After a lousy performance in a 3-2 loss to Ottawa on Monday night, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was asked about attempting to bounce back Tuesday in a key intradivisional game against the New York Islanders.
“It can’t get any worse, can it?”
No, Erik. No, it can’t.
From Karlsson to Sidney Crosby to, well, just about anyone else besides goaltender Arturs Silovs.
“It was flat. It was execution. Races. Battles,” head coach Dan Muse said. “Artie had a really strong game (28 saves). Our penalty kill did a really good job (5-for-5). Outside of that, there wasn’t much else I was walking away from liking.”
Agreed. And even Silovs got a bad break when the game-winning goal by Claude Giroux occurred after Giroux plowed into the goaltender.
Claude Giroux is awarded the goal after review. pic.twitter.com/baVtrWXFPa
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 3, 2026
The goal was waved off on the ice. Reviewed. Reversed to a goal. Challenged by Muse and then upheld for the Senators’ eventual game-winner.
“For me, it doesn’t make sense,” Silovs said. “He came in. I stopped the puck. Then he goes 25 miles (per hour) going down. What do they expect me to do?”
While Silovs deserved better on that call — and on the night overall — the rest of the team did not.
The Penguins could only muster 16 shots against an Ottawa team that specializes in suppressing shot totals. The Senators have yielded just 1,345, fewest in the league.
But this is still a squad with just 61 points, on the outside of the playoff bracket. They are 26th in the NHL when it comes to goals-against per game (3.28).
“Their D did a good job staying on top of us. They didn’t give us much room and created a lot of turnovers,” forward Rickard Rakell said. “We couldn’t get a good forecheck going with all five guys. They ended up breaking the puck out way too easily and spent a lot of time in our zone.”
That all may be true, but the Penguins were rotten without needing much help from the opposition.
“It was more our own fault today. I don’t think we played the game that we have been (over) the past six weeks. This was probably one of the very few games where we couldn’t seem to figure out how we wanted to play,” Karlsson said. “I don’t think anyone in here, myself included, feel very good about how we started and finished this game.”
More sports
• Pirates by Position: Paul Skenes anchors starting rotation expecting battle at back end
• Steelers expected to name Danny Crossman as special teams coach
• Former defensive back Jason Simmons among 8 Steelers coaching hires
At one point, Muse was asked if this game provided a wake-up call for the upstart Penguins. After winning six in a row, did this club need a slap in the face to remember it’s not talented enough to go on autopilot?
“We have to be better than this,” Muse said. “This is so far off the mark of where we have been playing and where we are working to get to.”
No such wake-up call should’ve been required.
Not after this group nearly blew a 5-1 third-period lead to the struggling New York Rangers on Saturday. Not for a club that was expected to miss the playoffs and may just be on a hot stretch.
This team should never need a wake-up call. It should wake up every morning on its own and thank its lucky stars the Metropolitan Division is soft enough that they are even capable of sniffing the playoffs 54 games into the season.
“We’ve got to look in the mirror in terms of the game that we played,” Muse added.
When the players do that, they won’t like what they see.
Maybe this is less about a wake-up call and more about a reality check.