Playing an exhausting schedule, the Penguins lost to Carolina for the third time in thirteen days, wrapping up their second straight weekend of back-to-back games.
Paul Steigerwald recaps Sunday’s loss.
Coach Dan Muse says the Penguins put themselves into a hole by giving up a power play goal in the first minute of the game.
Muse says the Penguins as a group were not good.
The Penguins were frustrated with the officials throughout the game but refused to comment much on it afterward. One of their biggest annoyances was the Hurricanes’ obvious dives, especially notorious flopper Taylor Hall, who finally drew an unsportsmanlike conduct for it, but far too late. The Pens’ Anthony Mantha finally had enough of it and roughed up Hall after his most obvious dive in the third period.
Ryan Graves started for the Pens on the blue line and drew that first penalty that started the Hurricanes’ scoring onslaught. He replaced Ryan Shea, who was out after suffering an apparent facial injury on Saturday against Winnipeg.
The Penguins also sent Ville Koivunen back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Pens have signed the second of their three number one draft choices from 2025. Forward Bill Zonnon’s contract will begin next season. The 19-year-old missed the start of this season with undisclosed injuries. He played junior hockey in Quebec when he got healthy and scored 14 goals with 32 assists in 35 games.
The other draft choices are Ben Kindel, who’s become a key member of the Penguins with 17 goals and 15 assists in 67 games this season, and Will Horcoff, who on Saturday scored a goal in Michigan’s 7-3 win over Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship Game. He scored 24 goals with 13 assists for the Wolverines in the regular season.
The Penguins and Avalanche face off shortly after 7 o’clock tomorrow night.
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