It sure didn’t start here. No chance.

Yeah, Arturs Silovs was abysmal tonight in the Penguins’ 7-2 mauling by the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena, pulled after giving up four goals on the first 10 shots he’d face.

And yeah, Silovs was just as bad in his previous start, another blowout loss to the Wild, pulled after — a-hem — giving up four goals on the first 10 shots he’d face.

And yeah, that’s eight goals on 20 shots over his past two starts, a tough ratio to achieve even if one were to be strapped up to the posts and left to perish.

And yeah, one of the Toronto goals looked like this:

SPORTSNET PITTSBURGH

Uh-huh. There’s committing to William Nylander atop the slot, and then there’s selling one’s soul to a shot that’d never be taken.

And another Toronto goal, Silovs’ last, looked like this:

SPORTSNET PITTSBURGH

Uh-huh. There’s getting scorched by an Auston Matthews top-shelf special, and then there’s leaking a Dakota Joshua turnaround that never leaves the ice.

Seen enough?

I know I have. But I’d begun seeing enough way back before Silovs’ statistics started reflecting the reality that … hey, maybe the old goalkeeper Jim Rutherford and the Canucks knew what they were doing when they gleefully gave him up even after he’d been named Calder Cup playoff MVP for Vancouver’s AHL affiliate.

Rewind all the way back to the Oct. 8 opener in Manhattan. The 3-0 shutout of the Rangers in which the Penguins ran the rink, and Silovs, to his credit, rejected all 25 New York shots. Even within that, I saw an eye-popping lack of rebound control, a near-complete inability and/or unwillingness to play the puck anywhere outside his crease and a general … I don’t know, just a mess of awkward motion. Not at all NHL-caliber.

As I wrote from the Garden, Silovs’ rebound control was ‘borderline self-defeating through the first period and change’ and his overall performance was, ‘I genuinely don’t know what to think and likely won’t for a while, though I’m in zero position to argue with the number zero.’

Again, that was after a shutout.

This isn’t: He’s 4-4-4 with an .898 save percentage and a 3.00 goals-against average. He’s won once in his past eight starts. He’s made one save in his past eight shootout attempts. And maybe more significant than any of that, there’s been no discernible improvement in any of the aforementioned non-statistical shortcomings … except that rebounds aren’t as much of an issue since he’s no longer making even the first save.

I’m not here to bury him, I swear. Maybe there’s a bright future, here or elsewhere. He won’t turn 25 until March, and he’s appeared in only 32 NHL games.

But I’m plenty comfortable putting this forth: Tristan Jarry’s a hell of a lot better, and Sergei Murashov’s going to be the same, sooner rather than later.

Kyle Dubas loses nothing by going with his two best, one vet and one rookie sharing the crease. If Jarry continues to excel as he has — meaning in Pittsburgh, not Montréal, Edmonton or wherever — that’s a big plus for the Penguins in having someone of his experience partnering with Murashov. And if Murashov were to suddenly soar here, so much the better. That turns what’s already a position of strength into one that endures far into the future. 

Similarly, the Penguins as an organization lose nothing by going with their two best. That applies to both of the concurrent parallel tracks, meaning the competitive one because the team would have a better chance of succeeding, as well as the developmental one because Murashov wouldn’t be held back and because even the youngest players benefit from being part of real, live hockey games … not that one we all just saw.

Put it another way: Murashov’s made nine AHL starts, and he’s got a .934 save percentage and 1.70 goals-against average. He’s yet to give up more than three goals in any game. And spanning 25 games over two seasons, those figures are .920 and 2.31.

What’s the next objective down there?

To have a statue carved?

To wait and see if Silovs’ career .887 save percentage in the NHL is the fluke or those couple of fun nights in October?

Listen, the future’s coming faster than most might’ve expected. Best to keep pace.

• Most predictably, nobody would speak about Silovs being bad. That runs counter to the hockey culture in which goaltenders are never to blame. When Dan Muse was asked why he pulled Silovs again, he’d begin by bemoaning chances allowed that were “too loud,” then assessing: “Artie’s been … yes, I understand the last two games, I’ve made that decision to make a change. But he’s been really good this year, and you gotta go back to that.”

Nah. Not if he’s third — or a distant third — on the organizational depth chart.

• That said, Muse was completely correct in adding, “We also have to be better in front of him. … I think a lot of what you saw there, a lot of that was preventable. We need to be tighter. We can make it harder. It was too easy for them on most of those goals they had early on.” It was. But it’s not anything that’d supersede a goaltender stopping scarcely half the shots.

• So, what’d Silovs think of all this? Nobody knows. He became the first Pittsburgh goaltender in recent memory to reject being interviewed after a game in which he played.

• Hated seeing Jarry go back out for the third period. He didn’t make this mess and, with the score 5-1 at the second intermission, there was a tidy opportunity to send Silovs back for his own mop-up. Instead of risking injury to Jarry over a meaningless 20 minutes, never mind that he’s got to start Monday in Philadelphia.

• It’s terrible that the Penguins, now 12-7-5, are tied for fewest regulation losses in the East … and two of those are to this Toronto team that’s a point out of the conference basement.

• For the it’s-never-on-the-goaltending crowd, the Penguins logged 86 shot attempts to the Maple Leafs’ 44, a staggering 66.15%. Make a save. Make that momentum count.

• Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Mantha have shared a line since the start of camp. And over that span, I’d say Geno’s out-efforting Mantha by a 2-to-1 ratio all along, by maybe a 71-to-1 ratio in this game alone. That’s not OK. One’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and the other’s … not nearly relevant enough to go for a three-hour glide.

• Too many passengers, in general, of late. It’s wonderful to come up with a competition concept for camp, doubly so to stress it extending into the season. But if it doesn’t come with teeth, it’s irrelevant. Between Mantha, Danton Heinen (zero goals in nine games), Ville Koivunen (zero goals in 14 games) and Joona Koppanen (zero goals in 10 games), that’s an awful lot of goose-eggs getting regular shifts up front.

• Wait, Tristan Broz was really promoted to the NHL only to be a healthy scratch for what should’ve been his second and third games? Sully, that you?

• Rutger McGroarty’s first five games, all in Wilkes-Barre as he returns from injury, have brought four goals and three assists. I’m no doctor, but I’d have him waiting in Philadelphia.

• How odd is it, I’m often thinking, that I watch Ben Kindel and think of all the good things the rest of the Penguins could learn from him, rather than vice versa?

• Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist. He’s got 16 goals, fourth-most in the NHL, and 641 for his career, now in sole possession of 15th on the all-time list to pass Dave Andreychuk. He’s also got 1,714 points, now 11 shy of you-know-who on the franchise list.

• Thanks for reading my hockey stuff. Back to football, back across the river Sunday afternoon.