The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to carry the momentum of a successful three-game road trip into their return home to face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Penguins overcame a squandered two-goal lead in the third period to record a 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. Ben Kindel scored in regulation and added the lone goal of the shootout for Pittsburgh, which went 2-1-0 on the trip.
“We obviously want to be a little bit better closing out games, and we’re gonna try and do that,” Kindel said. “But I think it’s a testament to our group sticking with it, still getting that win. It’s big coming off the end of this road trip, taking two out of three back to Pittsburgh, and we’re just going to try and keep rolling here.”
Rookie Sergei Murashov earned First Star of the game honors after making 34 saves — including a point-blank stop on Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini — before stopping all three attempts in the shootout.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Penguins head coach Dan Muse said of the 22-year-old Murashov, who is 2-0-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his last two starts.
“… He’s a young guy in the league, and now to be on a road trip like this and be stacking a couple of games that way, it’s a good step for him.”
If Murashov gets the start Saturday, he’ll need to keep a close eye on Shane Pinto.
Pinto celebrated his 26th birthday by capping a two-goal, three-point performance with a goal at 2:08 of overtime, lifting the Senators to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. Ottawa surrendered the tying goal with 3:56 remaining in regulation.
“Just another good test,” Pinto said. “I think you know, obviously we didn’t have our best, but I still think we found a way.
“I think sometimes we would go down in games and maybe get a little, I don’t want to say discouraged, but I think this year we’ve been resilient a few times now. (We’re) finding ways to get goals at the late stages there and find a way to get to overtime, and yeah, thankfully we won.”
Pinto has nine goals, one shy of Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson for the team lead. Both players also scored Thursday for the Senators, who improved to 3-0-1 in their last four games.
Linus Ullmark made 26 saves in his return to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 21. The former Vezina Trophy winner had been sidelined by a lower-body injury.
Ullmark, 33, is 8-1-0 with a 1.52 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in nine starts.
Before the game, the Penguins will induct Marc-Andre Fleury, Larry Murphy, Jim Rutherford and the late Jack McGregor into the team’s Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
–Field Level Media
