It was all about age on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.

Goaltender Sergei Murashov, 21, made his much-hyped debut and played well. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ older players, however, finally looked their age after more than a month of outstanding hockey, and it led to the Los Angeles Kings’ 3-2 victory.

Murashov stopped 24 of 27 shots. The first goal allowed in his NHL career was unlucky more than anything, as Anze Kopitar flung a puck toward the net and Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon inadvertently redirected it past Murashov.

There was no shame in the other two goals that Murashov allowed, either. With the Penguins ahead 2-1 in the third period, Corey Perry blistered a shot that beat Murashov on an odd-man rush. Later in the period, Kevin Fiala burned Erik Karlsson and scored a sensational goal, finishing off the play by roofing a shot into the net.

ABSOLUTE BEAUTY pic.twitter.com/CKpuLDMecu

— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 9, 2025

The Penguins led twice in this game.

Evgeni Malkin set up Tommy Novak with a pretty backhand pass to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead.

Tommy turned 🆙 pic.twitter.com/lWjEuSiYRb

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 9, 2025

With the game even in the second period, the Penguins took the lead on Anthony Mantha’s power play tally. Mantha took a pretty feed from Kris Letang and finished off the give-and-go by beating Darcy Kuemper.

A PPG FOR PGH 🚨 pic.twitter.com/0do1DXDX63

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 9, 2025

The rest of the game, however, saw the Kings methodically take control.

This was probably at least partially attributable to the schedule. Los Angeles hadn’t played since Thursday night. The Penguins, meanwhile, not only played on Thursday night at home against Washington but also lost in a shootout against the Devils in New Jersey on Saturday.

Fatigue appeared to doom the Penguins in the final 30 minutes of this game.

Up next for the Penguins is an international voyage. The team will travel to Stockholm, Sweden on Monday morning. They’ll practice on Tuesday and Thursday before taking on the Nashville Predators on Friday and Sunday.

10 postgame observations 

• Like Marc-André Fleury long ago, Murashov began his NHL career with a loss on home ice against the Kings.

He wasn’t as brilliant as Fleury was in defeat in 2003, but he was pretty darn good. Murashov made a spectacular save while the Penguins were shorthanded in the second period, displaying his flexibility in denying Quinton Byfield.

SERGEI! pic.twitter.com/3vb4Zs3KZJ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 9, 2025

“I thought he played well,” Dan Muse said. “He had to come up with some big saves for us. That first (goal)’s kind of a weird bounce. I thought he played well. He gave us a chance. That’s what we need from our goaltenders.”

The rookie, no doubt, was feeling some nerves but he didn’t show it. Murashov’s rebound control was solid all game and honestly, I can’t find any fault in his game. He certainly played well enough to win.

This was a strong debut for Murashov, who figures to next see action in one of the two games in Sweden.

• Murashov’s personality and humility are going to make him very popular in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later. He’s got a poise and awareness about him that is very clear when you meet him.

Following the game, Murashov thanked the fans for showing up even though the Steelers play on Sunday. Really.

“The fans were really supportive of me,” he said. “I felt it. Truly, I appreciate it.”

The crowd at PPG Paints Arena was rabid for Murashov throughout the afternoon. He was very much aware of it, even as he lamented that he wasn’t able to deliver a victory.

• Murashov is such a kind soul that he even thanked his teammates for their efforts: “Huge thanks to my team,” he said. “It was (their) third game in fourth day. They were battling.”

That may well be true. It was evident, however, that the Penguins ran out of steam.

Sidney Crosby had one of his quietest games of the season, finishing with only one shot on goal. Bryan Rust played probably his worst game of the season; he didn’t register a point and was very cavalier with the puck. Karlsson was burned on the game-winning goal.

On Perry’s goal, Letang was trapped on the play initially and didn’t get back into the play quickly enough, and Malkin was slow getting back into the play.

• Monitoring the Penguins on the back end of back-to-back games is probably wise.

Last season, for reasons that defied explanation, the Penguins were actually good on the second games of back-to-backs, relatively speaking. They’ve only had two back-to-back sets so far this season, but the second half in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago produced one of the Penguins’ worst performances of the season. While they were quite good in the first 30 minutes against the Kings, they were horrible in the second 30 minutes and looked fatigued.

Muse didn’t blame the schedule for the loss but he saw some things he didn’t like.

“I think we got away from some of the defensive details that are important,” he said. “I’m not just going to look at goals. Look at the chances, what we gave up. I also think we need to do a better job of generating more five-on-five (offense). It’s both sides of it. We just didn’t get it done.”

Muse mentioned poor gap control and a lack of back pressure. Look no further than the Perry goal if you wish to see what he was referencing.

that’s 7 goals in 10 games for Corey Perry btw pic.twitter.com/EMSTUTj6BH

— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 9, 2025

• Speaking of fatigue, I was very surprised Muse didn’t use his timeout late in the third period when the Penguins pulled Murashov for an extra attacker. He opted against it because the Kings’ defensive pairing of Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson had been on the ice for around two minutes when icing was called, forcing them to stay on the ice.

I get the thinking. Only problem was, his best players had been on the ice for a while and looked absolutely gassed as well.

• I feel like Mantha’s work is going a bit under the radar right now. That’s eight goals already for the veteran. Kyle Dubas made a very wise move by signing Mantha, who fits in very nicely with this group and is playing high-level hockey.

• Ben Kindel was banged up by a Brandt Clarke hit late in the first period. He missed a bit of time after his head caromed into the boards but returned in the second period.

Given all of their injuries and how good he has been, the Penguins would be in a world of hurt without the rookie.

Brandt Clarke lays a hard hit on Benjamin Kindel.#GoKingsGo #LetsGoPens #PITvsLAK pic.twitter.com/t6GXmwVc0b

— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) November 9, 2025

 

• Speaking of which, the Penguins can’t afford much more in the way of injuries. Joona Koppanen has never done much for me and I didn’t think he was very good against the Kings. He was one of two Penguins forwards who didn’t register a shot on goal and he took a bad delay-of-game penalty.

Kevin Hayes played fine and he’s been noticeably more physical than what we saw last season. His lack of foot speed, though, is painfully evident.

• This felt like a scheduled loss. The Penguins never, ever play well against the Kings at home. It’s a bad matchup to begin with and they were going to be the more fatigued team. For what it’s worth, the Penguins were wonderful in the first period. They just didn’t have the juice to see things all the way through.

It wasn’t a great week for the Penguins, but it wasn’t a disaster and the schedule was nasty.

• Up next is the trip to Sweden, and it should be something to see. An NHL official told me last week that while hockey fans in Sweden are eager to see Swedish stars such as Karlsson, they’re particularly enthralled at the idea of seeing Crosby play in two games.

North American fans always get the pleasure of seeing Crosby play in person, but there are remarkable amounts of Penguins fans around the globe. To have the opportunity to see Crosby play in person before he retires is understandably a very big deal in Europe.

The Penguins haven’t played overseas in 17 years. That’s about to change. I’ll be on hand in Sweden to provide daily coverage.