The Pittsburgh Penguins did not have things go their way against the two finalists for the 2004 Stanley Cup. This time it was the Calgary Flames beating the Penguins 4-0. Just like the game against Tampa the score looked worse than how things actually were. Pittsburgh started off poorly and the Flames made them pay with it when Johnny Gaudreau scored. The rest of the game Pittsburgh was decent, but with no results.
The Flames got some quality open looks on DeSmith on a few of the goals, but it was a night where he would probably like a few of them back. Jakob Markstrom was awesome stopping all 45 shots the Penguins threw at him. Just a really great performance. This game could have easily gone another way. Markstrom is a .952 goalie through 5 games played so far this year. Last night was his second shutout.
While the Penguins have not failed to earn a point in two games in a row being outscored 9-1, not all is bad. It really does look like they will be getting two of their top centers back in the near future if you go by the lines at practice.
Both Crosby and Carter are taking part in line rushes. Workflow:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 29, 2021
Guentzel-Crosby-Rodrigues
Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
Aston-Reese—Blueger-McGinn
O’Connor-Boyle-Heinen
(Simon)
Dumoulin-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
Pettersson-Riikola
Lafferty filled in on D alongside Friedman.
You know things are getting close when the top power play minutes in practice also include Crosby and Carter
And now Crosby and Carter are both practicing on the first power-play unit 😠along with Kapanen, Guentzel and Marino.
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 29, 2021
The second unit is Matheson, Riikola, Zucker, Heinen and Rodrigues.
Slowly, but surely reinforcements seem to be on the way. Kris Letang (COVID) and Bryan Rust (lower body injury) remain sidelined with their return dates not imminent.
The Devils are up next on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll see Sidney Crosby at last.
Thanks for reading!