Categories: PenguinPoop

Penguins Fall to Canadiens in Muse Debut

A Penguins squad liberally seasoned with prospects and newcomers dropped a 2-1 shootout to the Canadiens at the Bell Centre last night.

The Pens snagged the lead at 10:26 of the opening period on a power-play goal by Tristan Broz. Harrison Brunicke initiated the scoring sequence with a pass from center point to Broz in the right circle. Tristan played a quick game of pitch-and-catch with Valtteri Puustinen before lashing the return feed past Sam Montembeault from the right dot.

The Canadiens knotted the score at 1-apiece early in the third period on a goal by Owen Beck, who took advantage of a scramble around the Pens’ net just as a penalty to Ryan Graves expired.

Kid goalies Sergei Murashov and Jacob Fowler each made a huge stop in overtime to send the game to a shootout, the former on hot-shot countryman Ivan Demidov and the latter on Avery Hayes on a 2-on-1.

The Habs prevailed in the fifth round of the shootout on a tally by Oliver Kapanen, Kasperi’s cousin.

Among the other highlights:

The Pens outshot the Habs, 34-31, but won a paltry 35.7 percent of the draws.
Brunicke unleashed a game-high six shots on goal, one more than Habs’ puck-mover Noah Dobson.
Robby Fabbri paced the Pens’ forwards with four shots on goal. A host of newcomers registered three shots on goal, including forwards Anthony Mantha and ex-Hab Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and defensemen Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba.
Dumba led the black and gold with 24:49 of ice time. Owen Pickering brought up the rear among our d-men at 14:29…a bit of a surprise.
Both of our young goalies shone. Joel Blomqvist started and stopped all 11 shots he faced. Murashov turned back 19 of 20.
Sam Poulin scrapped with Jared Davidson midway through the proceedings. While he didn’t exactly bring to mind “Scary” Gary Roberts, Sam hung tough after taking a knee and even managed to steer home a late volley of overhand rights.
If first impressions count, the Pens still have an $18 million headache on their hands (the amount remaining on his contract) in Graves. To be kind, he had a difficult night.

What About Boko?

Among the black-and-gold forwards last night was Bokondji “Boko” Imama. Having recovered ahead of schedule from a torn biceps that required surgery last spring, the heavyweight winger logged 13:36 of ice time and delivered three hits.

Given the Pens’ staggering depth up front, it’s hard to imagine Boko carving out a spot this season, at least a permanent one.

A shame, in a way. I thought the rugged 221-pounder was effective in a limited role last season, providing a smash-mouth presence on the forecheck while affording his teammates some much-needed protection. Nor do I think it was entirely coincidental that the team went 9-5-2 with the popular slugger in the lineup and 25-31-10 without him.

Boko’s deployment will be one of the more interesting storylines as the season unfolds.

Rick Buker

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the Other Rick says:

September 23, 2025 at 11:14 am

Hey Rick

One preseason game is not a season, so the bad and the good of the game has to be viewed through the proper lens. What I really like about the game;

1. Broz was great. He scored a Goal in the first period and in the shoot out with great shots. He also set up Mantha with a beautifully threaded feed in the crease, through traffic for what should have been a tap in Goal but Mantha muffed it. It is only one game, but if this is Broz, I don't care how many veterans Dubas has to waive to make room for him, the kid needs to be the 3rd line Center this season.
2. Blomqvist was stellar. He was cool, calm, and efficient, totally dominating Habs shooter with great rebound control, absorbing many and redirecting the ones he couldn't freeze, harmlessly into the corner. He glided across his crease effortlessly tracking the puck and giving Canadiens nothing at which to shoot. He even flashed some leather with a quick glove hand.
3. Murashov - man is he athletic. If the Pens can get Bales back, or a reasonable facsimile there of, this team could be blessed with another version of Marc-Andre Fleury to combine with a dominating Blomqvist, giving them another dynamic duo in net, like they had in Back-to-Back Stanley Cups, almost a decade ago.
4. Montreal had several regular season veterans from last season in their lineup and the rag-tag group that Muse put out there took them into overtime.

Disappointments?

1. Not really all that much. They took the Habs, a playoff team last season to a SO. Most of the players last night will not be in Pgh, possibly not even WBS come Oct 6.
2. Mantha missing that tap-in would be one.
3. I didn't expect much from Novak, so his lack of anything but a -1 for the evening would be a disappointment if I hadn't anticipated it.
4. The inefficient offense - lots of shots but only Broz able to find the back of the net. But again, I didn't expect much when I saw Fabri's, Imama, Koppanen's, Novak's, Heinen's and Harvey - Pinard's names in the line-up

Avery Hayes and Valttei Puustinen didn't play bad, in fact Puustinen look pretty good on that PPG, but I still would have liked to see more out of them.
- Rick Buker says:
  
  September 23, 2025 at 12:57 pm
  
  Hey Other Rick,
  
  Thanks for filling in some of the blanks...especially concerning Broz, Blomqvist and Murashov.
  
  I was in a bit of a rush this morning and neglected to mention that Broz scored our lone shootout goal, and of course, the superb pass you described. Agree that this kid is doing his utmost to earn a spot and room needs to be made.
  
  Rick