{"id":522191,"date":"2026-03-25T15:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/522191\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:35:20","slug":"penguins-goaltending-could-cost-them-a-playoff-berth-the-hockey-writers-pittsburgh-penguins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/522191\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins\u2019 Goaltending Could Cost Them a Playoff Berth – The Hockey Writers – Pittsburgh Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is hard not to be worried if you\u2019re a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. After being soundly beaten by the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>, the Penguins have lost three of four and four of their last seven games. With the competition for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as tight as can be, one loss here or there can swing things.<\/p>\n

One of the most glaring issues facing the Penguins right now is their goaltending. The narrative is that the Penguins are collectively playing above board, but perhaps the most important position they have could be the reason they don\u2019t make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Silovs\/Stuart Tandem Not Working<\/p>\n

The Penguins have been fortunate enough to have others step up<\/a>, part of the reason they are in a playoff spot currently. And the trade that landed Stuart Skinner<\/a> makes all the sense in the world in both the short- and long-term, especially with how Tristan Jarry has performed for the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

Related: Penguins at a Crossroads with Stuart Skinner: Re-Sign Him or Move On<\/a><\/p>\n

Team defense has been anything but sterling (more on that below), but the duo of Arturs Silovs<\/a> and Stuart Skinner<\/a> has not played well. The Penguins are just 20th in team save percentage at .890; not the worst but just bad enough that it could wind up being costly.<\/p>\n

Neither Silovs nor Skinner has been awful but both have been decidedly average. Silovs sports a 2.99 goals against average and .891 save percentage while Skinner has a slightly better goals against average (2.94) but a slightly worse save percentage (.887).<\/p>\n

Not having a reliable option could be the Achilles heel of the Penguins. When a goal here or there could possibly mean the difference between a critical two points and nothing, the Penguins don\u2019t have a dependable choice to turn to.<\/p>\n

Team Defense Isn\u2019t Helping<\/p>\n

It is hard to put everything on the goaltenders. The Penguins have been skidding at the wrong time, but it isn\u2019t entirely on the goaltending. In 10 of their last 11 games, they have given up more than three goals. The Penguins offense has been great but that\u2019s a lot to ask on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n

Head Coach Dan Muse said recently that there\u2019s \u201ctoo much noise<\/a>,\u201d alluding to all of the high-danger chances and shots that the team has been allowing of late. You can get away with it when you are a team like the Buffalo Sabres, who have been getting exceptional goaltending. You can\u2019t when the results aren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

\"KyleWinnipeg Jets left wing Kyle Connor scores a goal on a penalty shot against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The team could help both Silovs and Skinner by being a bit more conservative. The Penguins are seventh in the NHL in goals per game at 3.39 per contest. Maybe taking a few less chances could help solve some of the biggest issues the goaltending tandem is facing. After all, the Penguins give up the 12th-most high-danger chances and only the teams with great goaltending \u2013 Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken, Minnesota Wild \u2013 are in a playoff position yet above the Penguins in this category.<\/p>\n

It is Already Crunch Time<\/p>\n

For all intents and purposes, the Pittsburgh Penguins are already playing playoff hockey. With just two points separating them and the 10th-place Detroit Red Wings, the margin for error is razor thin at this stage.<\/p>\n

A flubbed shot or weak goal could quite literally mean the difference between making the playoffs and missing out. The Penguins need to be better around their goaltenders, but clearly need more out of their duo than what they have been getting.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is hard not to be worried if you\u2019re a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. After being soundly beaten by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[8659,5,4,118,1469,100,5216,157],"class_list":{"0":"post-522191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-arturs-silovs","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-penguins","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","14":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","15":"tag-stuart-skinner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116290558404747161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}