Mark Madden: Every point counts, so Penguins must solve shootout problems

Most (including me) had the Pittsburgh Penguins pegged as a non-playoff team angling for a top-five draft pick.

But the Penguins currently have the fifth-most points in the Eastern Conference and two straight sellouts at PPG Paints Arena.

That changes priorities.

If the Penguins’ contention continues into 2026, the hockey media outside of Pittsburgh might even halt its campaign to get Sidney Crosby traded. (Probably not.)

But the Penguins won’t run away with a playoff spot. It will take a considerable amount of scratching and clawing. Every point counts.

So, shootouts are a big problem.

The Penguins are feeble at shootouts: 0 for 3 so far this season, 1 for 6 last season.

Their goalies stink at shootouts, Arturs Silovs historically so.

Silovs has lost all three shootouts this season, allowing goals on seven of eight shots. He’s also conceded a penalty shot during regulation play. His five-hole is open more than a Sheetz.

Tristan Jarry isn’t great at it: 62.5% career shootout save rate, 7-10 record.

Is rookie Sergei Murashov the answer?

It doesn’t matter, because he’ll go back to the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club when Jarry returns from injury. (But Murashov made five saves in five shootout attempts during last season’s American Hockey League campaign.)

The Penguins’ shooters are pedestrian and predictable, including the stars. Especially the stars.

The Penguins can’t lose every shootout and still make the playoffs. The standings are too clogged.

The Penguins just started practicing shootouts this week. They never practiced them under previous coach Mike Sullivan.

Practicing shootouts is a must.

Everybody gets better at it, and the coach sees who should be participating.

Otherwise the coach is wont to just pick his best players, as the Penguins have traditionally done dating back through Sullivan.

When Ray Shero was GM and Dan Bylsma was coach, the Penguins maximized their shootout chances.

Shero had shootout specialists like Erik Christensen and Jussi Jokinen on the roster. Christensen ranks 17th all-time in NHL shootout success with a conversion rate of 52.7% (29 for 55).

Bylsma practiced shootouts religiously.

Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal, the NHL’s all-time leader in shootout wins with 66. Fleury excelled in shootouts. The master of the poke check.

Those Penguins entered shootouts loaded for bear.

These Penguins might as well wave a white flag.

It really doesn’t matter who plays on the fourth line, as long as those players are good at something.

President of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas should get somebody who’s good at shootouts.

Rickard Rakell should enter the chat when he returns from injury. He’s got a career conversion rate of 40.5.

Bryan Rust is at 43.8. Rust and Rakell should be automatic choices.

Sidney Crosby checks in at 38.5, though he tends to be samey-same. (That figure is higher than I expected. Crosby almost always uses the shootout move that won the inaugural Winter Classic in 2008, a quick shuffle to his forehand.)

There’s potential for success among the Penguins’ shooters.

The goaltenders, not so much.

Which begs the question: With Silovs at rock bottom, should he be replaced for the shootout?

Hockey types (like Phil Bourque on my radio show) go apoplectic when this is suggested.

It’s almost never been done: Twice since the NHL implemented the shootout in 2005, according to the internet’s sketchy research. (Shootout data is difficult to find. It’s almost on the dark web.)

It’s an insult to the goaltender who played 65 minutes.

The goalie entering the game for the shootout will be cold and thus not perform well and be susceptible to injury.

But because something isn’t often done doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be.

Allowing seven goals in eight shootout attempts is insulting to the 18 skaters who forged a tie over 65 minutes.

Goaltenders enter games cold all the time due to injury. Have the backup goalie go down the tunnel and stretch when three-on-three overtime begins so he’s as ready as can be to go in for the shootout. It’s not like the shootout is heavy lifting. Nobody’s crashing the blue paint.

Make do. The important thing is to get the extra point.

With the Penguins, the replacement debate is mostly moot. Silovs is horrific at shootouts, but Jarry is no bonus. Perhaps Murashov is the solution at levels beyond the shootout. But be careful of too much, too soon.

The Penguins were a lot easier to analyze when we thought they would stink.