Dan Muse isn\u2019t a carbon copy of his predecessor as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Sullivan. But similarities do exist.<\/p>\n
Both hail from Boston, and each speak with accents rooted in the Bay State. And like Sullivan, Muse readily allows players to avoid the ice during optional morning skates for the sake of self-preservation.<\/p>\n
Another common trait? Neither will identify his starting goaltender before the day of a game.<\/p>\n
But through six contests of the Penguins season, one could logically conclude Arturs Silovs will be in net for Tuesday\u2019s home game against his former team, the Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n
At least that\u2019s what would be congruent with the platoon the team has developed less than two weeks into the 2025-26 campaign.<\/p>\n
Silovs and Tristan Jarry thus far have started every other game, and that division of labor has produced fairly strong results.<\/p>\n
A rookie with parts of three NHL seasons on his resume, Silovs has a 2-1-0 record, a 2.67 goals-against average, a .922 save percentage along with one shutout (which came in a 3-0 win against the New York Rangers in the season opener Oct. 7).<\/p>\n
As for Jarry, a 10-year veteran, his mark is 2-1-0, as well, along with a 2.35 goals-against average, a .922 save percentage and one shutout (which came in a 3-0 road win against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday).<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it\u2019s gone pretty well so far,\u201d Jarry said Monday in Cranberry. \u201cIt\u2019s been good, just pushing each other. It\u2019s really helped us manage workload. When you have both guys playing well, it really helps and it\u2019s been working well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Penguins didn\u2019t exactly enter the season with a platoon in mind. But it wasn\u2019t a happy accident either. It kind of happened organically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, we didn\u2019t go in there saying going into training camp we want to get into a spot where the goalies are to this point what you\u2019ve seen switching from game to game,\u201d Muse said. \u201cWe\u2019ve felt both guys deserved to be getting the opportunities that they\u2019ve been given. They\u2019ve continued to. We\u2019re still taking it looking at things every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assuming Tuesday is a day Silovs starts, he\u2019s eager to play against the team that selected him in the sixth round (No. 156 overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
In July, the Canucks were partially forced to trade him to the Penguins as a result of a logjam at the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fun to play for them,\u201d Silovs said. \u201cThey have a lot of great (resources) there. It was the move they had to make. If I play or not, I think it\u2019s going to be a fun challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Platoons in goal aren\u2019t anything new, especially to the Penguins. In recent years, Jarry largely split games to varying degrees with the likes Matt Murray, Casey DeSmith and Alex Nedeljkovic.<\/p>\n
But platooning in an orderly fashion of every other game is unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be ready for any given night,\u201d Jarry said. \u201cJust the way it\u2019s been going back and forth, you obviously know which game you\u2019re going to play a little bit before. (Silovs) has done a great job. So it\u2019s just been preparing for the games that I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The days of a starting goaltender being bolted into the crease for more than 70 games a season largely have gone the way of wooden sticks and goalies wearing cages (instead of masks). The reality is that two goaltenders \u2014 if not more \u2014 need to punch a time card regularly to get a team through an entire regular season, to say nothing of a successful playoff run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s load management,\u201d Silovs said. \u201cSplitting the games, I guess you\u2019re less prone to injury. (In) practice, you can do your things you need to prepare for the game. I think it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for their teammates, the difference between Jarry and Silovs has been minimal, particularly with regards to their duties in handling the puck.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning, it was just getting (Silovs) used to our calls,\u201d defenseman Ryan Shea said. \u201cObviously, (Jarry) has known them for a long time. After the first probably week, (Silovs) caught on. Him and (Jarry) are probably one of the two better goaltenders, I would say, at playing the puck and their confidence. It\u2019s like having a third (defenseman) on the breakout. They\u2019re both exceptionally good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen how long the Penguins continue alternating starts for Jarry and Silovs. But so far, the results have sated all parties concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a little bit more rest,\u201d Jarry said. \u201cSo you\u2019re prepared, you\u2019re ready. That\u2019s exactly it, just being prepared and ready when you get the opportunity to be in net.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, with (Silovs) and I splitting, it\u2019s been pretty good so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Muse isn\u2019t a carbon copy of his predecessor as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Sullivan. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-239657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}