Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Muse admitted to being tired of the same old refrain — and for good reason.
Fresh off seeing his team squander a third-period lead for the fourth time in five games, Muse hopes the Penguins change the narrative on Tuesday when they host familiar face Tristan Jarry and the Edmonton Oilers.
In the finale of its season-high five-game homestand, Pittsburgh will welcome goaltender Stuart Skinner and defenseman Brett Kulak. The pair, who were acquired in Friday’s blockbuster deal that sent Jarry to the Oilers, were delayed in joining the team due to immigration issues but will make their Penguins debuts Tuesday against their former team.
The last two setbacks have been particularly painful for Muse.
Pittsburgh’s first-year head coach saw his team let a four-goal lead go by the boards in a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. He then witnessed his club fail to hold a three-goal advantage in a 5-4 overtime setback to the Utah Mammoth on Sunday.
“First of all, not in a million years did I think we’d be back here 24 hours later having the exact same conversation,” Muse said on Sunday after his team’s fifth straight loss (0-1-4). “Probably sound like a broken record.
“… I’ve never seen something where it just feels like it’s the same thing coming in different ways. We aren’t closing, and we have to learn how to close games.”
Penguins superstar captain Sidney Crosby echoed a similar sentiment.
“We’ve done enough to win games and just haven’t closed it out,” Crosby said. “We just need some plays that are going to do that. Those can be a lot of different things. But we got to get through a game here where we have a lead and close it out.”
With 1,721 points (644 goals, 1,077 assists), Crosby enters Tuesday two points shy of Mario Lemieux’s club record point total (1,723 points; 690 goals, 1,033 assists).
Justin Brazeau bookended the Penguins’ scoring on Sunday, Ben Kindel collected a goal and two assists and Bryan Rust also scored.
Jarry fared well in his debut with his new team, making 25 saves in Edmonton’s 6-3 road victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
The netminder is well aware of the quick turnaround when he returns to the Steel City.
“It’s special being able to play with Sid, Geno (Evgeni Malkin), Tanger (Kris Letang), Karl (Erik Karlsson), all those guys,” Jarry said. “They’re special players. They’re all Hall of Famers, and it’ll be cool to say that I was able to play a long time in my career with them. They’re great friends and consider all of them family now, and those were very tough goodbyes.
“It’s obviously going to be a lot of emotion. It’s still very fresh, and it’ll be weird to put on a different jersey in that rink.”
Jarry watched fellow goaltender Calvin Pickard yield four goals on 27 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
Leon Draisaitl was held off the scoresheet on Sunday to remain one point shy of 1,000 in his career.
Superstar captain Connor McDavid extended his point streak to six games (seven goals, nine assists) after setting up Zach Hyman’s power-play goal in the third period on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
