheim, to put it kindly.
• I thought Rakell was the Penguins’ best player. He played a really hard, physical game and created a lot of offense.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. His entire season has been fantastic.
• I had a chance to speak briefly with Dan Bylsma following the game. He’s enjoying life in Seattle but still has a soft spot for many people in the Penguins’ organization. It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 10 years since he was dismissed as Penguins coach.
He will always be an important figure in team history.
• The Penguins have a day off tomorrow before playing in San Jose on Monday.
A loss against the Sharks would give the Penguins three straight losses against teams that aren’t going to make the playoffs.
I’d say the season is on the line on Monday, but the truth is, the Penguins would need to go something like 20-7-4 to make the playoffs. That’s simply not happening. This is a truly flawed hockey team.
(Photo of Joey Daccord clearing the puck against Evgeni Malkin: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
