PITTSBURGH — Dan Muse has been a godsend for the Pittsburgh Penguins and is a no-doubt candidate for the Jack Adams Award. That doesn’t excuse the mistake he made on Tuesday.
With the Penguins protecting a one-goal lead, Muse’s team was awarded a power play with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, setting up a faceoff in the offensive zone. Instead of adopting a defensive posture in a situation that very much called for it, he sent his two most offensive-minded defensemen — Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang — over the boards, despite the fact they don’t regularly play together.
The decision blew up in Muse’s face in what ultimately became a 4-3 shootout win for the visiting Anaheim Ducks.
For the Penguins, it was one point that should have been two and it came in the form of a terrible, stunning unforced error.
Sidney Crosby won the draw in Anaheim territory but the Ducks quickly collected the puck. Crosby and Tommy Novak didn’t offer much resistance, allowing the shorthanded Ducks to escape the zone.
Beckett Sennecke, Anaheim’s 19-year-old forward, skated down the left wing with only a few seconds remaining. He maneuvered around Bryan Rust, who still wisely kept him to the outside. Letang, however, attempted to strip Sennecke of the puck. All Letang had to do was take the body, which is the defenseman’s responsibility in that situation, and the game was over. Instead, he went for the puck and whiffed badly, allowing Sennecke a lane toward the net.
Karlsson then went down on the play, and Sennecke threw the puck toward the net. The puck caromed off of Karlsson’s glove and clearly crossed the goal line with 0.1 of a second remaining.
🚨SENNECKE BEATS THE BUZZER!! 🚨
We tie the game with under 1 second left!#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/CMYCB7T22J
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 10, 2025
Here was Muse’s explanation for his lineup decision on that play.
“Both of those defensemen are out there on every situation,” he said. “They’re out there in five-on-six (situations). They’re both guys that are used in defensive situations as well. You get into a situation like that, you have possession, you know pressure is going to be coming. It’s a key possession. The goalie doesn’t come out of the net. It didn’t happen. We tried to make a play there. It ends up going in. They pull the goalie. They get the space to get it to the net. It can’t happen. The question as for who is out on the ice, that’s it. The line that was out there was the same line that was out there for a chunk of the five-on-six as well.”
The Penguins’ locker room was stunned into silence following this one.
“I’ve got to watch it,” Karlsson said of the play. “I was obviously on the ice. It hit my hand and went in. There was no question about it. How it came to be that way, I really don’t know. I haven’t watched it. But it’s definitely something that should not happen. Seventeen seconds left, up a goal and on the power play, we win the face-off — and they score a goal.”
The Penguins had taken a late lead on Anthony Mantha’s power-play goal after out-shooting the Ducks by a 47-28 margin.
The Penguins had a four-on-three power play for 1:47 in overtime but failed to score, despite Crosby coming inches from ending the game. Crosby later set up Connor Dewar, who faced a wide-open cage only to clang the puck off the post.
When the game went to a shootout, it was a foregone conclusion that Anaheim would win. Dating to last season, the Penguins have lost 11 of their past 12 shootouts.
10 postgame observations
• Muse’s explanation and having puck possession players like Karlsson and Letang on the ice in that situation to theoretically help chew up time are understandable. But I still utterly disagree with his thinking. Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea have been, without question, the Penguins’ best two defensive defensemen. One of them absolutely needs to be on the ice in that situation. Letang and Karlsson have not played well in their limited minutes together and can be a hand grenade waiting to go off in the defensive zone.
I also didn’t love Novak being on the ice in that spot. He’s been very good lately, but he’s not a great defensive player. Crosby and Rust on the ice was reasonable and makes sense. I’d have put Dewar or Noel Acciari on the ice with them. That’s what those guys are paid to do, to play like adults in situations such as that.
Muse did something very similar in the home opener against the New York Islanders, putting his top power play on the ice with 15 seconds left in the offensive zone. The Islanders came inches from tying it.
• Karlsson has been great this season. The real problem on that goal was Letang. All he had to do is take the man. Instead, he tried to strip the puck, which is always what he tries to do while defending two-on-ones instead of simply taking away the passing lane. This is why he shouldn’t have been on the ice. He displayed a total lack of understanding of the situation.
No Penguin has been responsible for more goals against than Letang this season, and by a wide margin. Under no circumstances should he have been on the ice.
• The Penguins have blown a third-period lead in their last three games and seven of their past 14. That’s an almost unimaginable number.
Many fans on social media are disgruntled about their performances in shootouts, and we’ll get to that, but this is the far bigger problem. Shootouts are gimmicky and while they are important because those points are real, they wouldn’t be an issue all that often if this team were remotely capable of protecting late leads. That’s how you miss out on the playoffs.
• For what it’s worth, the Penguins took it to the Ducks most of the evening. With the exception of the final 10 minutes of the second period, they were clearly the better team in this game.
• Arturs Silovs took a step in this game and he wasn’t perfect but was much better against one of the NHL’s more potent offensive teams after being yanked from his previous two outings.
• Crosby has never been more lacking in confidence or imagination than in recent shootout attempts. He swings out wide to the left, slowly skates toward the goaltender and shoots a wrist shot glove side almost every time. It’s getting predictable and it’s not working.
Ville Koivunen’s line with Rutger McGroarty and Ben Kindel played well against the Ducks. (Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
• The Ben Kindel-Rutger McGroarty-Ville Koivunen line was by far the Penguins’ best. That trio was outstanding and needs to stay together.
• Evgeni Malkin is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. This is a problem. The good news is Malkin probably isn’t at his best when he plays in 82 games, given he’s 39. Maybe some time off will help down the road.
• Blake Lizotte is also “week-to-week” and the Penguins missed him in a game like this.
• I can’t get over how the Penguins lost this game. It’s beyond baffling and I’d be concerned that there could be a psychological impact. This is the kind of loss that can trigger a losing streak.
The head coach has done a masterful job this season. This was his first bad night behind the bench.