The Pittsburgh Penguins have had losses this season that were far uglier than the 4-3 shootout defeat they suffered at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks in PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

And they’ve certainly been on the wrong end of setbacks that were far more lopsided.

There are probably even a handful of even more frustrating failures through the first two months of the 2025-26 campaign.

But Tuesday’s result was perhaps their most dumbfounding cluster-bumble of a loss in quite some time.

As they protected a one-goal lead with 18 seconds left in regulation — while on a power-play opportunity — they allowed the short-handed Ducks to tie the game by the thinnest of margins (0.1 seconds to be precise) via a goal that was credited to rookie forward Beckett Sennecke.

Then, after a fever dream of an overtime period in which they generated eight mostly quality shots while opening the frame still on a power-play chance, they went to a shootout.

Sadly, for the Penguins, the results were fairly predictable at that point.

Tuesday’s loss kept them winless in shootouts and extended a losing streak in the tiebreaking procedure to nine games dating to last season.

“It’s obviously a very frustrating feeling right now,” said Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who inadvertently deflected the puck into his own net on the final goal of regulation. “That was a game that we all thought we had in the bag.

“Being up a goal like we were with 18 seconds left, that’s a game that we should win 99.9% of the time.”

The Penguins remain at 100% in shootout losses this season.

Ducks forward Leo Carlsson scored the lone shootout goal against Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs.

Meanwhile, Penguins forwards Tommy Novak, Sidney Crosby and Ville Koivunen were denied by Ducks goaltender Ville Husso.

“We’re not helping our goalies,” Crosby said. “Just got to find ways to get that first one and put pressure on the other team. That’s basically all you can do in a shootout.”

Dan Muse wasn’t too interested in explaining everything he could do as Penguins coach to coax better results in the shootout.

“We’re going to keep working on shootouts,” a curt Muse said.

One player who won’t be part of that endeavor for the foreseeable future is Evgeni Malkin.

The superstar center was placed on injured reserve Tuesday morning, along with sturdy fourth-liner Blake Lizotte. Each has been labeled as “week-to-week” with undisclosed injuries.

Tuesday’s game was the second consecutive contest Malkin has missed following a scratch in Sunday’s 3-2 road shootout loss to the Dallas Stars.

At 39, Malkin is enjoying a resurgent winter to his 20-year career. He entered the day second on the team with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 26 games.

“It’s not easy to replace (Malkin),” Crosby said following Tuesday’s morning skate. “Pretty much can’t. I think it’s just by committee. He’s been playing great hockey for us, so we’re all going to have to step up and get some points here and play some good hockey until he’s back.”

Silovs’ record slipped to 4-4-5 after he stopped 25 of 28 shots in regulation.

A surprising source opened the scoring when Penguins forward Noel Acciari accrued his first goal of the season 9:49 into regulation.

Lining up for a draw in Anaheim’s left circle, Danton Heinen, who replaced Lizotte on the fourth line, was waved away by linesman Dan Kelly and replaced by Acciari, who muscled Carlsson off the puck. Penguins forward Connor Dewar was lined up on the upper left hashmark and kicked the puck with his right skate back to Acciari, who hesitated for a moment before shuffling a forehand shot through the legs of Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov and to the far side by goaltender Ville Husso’s glove. Dewar had the only assist.

pic.twitter.com/FMirOL0woq

— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) December 10, 2025

Duck defenseman Jackson LaCombe tied the game with his fourth goal at 5:19 of the second period.

Crosby lost a draw in the Penguins’ left circle to Ducks forward Mason McTavish, who allowed linemate Cutter Gauthier to claim possession and shuffled a pass to the near point. The puck struck off Sennecke and clunked off the near wall, where LaCombe settled it, then scooted his way up the boards. Fending off a stick check from Penguins forward Bryan Rust, LaCombe leveled out on the goal line and lifted a bad-angle wrister on the near side through a keyhole-narrow opening between the near post and Silovs’ right shoulder. Sennecke and Gauthier generated assists.

One of the stranger looking goals you'll ever see!

Jackson LaCombe puts it in from an odd angle to put the Ducks on the board ????#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/59pZxtCZlg

— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) December 10, 2025

The visitors took their first lead of the contest at 14:10 of the second frame via forward Troy Terry’s eighth goal.

After Karlsson was unable to skate a bouncing puck out of danger from above his own left circle, Terry took possession in the high slot. Veering to the right circle, Terry faced little resistance en route to the cage and lifted a near-side wrister by Silovs’ glove. There were no assists.

Troy Terry knocks it in for his eighth goal of the season ????#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/JKn9MCKiYF

— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) December 10, 2025

Novak found his fifth goal at the last minute to tie the game at 19:41 of the second.

Off a furious cycle on Anaheim’s end boards, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea emerged with the puck behind the cage and slid a pass to the right point where Karlsson golfed a one-timer. Husso fought off the puck with his blocker but surrendered a rebound to the right of the crease. Novak fired a wrister off the first rebound and was denied by Husso, then got creative and flicked a second rebound off of Husso’s backside and into the cage. Novak extended a scoring streak to four games while Karlsson and Shea secured assists.

pic.twitter.com/uXCMCgNAJk

— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) December 10, 2025

The Penguins appeared to put themselves in a commanding position to secure a victory when forward Anthony Mantha scored his ninth goal during a power-play sequence at 16:05 of the third period.

Stepping in for Malkin on the top power-play unit, Mantha took a pass low to the right of the cage. He tried to force another pass through the crease to Rust, but Husso broke up the sequence with his stick, only to deflect it into his own cage. Mantha was credited with the goal off assists from Crosby and Karlsson.

pic.twitter.com/S1BH0TR4on

— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) December 10, 2025

Late in regulation, the Penguins had a marvelous opportunity to get a clean two points and simply failed to do so as Sennecke was credited with his 10th goal at the 19:59 mark.

After Ducks forward Chris Kreider was sent to the penalty box at 19:42 for tripping, the Penguins sent out the top line of Novak, Crosby and Rust along with two right-handed defensemen in Karlsson and Kris Letang for a draw in the offensive zone.

Crosby actually won the faceoff, but the Penguins were unable to maintain possession.

As Husso vacated his crease to be replaced by an extra attacker, Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba fired the puck from his own end boards up towards the visiting bench. Crosby leaped to glove the puck but was unable to do so. Ducks forward Owen Zellweger settled the puck at the offensive blue line near the home bench and centered it to an onrushing Sennecke.

Veering to the left wing into the Penguins’ zone, Sennecke barged past a stick check by Rust, dashed past another stick check by Letang in the left circle and approached the crease. Upon arrival, he appeared to lose control for a moment, then flicked a backhander into the crease that was powered more by desperate hope than sound design.

Karlsson slid down to the ice — presumably to block a pass attempt — and wound up allowing the puck to deflect off his right glove and slide under the right thigh of a scrambling Silovs just before the clock hit zero.

Officials on the ice ruled the goal to be valid, then consulted a video review to confirm their call.

“It hit my hand and went in,” Karlsson said. “There was no question about it. How it came to be that way, I don’t really know. I haven’t watched it. But it’s definitely something that should not happen. Seventeen seconds left, up a goal and on a power play. We win the faceoff and they score a goal. This was a game that shouldn’t have happened the way that it did.”

Muse offered an explanation as to why Karlsson and Letang — each defensemen who are more geared towards generating goals than preventing them — were on the ice to open the sequence.

“Both of those defensemen are out there on every situation,” Muse said. “They’re out there. They play five-on-six. They’re both guys that are used in defensive situations as well. You get into a situation like that — also, if you have possession, you know pressure is going to be coming — we feel like the goal is to keep possession.

“On the play, we got it, we tried to make a play there, it ends up going in. They pulled the goalie, and they got space to get it to the net. So, absolutely, it can’t happen.”

Another thing that didn’t happen was any of the eight shots the Penguins fired in overtime crossing the goal line.

Arguably, their greatest opportunity to claim an overtime victory involved a shot that wasn’t officially on net. At 3:13 of the extra frame, Dewar had a look at a wide-open cage and fired a wrister from the Ducks’ left circle but put it off the near post. The rebound skidded along the goal line and glanced off of Husso’s right leg. It sat loose in the blue paint as Husso lost his bearings for a moment. Crosby made a lunge for the puck but LaCombe and Sennecke inhibited him with strong stick checks, allowing Carlsson to chip it out of danger.

VILLE HUSSO ???????????? pic.twitter.com/hd0M1ZxURh

— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) December 10, 2025

In the shootout, Carlsson was the lone scorer on Anaheim’s first attempt.

Terry missed the net on his team’s second attempt.

In 10 shootout attempts this season, Silovs has allowed eight goals, tied for the NHL lead in that figure with Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper (who has stopped 10 other attempts).

“They scored one; we didn’t score any,” Silovs said. “You can practice as many as you can … but I can be better. We can be better, in general.

“I think we’re going to find a way.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find a loss quite like what the Penguins experienced Tuesday.

“When are you going to see that happen again, you know?” Crosby asked rhetorically. “They went to pull their goalie and we kind of fumbled the puck near their blue line. They had a rim that was eight feet high that somehow ended up where they were able to handle it. Tried a play, and they got a bounce with (one-tenth of a second) left.

“It’s crazy. We did a lot of good things tonight. It’s unfortunate.”

Notes:

• The 47 shots the Penguins fired on Tuesday were by far a season high. Their previous high-water mark of 37 came in a 4-3 road loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 3.

• The last time the Penguins put that many pucks on net was a 49-shot effort in a 2-1 home loss to the Ottawa Senators, March 20, 2023. Goaltender Dylan Ferguson made 48 saves that day.

• The result notwithstanding, Silovs had a much better game than in his previous two outings. During a 5-0 home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 21 and a 7-2 home loss to the Maple Leafs on Nov. 29, Silovs was pulled in the second period of each contest after allowing four goals on 10 shots both times.

• With Lizotte missing his first game of the season, only eight players have skated in all 28 of the Penguins’ games this season: defensemen Ryan Shea and Parker Wotherspoon as well as Crosby, Dewar, Karlsson, Letang, Mantha and Novak.

• Penguins defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Matt Dumba, as well as forward Sam Poulin, were healthy scratches.

• Via the NHL, Sennecke became the seventh rookie to score a game-tying goal in the final second of regulation and the first to do so while short-handed.

He joined Freddy Meyer (March 8, 2006), Pat Falloon (Feb. 28, 1992), Steve Yzerman (Dec. 18, 1983), Steve Bozek (Feb. 13, 1982), Doug Robinson (Feb. 21, 1965) and Ron Ellis (Dec. 13, 1964).

• Former Penguins forward Jansen Harkins was a healthy scratch for the Ducks.

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