Crosby's Milestone Weekend Can't Hide the Cracks as Penguins Finish the California Trip in San Jose

Two games in California, two identical 5-2 scorelines — and two completely different Pittsburgh Penguins teams. On Saturday night in Los Angeles, the Penguins snapped a four-game skid, ended a seven-game road winless streak, and watched their captain climb another rung on the NHL's all-time ladder. Twenty-four hours later in Anaheim, they wasted nearly four and a half straight minutes of power-play time, gave up three power-play goals, and let Cutter Gauthier hang a hat trick on them. The Penguins (6-10-2, seventh in the Metropolitan Division) close the three-game trip Wednesday night in San Jose, and the question is the same one that has followed them all season: which version of this team is real? ## The night it all worked in Los Angeles Saturday's 5-2 win over the Kings was their most complete performance in weeks. Tommy Novak scored twice in the first 5:10 — the fastest two goals to open a game by any NHL player this season — and Egor Chinakhov added a power-play goal as Pittsburgh built a lead and, for once, protected it. Goaltender Sergei Murashov stopped 26 shots for his first win of the season. The history came in the second period. At 17:13, Erik Karlsson threaded a pass to Evgeni Malkin, whose one-timer from the right circle deflected in off Sidney Crosby to make it 4-2. That goal was Crosby's 1,772nd career point, moving him past Marcel Dionne (1,771) into sole possession of sixth place on the NHL's all-time scoring list — fittingly, in the building where Dionne's jersey hangs in the rafters. An awarded empty-net goal at 18:44 brought Crosby to 1,773 points (660 goals, 1,113 assists), 25 behind Ron Francis (1,798) for fifth. Malkin had a milestone of his own: three assists gave him 1,421 career points (539 goals, 882 assists), passing Adam Oates for 20th all-time. Head coach Dan Muse had reunited Crosby, Malkin, and Rickard Rakell on the top line to spark a struggling lineup, and the gamble paid off. ## Twenty-four hours later in Anaheim Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Ducks was the mirror image. Mikael Granlund opened the scoring on the power play at 8:27 of the first, and the game turned early in the second period, when Pittsburgh failed to score during nearly 4 1/2 minutes of power-play time, including a 5-on-3. Malkin himself pointed to the missed 5-on-3 afterward as the moment the Penguins let slip. Gauthier answered almost immediately — a no-look power-play goal through Arturs Silovs at 6:28, a wrist shot from the slot at 9:11 for 3-0, and an empty-netter at 19:26 to complete his third hat trick in five games. Gauthier finished with three goals and an assist, Granlund had a goal and three assists, and Anaheim (10-7-1) scored three power-play goals in its fifth straight win. The strangest part: Pittsburgh outshot Anaheim 33-25 and still was never really in it, with Laurent Brossoit making 31 saves. The Penguins' goals came too late — Letang scored 6-on-4 with 11:55 to play, his first goal of the season in his 21st NHL campaign, and Rakell added one late, with Malkin picking up two assists. Special teams were the whole story: Anaheim's power play went 3-for-4, while Pittsburgh's came up empty in the exact moments the game was there to be taken. ## What's actually broken Start with the obvious: a penalty kill that surrenders three goals in one night and a power play that blanks a 5-on-3 on the road is a losing formula regardless of what happens at even strength. The goaltending picture behind it remains unsettled — Murashov's strong night in Los Angeles and Silovs' rougher one in Anaheim, 24 hours apart, sum up a crease that has been a season-long question rather than an answer. And the scoring still leans too heavily on two players aged 39 and 40; production beyond Crosby and Malkin has been the defining issue of Muse's second season a month in. The injury list is not helping. Bryan Rust (lower body, injured reserve) is not expected back until around December 5. Ville Koivunen (lower body) is day-to-day and missed the Anaheim game; Rutger McGroarty was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to cover. Ryan Graves (knee) is out until roughly November 28, Elmer Soderblom (upper body) is week-to-week, and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (lower body) could return around Wednesday — a timely boost for a blue line stretched thin. ## Wednesday in San Jose: the get-right game The trip ends Wednesday, November 11, at 10 p.m. ET at SAP Center against a Sharks team struggling almost as much as Pittsburgh is. San Jose entered Monday night's home game against the Islanders at 7-11-1 (sixth in the Pacific) on a five-game losing streak, with just two regulation wins all season and a minus-21 goal differential, fourth-worst in the NHL. Captain Macklin Celebrini is the danger man: the 2024 first-overall pick leads the Sharks with 21 points (7 goals, 14 assists) in 17 games despite missing two games to a lower-body injury, and he is on a three-game point streak. Recent history says do not relax with a lead here. The last meeting, on December 13, 2025, saw San Jose rally from 5-1 down in the third period to beat Pittsburgh 6-5 in overtime — the first four-goal comeback in Sharks franchise history. The flip side: the Penguins won 3-0 in their last visit to San Jose, on October 18, 2025. The keys Wednesday are discipline (keep Celebrini's line and the Sharks' power play, 17th in the league at 21.4 percent, off the ice and off the board), converting the power-play chances Pittsburgh wasted in Anaheim, and getting secondary scoring from the Novak line that produced so well in Los Angeles. **Projection:** This is the kind of game a playoff hopeful has to bank, and San Jose's two regulation wins all season give Pittsburgh the edge — but nothing about this Penguins team permits confidence. Projection only: Penguins win a loose, high-event game, 4-3 — with the caveat that if the penalty kill leaks the way it did in Anaheim, San Jose's young top line can flip the script as it did last December. After San Jose, the Penguins come home to face Ottawa on Saturday, November 14, at 7 p.m. ET. ## Around Pittsburgh **Steelers:** The NFL trade deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10, at 4 p.m. ET. This morning's SportsNat article (post id 9) covered Omar Khan's wide-receiver decision in depth, so the short version: the Steelers (6-2) sit tied atop the AFC North, and Sunday night's game at Cincinnati will say more about this team than any deadline move. **Pitt football:** The Panthers (6-3, 3-3 ACC) are bowl eligible after a 34-11 win over Georgia Tech on October 31, built on 281 rushing yards — Damon Ferguson Jr. carried 31 times for 185 yards and two touchdowns. The open question off the bye is quarterback: Mason Heintschel's season ended with an injury in early October, and Pitt has not named its starter for Friday's home game against Florida State (4-5, 2-4 ACC, under interim coach Rick Stockstill). Kickoff is Friday, November 13, at 7 p.m. ET at Acrisure Stadium on ESPN, and it is Senior Night.