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Another day, another game, another 65 minutes, another shootout, another loss. Rinse, wash, repeat for the Utah Mammoth on Saturday in a 6-5 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks. Yet this game couldn’t be any more different than Thursday’s shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues.

This game had all the offense you could want. This game was also one the Mammoth should’ve statistically won.

The biggest story of Saturday’s game was Zac Jones scoring two goals. The first goal came off a great pass from Kailer Yamamoto, the defenseman’s first goal since Nov. 17, 2024. The second, a blast from the middle of the Sharks’ zone, made the game his first-ever multi-goal game in the NHL.

🗣️ Zac Jones.

Yams and Jones show some real speed! 💨

1-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/lYeHRKUtgk

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 15, 2026

Jones now has seven points in his past five pro games. Three of those points are goals. He’s been a very impressive and sneaky-good pickup for the Mammoth. No matter if he’s in the American Hockey League or in the NHL, he has found ways to make a big impact, and he’s been a big favorite in both locker rooms.

“I feel good,” Jones said. “Not just the offensive part of the game. I felt like I controlled the puck well, defended well, and now I'm just going to take it and learn from it, and then hopefully take it in the next game.” 

Ben McCartney also had a very respectable game. He had three hits and played more than seven minutes during Saturday’s game, including a shift during overtime, a nearly three-minute uptick from his prior game. Both Jones and McCartney had good games, showing the depth the Mammoth have despite the massive number of injuries they’re dealing with. It’s a testament to how good the Tucson Roadrunners have been at developing and recruiting talent.

“The margins are tight, and it's likely going to come down to one point at the end of the year,” Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin said. “It's critical that our guys are able to first compete here, understand what's expected, and then go up and be able to execute when they're there. You've got to love hearing that Benny get an opportunity to play in overtime. If he's playing in overtime, you know that he's earned a little trust there.”

Count it! 🫵

Jones makes it 3-1, Utah. pic.twitter.com/lALvXgsKOR

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 15, 2026

Three of the five goals scored by the Mammoth on Saturday were scored by defensemen, one of which was scored by Mikhail Sergachev. They are at the top of the league in goals scored by a defenseman. That’s a big pro and con. It’s impressive from the blueline, but when the defense is contributing more offense than your 12 forwards, that’s not a great stat line.

Once again, a lot of the forwards on the Mammoth didn’t contribute and remain on long goal droughts. It was good to see Barrett Hayton score his second goal in the past five games. Jack McBain now has four points in the past five games. They can’t be the only ones contributing.

Hay Hay Hay!

Haytes scores on the power play. Tied up, 5-5. pic.twitter.com/3W0InuvFOY

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 15, 2026

We’ve talked about how the goaltenders need to stay consistent and keep performing well in multiple games in a row. That did not happen on Saturday. Karel Vejmelka was a liability on the ice and allowed five goals on 21 shots. He finished with a .762 save percentage, which somehow isn’t the worst save percentage from him this season.

The Mammoth cannot outscore to win games. That’s just not how they’re built. They are running out of games to really keep trusting Vejmelka. That is on the mind of the team as well. For the first time this season, head coach André Tourigny criticized his goaltender in his postgame availability.

“Vej has to be better,” Tourigny said. “I don't want to say that about any of our players, but that's just the way it is. So it is what it is.” 

It’s clear Vejmelka’s runway is getting shorter every game. The Mammoth can’t afford to have a goaltender struggling the way he is. They’re a team not afraid to make a move. All of the goodwill he built up over the past two seasons that culminated in an extension back in 2025 has reached the bottom of the barrel. We have gotten to the point where his final chances are coming up.

“He's in a tough situation,” Tourigny said. “I feel bad for him, but that's on the personal side. On the business side, he has a job to do, and he needs to do it now more than ever." 

The Mammoth outshot the Sharks 32-21. That is a game you should win. Going four for six on the penalty kill is ok and so is going two for five on the power play. The Mammoth are badly injured. They played decently during the game. It all comes back to keeping the puck out of their own net and finding ways to finish putting pucks in their opponent’s net.

“Our guys worked really hard,” Tourigny said. “We achieved, we showed character, and we came back. Jonesy had a great night. Scored two big goals for us, which was a key moment. When they had a push in the second period, I thought we regrouped well and scored a big goal. It's frustrating. We have nothing to show for it. It's not a league of moral victory. I think we generated a lot of offense; we almost doubled them in scoring chances.”

The Mammoth do get a point out of this one, bouncing them back into the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. However, they’ve now dropped five straight games. They can’t afford to continue just getting one or fewer points out of games if they want to keep in the race.

In every recent recap article, there’s been a final sentence about the Mammoth really needing to turn this ship around. After allowing five goals and nearly losing in regulation to a team that has really struggled over the past few weeks, that statement couldn’t be truer or said louder.

“It's frustrating right now,” Hayton said. “Having a good start, getting a lead. I think we just have to manage the game better. I know we've talked about that a lot, but just little instances make a difference. You never know when they are, but ultimately, there's gonna be games like that where it's a fine margin of error, and yeah, it's just not good enough.” 

The Mammoth will play the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. The Canucks are 3-17-1 this season, making them the worst team in the NHL as of Sunday. They’re coming off a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers and will play the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday before playing the Mammoth.

Over the years, the Flyers have made a clear bad habit of starting their games slowly, dating back to former head coach John Tortorella's reign with the team.

An early two-goal deficit proved surmountable, though, as the Flyers dedicated their 4-3 comeback win to longtime Flyers physician Dr. Gary Dorshimer, who passed away on Saturday.

A wildly sluggish start to the contest saw the Flyers spot the Blue Jackets two early goals, with Dmitri Voronkov and Matthew Knies scoring exactly one minute apart to take a commanding 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the first period.

After the goal from Knies, though, the Flyers began to wake up and find their legs in the last game of this road trip, and after winning a board battle on the left wing wall, Tyson Foerster wired a no-look pass across the ice to Trevor Zegras, who blasted the puck past Jet Greaves to bring the Flyers within a goal at 2-1.

With wind in their sails heading into the middle stanza, the Flyers were primed to stage a comeback, and they did so with aplomb.

Just 1:19 into the second period, Matvei Michkov, amid all the trade controversy, made an amazing defensive play, sneaking up on Adam Fantilli, stick-lifting the Blue Jackets forward at the blue line, and racing down the other way for a breakaway goal on Greaves.

"I mean, that's a high-level, unreal play. He's played really well, like every game. I thought Vancouver, he had a really good game. Obviously, Edmonton, he played a ton. Those are big goals," Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said of Michkov after the win.

"If you look at it, Columbus right away, 2-0. We needed some kind of a spark, and obviously Mich gave us a spark with that goal."

Flyers' Matvei Michkov Draws Intriguing Comparison to NHL SuperstarIf the Flyers are correct in their assessment of Matvei Michkov, they will reap big rewards in the future.

With his breakaway goal, Michkov improved his Flyers-leading tally to 11 goals on the year.

Just over a minute later, with the Flyers on a power play, fellow youngster Denver Barkey joined in on the scoring, receiving a pass from Porter Martone, pivoting, and firing past Greaves to give the Flyers their first lead of the contest at 3-2.

Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived, as an unlucky bounce fell to Fantilli right between Flyers defensemen Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, allowing the Blue Jackets forward to beat goalie Joseph Woll from distance to even the score.

Over halfway through the third period, Barkey struck again, illustrating exactly what the Flyers want out of their youth movement.

A strong offensive zone steal from Noel Acciari led to an impromptu 2-on-1 rush attempt, and Barkey buried his shot accordingly to provide the eventual dagger, giving the Flyers a 4-3 lead.

After a slow start to the season coming back from an injury that hindered his training camp and preseason preparation, Barkey has four goals, four assists, and eight points in his last 12 games for the Flyers.

With his goal, Zegras has his first point in five games, and first goal since Oct. 27, which ironically came in the dreadful 4-3 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets.

Flyers Push Back on Matvei Michkov Trade RumorsFlyers general manager Danny Briere came forward to refute the wild Matvei Michkov trade rumors in a surprise press conference.

The most underrated aspect of Saturday's 4-3 win against the Blue Jackets is the fact that the Flyers have earned their first win against a divisional opponent this season.

Now, they've improved to 1-4-3 this season against Metropolitan Division rivals with lots of hockey left to play, though the hole they've dug for themselves is still considerable, to say the least.

This grind isn't ending for the Flyers anytime soon, either, as they will have to face Connor McDavid and the Oilers once again on Sunday night in what will be the second leg of a back-to-back.

After also hosting the Sabres on Tuesday, the Flyers will be back on the road again, just like that. That's why stealing an away game against a divisional opponent like they did against the Blue Jackets on Saturday was so crucial.

The New York Islanders defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 on Saturday night to cap a 2-0-1 road trip to California.

Simon Holmstrom recorded his first career hat trick, Matthew Schaefer notched three assists, and Victor Eklund extended his point streak to four games. 

THROW THE HATS IN THE COMMENTS

🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢 pic.twitter.com/DPbgKe3hJ8

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) November 15, 2026

Mathew Barzal returned to the lineup, recording an assist in 16:21 minutes, while leading the team with four shots on goal. 

However, despite getting Barzal back in the lineup for the first time this season, the Islanders lost defenseman Logan Stanley to a lower-body injury. 

He did not play the final 3:24 of the first period and tried to get back in on a few early shifts in the second period, but could not continue. 

The Islanders have Matt Kessel and Scott Mayfield on their bench and could also potentially place a waiver claim on former Islanders blueliner Mike Reilly, whom the Carolina Hurricanes placed on waivers Saturday afternoon.

Center Jean-Gabriel Pagaeu missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT: The Islanders host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tusday night at 7 PM ET.  

The Penguins dropped a 4-1 game to the Ottawa Senators.

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The San Jose Sharks had to make multiple comebacks, break a franchise record, and have another young defenseman score his first career goal, then survive overtime and a lengthy shootout in order to secure a victory against a depleted Utah Mammoth lineup.

While it wasn't a pretty performance, and there was certainly a lot to not be happy about early in the game, the Sharks did what they had to in order to pick up two points in Salt Lake City in one of the wildest games of the season.

Mammoth defenseman Zac Jones scored his first goal as a member of the Mammoth, and just the fifth of his career, off of a feed by Kailer Yamamoto on the rush. Once again, the Sharks faced an early deficit, giving up the goal just 2:15 into the game.

After Will Smith took the Sharks' second penalty in the opening nine minutes, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev fired a shot from the slot on the ensuing power play. The shot flew past Yaroslav Askarov into the back of the net, doubling the Sharks' lead. 

The Sharks' power play come through in a very big way as Tyler Toffoli cut the Mammoth's lead in half with a power-play goal just past the midway point in the opening frame. 

The Sharks' momentum was short-lived as the Mammoth restored their lead in confusing fashion. Zac Jones scored for the second time in the period, getting the first multigoal game of his NHL career. It also marked just the second time in his career that he had more than one goal in a season. The referee prematurely blew the whistle though, thinking that Askarov had covered it, when reality it was sliding toward the goal line, leading to the goal being waved off initially. After a review, the referees decided it was a goal due to continuous motion, making it a 3-1 game in favor of Utah.

Will Smith thought he had brought the Sharks back within a goal early in the second period, but the goal was overturned by the officials after a short review as the play was offside. 

The Sharks wouldn't be denied for long, as Adam Gaudette scored on the power play at 3:07 in the second period and six seconds later, Zack Ostapchuk scored his second of the season to set a new franchise record for the fastest back-to-back goals in history.

The prior record jointly belonged to the 1992-93 Sharks and the 2021-22 team, both of whom scored goals seven seconds apart. 

Darnell Nurse had a bad giveaway in the defensive zone that resulted in Jack McBain restoring the Mammoth's lead less than halfway through the game.

Liam O'Brien then deflected the puck past Askarov, but the goal was initially waved off for goaltender interference. After Utah opted to challenge the decision, the officials confirmed their decision, giving the Mammoth a minor penalty for delay of game. 

Eric Pohlkamp scored his first career goal at 5:23 of the third period with a shot from distance to tie the game at 4-4.

Dmitri Orlov scored a knuckling shot from the point that tricked Karel Vejmelka and found its way into the net, giving the Sharks their first lead of the night with just under six minutes remaining in regulation.

Ivar Stenberg took a late slashing penalty, giving the Mammoth's high-powered power play a chance to tie it up and they did just that. Barrett Hayton scored his third goal of the season fairly quickly to make it a 5-5 hockey game.

Neither regulation nor overtime would decide a winner, so the game went into a shootout to decide the victor. It took until the fifth round for Mason Marchment to score the winning goal, securing a 6-5 victory over the Mammoth. The Sharks now need to travel back to the Shark Tank, as they'll host the Nashville Predators tomorrow night. 

HELSINKI (AP) — Jordan Staal returned from injury, Andrei Svechnikov and Mark Jankowski each scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 5-1 on Saturday to sweep the NHL’s Global Series in Finland’s capital.

The Hurricanes (16-3-2) followed on their dominant 4-1 victory on Thursday and extended their winning streak to four.

Carolina became the first NHL franchise to win each of its first four regular-season games played outside North America following a sweep of a 2010 series against the Minnesota Wild, also in Helsinki.

Jackson Blake also scored for the Hurricanes, Nikolaj Ehlers had three assists and Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 12 shots for his 12th win in 13 games.

Svechnikov scored on power plays with two identical goals from the right circle in the middle period, one-timing a precise snap shot to make it 3-0 and another for a 4-1 advantage. He has five goals in his four-game point streak and has 11 goals on the season.

His second goal with 9:55 left in the second period prompted the Kraken to pull Joey Daccord after he allowed four goals on 14 shots. Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves in relief.

JETS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4 (SO)

CHICAGO (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists, Kyle Connor scored a goal in regulation and had the deciding shootout goal, and Winnipeg rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat Chicago.

The Jets’ sixth straight win was their second comeback from four goals down this season. They scored four times in 2:07 to beat Montreal 5-4 in overtime on Nov. 3.

Gabriel Vilardi’s shot from the right slot tied the game 4-all with 1:13 left in regulation and goalie Nico Daws pulled for an extra attacker.

Scheifele also scored in the shootout. Daws stopped Roman Kantserov to lock up the victory.

WILD 6, BRUINS 2

BOSTON (AP) — Ryan Hartman and Danila Yurov scored two goals each, Jesper Wallstedt stopped 30 shots, and Minnesota beat Boston to extend their road winning streak to eight games.

Kirill Kaprizov extended his point streak to 11 games (six goals, 14 assists) with two assists for the West-leading Wild, who have earned at least a point in 11 straight games (9-0-2).

Quinn Hughes and Blake Coleman scored 67 seconds apart in the opening two minutes of the second period for Minnesota, which cruised to its NHL-best 10th road victory. Yurov scored both of his in the third period, the second an empty-netter.

David Pastrnak and Fraser Minten scored for Boston, which lost its second straight home game after winning seven in a row at TD Garden. Both losses came wearing their new mostly brown “varsity jerseys” with bright yellow numbers, trim and helmets that they debuted Thursday.

OILERS 1, MAPLE LEAFS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Connor McDavid extended his season-opening points streak to 21 games with an assist, Devon Levi made 19 saves for his first NHL shutout and Edmonton beat Toronto to hand the Maple Leafs their sixth straight home loss.

Defenseman Evan Bouchard scored his 12th goal of the season for Edmonton (15-3-3). The Oilers are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

McDavid picked up an assist to give him 50 points (11 goals, 39 assists) and add to his NHL lead.

Oilers coach Mike Babcock faced his former team in Toronto for the first time since being fired in November 2019.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 shots for Toronto (8-12-2), which suffered its sixth consecutive regulation loss to complete a disastrous six-game stretch at Scotiabank Arena.

AVALANCHE 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist and short-handed Colorado beat Montreal without injured stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

MacKinnon and Makar both sustained lower-body injuries Thursday night in a 4-3 overtime loss in Ottawa. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said MacKinnon will be out at least a month, while Makar is expected to miss two weeks.

Fedor Svechkov, Brock Nelson and Nicolas Roy also scored for Colorado (12-6-3). Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 shots.

Nick Suzuki replied with a highlight-reel goal for Montreal (12-4-4), which had gone 12 consecutive games without losing in regulation (9-0-3).

Jakub Dobes made 22 saves in his first start in nine days.

RED WINGS 2, LIGHTNING 0

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Daniil Tarasov stopped 31 shots for his second shutout of the season, Lucas Raymond had a goal and two points and Detroit beat Tampa Bay.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard also scored to help the Red Wings snap a five-game losing streak.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots for Tampa Bay, which was shut out for the first time since December 8, 2025 at Toronto.

The Lightning lost for the first time at home this season, ending a franchise record eight-game home winning streak to start the season.

SENATORS 4, PENGUINS 1

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Claude Giroux scored a goal and Ottawa beat Pittsburgh.

Giroux, the longtime Philadelphia Flyer, has 79 points in 74 career games against Pittsburgh. He’s two points away from tying Sergei Fedorov (1,179) for 58th-place in NHL history.

Tim Stutzle scored his 11th goal of the season, and Michael Amadio and Thomas Chabot also had goals for the Senators, who have won five of their last seven games.

Linus Ullmark made 16 saves for his 200th NHL win.

Ullmark joined Martin Gerber as the only goalies in franchise history to start a season with nine wins in their first 10 appearances. Ullmark, who is 9-0-1 in 10 career games vs. Pittsburgh, has allowed two goals or fewer in 12 of his last 13 regular season starts.

Tommy Novak scored the lone goal for the Penguins, who have lost six of their last eight games.

DEVILS 7, CAPITALS 4

WASHINGTON (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck recovered from a shaky start to make 43 saves, remaining unbeaten in net with New Jersey as the surging Devils defeated Washington.

Evan Rodrigues scored twice for the Devils, who earned their second win against Washington in three days. Jesper Boqvist, Connor Brown and Lenni Hameenaho each had a goal and two assists, and defenseman Luke Hughes added three assists.

Nico Hischier and Timo Meier also scored to help New Jersey improve to 11-2 since Oct. 20 with its seventh victory in eight games. Meier’s power-play goal late in the second period gave the Devils their first lead, 4-3, and Hischier’s short-handed goal made it 5-3 early in the third.

Rodrigues scored at 3:18 to make it 6-4 and added an empty-netter with 3:15 left.

FLYERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3

COLUBUS, Ohio (AP) — Denver Barkey scored twice and Philadelphia rallied to beat Columbus, sending the Blue Jackets to their fourth consecutive loss and third straight at home.

Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov also scored, and Joseph Woll stopped 28 shots for Philadelphia, which won for the second time in its last six games and finished its five-game trip with points in four straight.

Dmitri Voronkov, Matthew Knies and Adam Fantilli scored for Columbus. Jet Greaves stopped 17 shots in his sixth straight loss.

Voronkov scored his first of the season at 3:19 of the first and Knies added a goal a minute later to give Columbus a 2-0 lead. Luca Del Bel Belluz, who replaced the injured Sean Monahan, notched his first assist of the season.

PANTHERS 4, BLUES 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brady and Matthew Tkachuk participated in a pregame ceremony to honor their father, then led Florida to a win over St. Louis.

Brady Tkachuk scored the opening goal, and each brother had an assist in a dominant homecoming. Dmitry Kulikov, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart also scored, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots for Florida.

Dylan Holloway scored a power-play goal with 2:06 remaining as the Blues avoided being shut out in regulation for the second straight game. They defeated Utah 1-0 in a shootout Thursday night.

Brady Tkachuk scored 5:12 into the first period, beating goalie Joel Hofer on the glove side during an extended shift on the power play. His brother, Matthew, had the secondary assist after also drawing the high stick that gave Florida a 5-on-3 advantage following an early too-many-men penalty on St. Louis.

Keith Tkachuk, who concluded his 18-year career with the Blues, was honored in a pregame ceremony recognizing his induction last weekend into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His two sons, playing together in their hometown for the first time in the NHL, used two of Keith’s old sticks during a ceremonial puck drop before the game. Then they showed why they’re All-Stars in their own right.

STARS 2, BUFFALO 0

DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger made 22 saves to lead Dallas to a win over Buffalo, just two days after being pulled after allowing a season-high six goals.

It’s Oettinger’s fourth shutout this season and first since Oct. 17. Oettinger posted shutouts in three of Dallas’ first six games — including a 4-0 win against Buffalo on Oct. 8 — but had allowed 14 goals in his past three starts, including six in an 8-3 loss to Winnipeg on Thursday.

Stars captain Jamie Benn snapped a scoreless game late in the second period with a goal for the 1,000th point of his 18-year career to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

Wyatt Johnston took an assist from Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz and scored on a power play with 40 seconds remaining for the final score.

SHARKS 6, MAMMOTH 5 (SO)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mason Marchment flicked in a wrist shot in the fifth round of a shootout to lift San Jose to a win over Utah.

Tyler Toffoli, Adam Gaudette, Zack Ostapchuk, Eric Pohlkamp, and Dmitry Orlov all scored goals for San Jose in regulation. Yaroslav Askarov made 27 stops for the Sharks.

Zac Jones scored a pair of goals to lead Utah and Kailer Yamamoto had three assists. Mikhail Sergachev, Jack McBain, and Barrett Hayton also scored for the Mammoth. Karel Vejmelka tallied 16 saves.

ISLANDERS 6, DUCKS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Simon Holmstrom had his first career hat trick, Matthew Schaefer added three assists and New York rolled to a victory over Anaheim.

Ben Hutton scored in the opening two minutes while Bo Horvat and Mitchell Chaffee also scored as the Islanders won for the second time in three days in the Los Angeles area after a 5-2 victory over the Kings on Thursday night.

Mathew Barzal had an assist in his season debut for New York and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves.

Cutter Gauthier scored for the Ducks to extend his goals streak to eight games. Nikita Nesterenko also had a goal for Anaheim and Lukas Dostal made 19 saves.

FLAMES 3, KINGS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matvei Gridin scored the go-ahead goal with 8:39 remaining and Calgary held off Los Angeles.

Yegor Sharangovich had an empty-net goal and an assist, and Morgan Frost also scored for Calgary. Dustin Wolf made 29 saves, helping the Flames improve to 2-0-1 in their last three road games after winning just one of their first six away from the Saddledome.

Sharangovich’s empty-netter with 1:14 left gave Calgary a 3-1 lead. Mats Zuccarello scored his first goal for Los Angeles just 18 seconds later as the Kings skated with a 6-on-5 advantage.

Wolf, a Northern California native who moved to suburban Los Angeles and then Orange County to participate in the Kings’ youth hockey program during his formative years, has won five of six games against them in his NHL career.

Joel Armia also scored and Anton Forsberg stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who lost five of seven games on their homestand. It concluded with four straight defeats in which they totaled six goals.

___

After a relatively successful 2-1 Western road trip, the Pittsburgh Penguins were hoping to build off some of the momentum they gained as they went home to face the Ottawa Senators Saturday.

Unfortunately, the inconsistency that has plagued them all season long came roaring back to bite them.

The Senators defeated the Penguins, 4-1, in a game that was - for most of it - much closer than the scoresheet indicated. They held an early 1-0 lead and controlled play for most of the first half, then special teams and mistakes sunk the ship midway through the second. They were never really able to recover from that, and as a result, were outshot, 34-17, when all was said and done.

The Penguins are now 2-6-3 with a minus-18 goal differential in their last 11 games against the Senators.

"I think consistency has been an issue. I mean, I think tonight's another example of that," head coach Dan Muse said. "I thought there were stretches of the game where that was there. If you go through the game, I thought the first period... I walked out of that first pretty happy with things. Not just the goal at the end of the period, but the period as a whole. I think that's kind of the way you need to play against a team like this.

"And then, I thought the beginning of the second, it was there, and I thought we got away from it in the back half of the second. I think we got stubborn with it. Some of the things that were working in the first period, we didn't stay with it long enough.”

As indicated by their head coach, the Penguins got off to a pretty solid start in the first period. Even if the teams were trading some chances, Pittsburgh had the majority of possession and better of the play throughout the opening frame. They had a Tommy Novak goal called off for offside midway through.

But he made up for it before the horn sounded to end the first. In the final seconds, Ben Kindel sprung Egor Chinakhov and Novak on a two-on-one. Chinakhov served a perfect pass on a silver platter to Novak on the left side, and he redirected it in for his team-leading eighth goal of the season to put the Penguins up 1-0 with 6.3 seconds on the clock.

TOP-SHELF TOMMY 🚨 pic.twitter.com/MMUh29zUuO

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 15, 2026

Pittsbugh started off the second period strong, too, outshooting Ottawa 5-0 for the first eight and a half minutes of it and controlling play. But, shortly after Ottawa killed off a slashing penalty by Claude Giroux, Connor Dewar made an ill-advised pass in the defensive zone that was picked off by Senators' forward Michael Amado, and he buried it for his seventh of the season to tie the game at 1-1. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tied game! #GoSensGopic.twitter.com/jI5a9sI6on

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 15, 2026

From there, Ottawa seized much of the momentum in the middle frame. With a little under four minutes to go in the period, Claude Giroux took advantage of another errant Penguins' pass - this time, by Ben Kindel in the neutral zone - and carried it all the way in to beat Murashov and give the Senators the 2-1 lead. 

There's just something about G scoring in Pittsburgh 🤭#GoSensGopic.twitter.com/cA5K067spE

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 15, 2026

And, in the third period, the Senators really shut it down. Tim Stutzle earned a weird goal from a bad angle on one knee late in the third, then Thomas Chabot put the game away with the empty-netter at the end. The Penguins mustered just six shots on goal in the final 34 minutes and 57 seconds of regulation, which just isn't going to get the job done most nights. 

"I think we felt pretty good about the way we played for a good chunk of that road trip," Sidney Crosby said. "But, this was a different team that we played in comparison to those three games on that trip. It was a little bit more wide-open. I think this was a tighter game, a little more physical, and we have to be able to produce chances in that type of game.

"They just played better, you know? That's basically what it comes down to."

Final. pic.twitter.com/YnHZ5nQz84

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 15, 2026

---

Here are three takeaways from this loss:

- I know we're beating the already long-dead horse here, but the power play is a legitimate problem. 

Maybe it's personnel. Maybe it's coaching. Maybe it's mental. Maybe it's 'get a few, and they'll start going in.' Maybe the guys running it just aren't processing the game fast enough anymore. 

Whatever it is, they need to figure it out fast if they're going to have any kind of shot at digging themselves out of the hole they're in. The Penguins had two power plays in this game before Senators had one, and they weren't able to build on the 1-0 lead they established early on back up by some really solid five-on-five play. They also had a power play directly following the Senators' man advantage that the Penguins killed off.

Then, as it often does, one bad mistake burned them shortly after the Sens killed the third penalty. The Penguins were not able to handle those momentum swings brought on by special teams, and the mistakes came back to burn them again. 

Penguins' Prospect Headed To Spengler CupOne of Pittsburgh's defensive prospects is heading off to NCAA Hockey's most prestigious international tournament.

- To follow up on those mistakes, the Penguins were their own worst enemy in this one. They were controlling the game for the entirety of its first half.

In reference to that post-power play mistake, Dewar had the puck along the left wall and, for some reason, threw the puck right into the middle of the ice in the defensive zone in an attempt to spring Erik Karlsson on the breakout. There's no reason to make that pass there as opposed to simply getting it ahead and out of the zone. 

Ottawa's second goal was a huge mistake, too. The Penguins' second line was attempting to enter the offensive zone, and the puck carrier was Kindel. Instead of simply just getting the puck deep, he elected to put a backhand pass under pressure in the direction of Egor Chinakhov down the middle.

It hit the skate of Ridly Greig and went right to Giroux's stick, and he didn't miss, either.

All season long, the Penguins have actually been a relatively solid five-on-five team. But they make way too many glaring mistakes like this that end up in the back of their net. Going into this one, the Penguins were right in the middle of the league (15th) in giveaways with 276 and - actually - owned the second-least number of defensive zone giveaways (107) in the NHL, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

And that's probably because half the giveaways happen at the worst times and turn into the most high-danger of high-danger chances. They need to be better than that for their goaltenders, especially with two young netminders.

Penguins' Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk Returns To Team PracticeOne of Pittsburgh's veteran blueliners appears close to a return to action.

But, according to the captain, mistakes are part of the game and always have been. And the team just needs to figure out a way to have a better response.

"Yeah, I mean, that's the game, though. It's been like that for a long time, and it's not going to change," Crosby said. "It's just one of those things where, some nights, you pay for them. Other nights, you find ways to make up for it or score a little bit more. So, that's the game. and we have to find a way to be better. And that's really what it comes down to."

One major difference between this team and the one from 2024-25, Mike Sullivan's final season as head coach, is that, as frustrating as the losses were, they were finding and inventing different ways to lose every time. 

This season? It's the same thing nearly every night: Mistakes suck the life out of them, and they cannot recover or take back momentum enough to deliver a positive result. If it's fixable - which, honestly, it kind of feels like it is - they need to fix it fast. Because they're falling fast. 

- Aside from the Stutzle goal, Murashov was good in net again. Of course, he would want the Stutzle goal back. But, it was a bit of an awkward play in general, as Murashov was still getting reset and Stutzle just threw it back at the net, and he still put together a 30-save effort.

A little insurance never hurt anyone 🤝#GoSensGopic.twitter.com/yAEM5eWgYR

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 15, 2026

Regardless of that goal, just as he was in his wins over the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks on the Penguins' preceding California road trip, he was oozing confidence and challenging shooters. He made several huge saves, including one with his right pad on Tim Stutzle late in the second period. And he made them look easy with his quickness and athleticism. 

Those were two words that Penguins' Hall of Fame-elect Marc-Andre Fleury used to describe Murashov prior to the game. Fleury was the Penguins' franchise goaltender for over a decade. Murashov has a chance to be the franchise goaltender of the future.

If these past three games are any indication of his ceiling and his ability, he's going to have an NHL career. He's playing pretty well at the moment, and he only figures to continue getting better as he progresses in his development. 

The Penguins don't play again until Thursday, when they host the St. Louis Blues. I semi-expect Arturs Silovs to get the net for that one only because he won't have played for more than a week and a half at that point. 

But, don't be surprised if Murashov gets the nod, either. The Penguins play a back-to-back over the weekend on the road against the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, and if they're riding the hot hand, they might want Murashov to get two of those three games.  

Penguins Young Goalie Is Showing Big Signs Of Breaking OutThis is promising to see.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: The Penguins don't play again until Thursday.

It wouldn't come as much of a surprise if something happens between now and then. It's not exactly a secret that this team is struggling to find any manner of consistency, and they're running out of time to figure things out. They're 7-11-2, two points out of the East's basement, and 10 points out of the final wild card spot.

There may not be an early move that's seismic, so to speak. But think Lars Eller getting traded in November during the 2024-25 season: Maybe it's a bottom-six guy to free up some valuable roster space for a younger player, to shake up the room a bit, and to get some early value while teams are looking to plug some holes well in advance of the trade deadline. 

Of course, the Erik Karlssons, Rickard Rakells, and Bryan Rusts are the big talking points. But don't rule out the Blake Lizottes, Sam Girards, Connor Dewars, or even the Tommy Novaks, either.

Penguins Reassign Defenseman To AHL With Another Blueliner Close To ReturnThe Penguins sent big defenseman Ilya Solovyov back to WBS Saturday to give him some much-needed playing time.

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After just eight games, the Andre Burakovsky experiment in Ottawa may already be coming to an end.

According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, the Senators are exploring the possibility of moving the veteran winger, with both sides apparently interested in a fresh start. Friedman reported the news during Saturday night's broadcast of the Senators' 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"I believe the Senators are out there, looking to see if they can find a fresh start for him," Friedman said. "Right now, Burakovsky's name is out there. Just, unfortunately, the marriage hasn't worked."

It's a surprisingly quick development considering Burakovsky has suited up for just eight games for the Senators since being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks over the summer in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick.

That said, those eight games haven't gone well at all.

The 31-year-old has yet to record a point with his new club, has struggled to adjust to the Sens systems, and has already had two separate stints on the injured list.

After Brady Tkachuk was traded, the Senators had hoped Burakovsky and William Eklund might pick up some of the offensive slack. But both players have spent more time on the injured list than on the ice.

The warning signs were there.

Burakovsky managed just four points during the second half of last season with Chicago, while playing frequently on a line with Connor Bedard. That's a pretty rough stretch for a player making $5.5 million a year, especially when he's getting regular shifts with one of the NHL's brightest young stars.

GM Steve Staios hoped he'd bought low on a bounce back candidate, and it just hasn't panned out.

But no one would have thought it would go like this. 

Based on Burakovsky's comments a few weeks ago, it's pretty clear that the Senators' style of play has been a major adjustment for him.

"I think it's been a little bit harder than I expected, to adjust to the way we want to play," Burakovsky said. "I think as of now, I'm trying to focus so much on doing the right thing in our system that my instincts are maybe slipping a little bit.

"But I'm trying to find a way to contribute both ways, do the things I'm good at, and then also do what we're supposed to system-wise: forechecking, hunting, and making good plays."

It's one thing to want to explore a trade, but it's fair to wonder what kind of market exists for a $5.5 million player who's injury-prone and hasn't contributed much on either side of the puck.

Oh, and he has a 10-team no-trade clause.

Unless the Senators retain salary, provide some other kind of sweetener, or go the waivers route, executing this reported plan for a fresh start won't be easy, not if they're hoping to get something in return.

Friedman also said he believes Staios will be looking to add at some point this season.

The Senators have certainly given themselves reason to think about upgrading. Saturday's victory in Pittsburgh gave them nine of a possible ten points over their past five games and moved them into a share of the Atlantic Division lead with 28 points.

With the team playing some of its best hockey of the season, they may have decided there's little reason to wait for Burakovsky to figure things out.

The problem now is finding another NHL team that believes he's still capable of doing that.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger made 22 saves to lead the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night, just two days after being pulled after allowing a season-high six goals.

It’s Oettinger’s fourth shutout this season and first since Oct. 17. Oettinger posted shutouts in three of Dallas’ first six games — including a 4-0 win against Buffalo on Oct. 8 — but had allowed 14 goals in his past three starts, including six in an 8-3 loss to Winnipeg on Thursday.

Stars captain Jamie Benn snapped a scoreless game late in the second period with a goal for the 1,000th point of his 18-year career to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

Wyatt Johnston took an assist from Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz and scored on a power play with 40 seconds remaining for the final score.

Oettinger and the Stars’ defense held off the Sabres during a furious five-on-four power play midway through the third period. Moments later, Oettinger splayed his right leg out to stop a breakaway shot from point-blank range by Jack Quinn. Seconds later, Quinn had another chance to pull Buffalo even, but Oettinger was there for the save.

The Stars had three penalty kills in the first period, but still held a 10 to 6 shots-on-goal advantage in the opening frame. The Sabres killed two Stars power plays in the period. Dallas had five penalty kills in the game and outshot Buffalo 30-22.

Up next

The Stars host the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The Sabres play the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here