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Dan Muse addresses whether he would pull Arturs Silovs in the team's next shootout
Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
Penguins coach Dan Muse was asked whether he would pull Arturs Silovs in the next shootout due to his struggles, and the bench boss said absolutely not.
Offense remained hard to find for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend, and that issue once again persisted Tuesday night in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at PPG Paints Arena.
The Lightning earned the extra point on shootout goals from Gage Goncalves and Nikita Kucherov. Egor Chinakhov scored for Pittsburgh in the shootout, but Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby were both turned aside by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The loss followed two similarly low-scoring games for the Penguins, which included a 2-1 home defeat to the Calgary Flames on Saturday and a 1-0 road loss to the Boston Bruins the very next day.
What is causing the Penguins to lose games as of late
Across those three games, Pittsburgh managed only two goals during regulation play, which is simply not good enough.
The offensive challenge was worsened on Tuesday by the absence of Erik Karlsson. The All-Star defenseman was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury and will miss at least two weeks, according to Dan Muse.
Despite the loss, Arturs Silovs delivered a strong performance in net. He stopped 30 of 31 shots through regulation and overtime, with his record falling to 8-6-7.
In the shootout, Silovs struggled again, stopping one of three attempts, denying former Penguins forward Jake Guentzel.
Silovs' shootout struggles have drawn attention, as he has now allowed 11 goals on just 16 shootout attempts this season.
Why Dan Muse refuses to pull Arturs Silovs in the next shootout
Penguins head coach Dan Muse was asked whether that might lead to pulling him in future shootouts, and the bench boss made it clear he has absolutely no intention of doing so.
"No," Muse bluntly stated. "It's something that's very, very rarely been done. It has, but it's been very rare. He's been working at it. He's been getting better at it. As a team, we've been working at it. I do think there's been improvement. I understand it needs to be better.
"But I think that the idea of subbing out, I think that's something where you're now also putting that other goaltender in a really tough situation. I see the work that he's putting in every day to work on that, and I've seen that improvement. So, no."
- Dan Muse
"But I think that the idea of subbing out, I think that's something where you're now also putting that other goaltender in a really tough situation. I see the work that he's putting in every day to work on that, and I've seen that improvement. So, no."
- Dan Muse
The Lightning extended their winning streak to 11 games, which tied a franchise record.
While earning a point against one of the league's hottest teams carried some positives, the lack of offense remains a growing concern, especially with Karlsson sidelined for the next little while.
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| POLL | ||
JANVIER 14 | 69 ANSWERS Dan Muse addresses whether he would pull Arturs Silovs in the team's next shootout Should Dan Muse pull Arturs Silovs in the next shootout? | ||
| Yes | 44 | 63.8 % |
| No | 25 | 36.2 % |
| List of polls | ||