Penguins give away another game in the third, end disappointing homestand with loss to Kraken

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 14, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — The Penguins on Tuesday ended their homestand with another frustrating defeat.

Despite Evgeni Malkin’s return, the Penguins could not pull away from the visiting Seattle Kraken and lost, 4-2, after blowing a third-period lead at PPG Paints Arena.

They dropped four of their five games on the homestand, including the last three.

Similar to Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay, the Penguins dominated their opponent but let the game slip away in the third period. The Kraken scored two goals 50 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead on the Penguins, who had a 30-11 edge in shots right before the game turned. Jamie Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen scored those goals for Seattle.

The Penguins outshot the Kraken 16-2 in the first period. But they were forced to play from behind again after Tristan Jarry allowed yet another early goal — and a soft one at that. Chandler Stephenson scored on Seattle’s second shot of the game. It was a short-handed wrister from the right circle that dribbled through the goalie.

Philip Tomasino tied it up midway through the period when he whacked in a loose puck sitting in the blue paint. That was just the winger’s second goal since Dec. 10.

Bryan Rust made it 2-1 in the second period. The Penguins pulled Jarry for an extra attacker with a delayed penalty following Adam Larsson’s cross-check into Sidney Crosby’s back, and Erik Karlsson made a nice pass to put one on a platter for Rust.

Crosby was down the tunnel when he heard the crowd roar for Rust’s latest goal.

But the struggling Penguins were unable to pad their lead due to a combination of poor finishing, with a few open cages missed, plus several difficult saves made by Seattle’s Joey Daccord. And the Kraken buried those two quick goals to stun them.

Kaapo Kakko scored an empty-netter to put the game out of the Penguins’ reach.

Ice chips

— Malkin returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. He logged 18:30 of ice time and got the secondary assist on Rust’s goal in the second period. To make room for Malkin on their roster, the Penguins reassigned winger Jesse Puljujarvi to their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

— Michael Bunting was also back in the lineup after missing Sunday’s loss to Ottawa because he was in a car accident prior to the game. With Malkin and Bunting in the lineup, Matt Nieto became a healthy scratch. So were Ryan Graves and Ryan Shea.

— The Penguins collectively took a beating in this game. Cody Glass spent some time in the dressing room after a check by Oleksiak. Rookie Owen Pickering got up slowly after he was hammered into the glass by Tolvanen. Crosby briefly went down the tunnel after that hit by Larsson. And that was just in the first 25 minutes.

— The Penguins have allowed a short-handed goal in two of their last three games.

— Pittsburgh won the majority of the faceoffs, including all 13 in the second period.

Coming up

The Penguins are scheduled to practice on Wednesday and Thursday. Their seven-game road trip will begin on Friday when they visit the Buffalo Sabres.