Dan Muse is going back to Stuart Skinner tonight, and Pittsburgh is already backed into a corner with Game 2 of Round 1 set to drop at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins lost Game 1 at home, 3-2 to the Flyers on Saturday. A .850 save percentage from Skinner didn't help.
Philadelphia leads the series 1-0 and has won three straight heading into tonight's puck drop.
Muse hasn't blinked. Skinner gets the net again, with Arturs Silovs watching from the bench.
Kevin Hayes and Justin Brazeau scratched again as Muse reshuffles depth
Hayes and Brazeau both sat out Game 1 and are out again for Game 2. Neither appears in the projected lineup for tonight.
That's a tough call for Hayes. He's carrying a $7.1 million cap hit and is being kept out of a playoff series. That number doesn't disappear from the ledger just because he's watching in street clothes.
Brazeau played 64 regular season games. Still not good enough to crack this lineup in the playoffs.
Ryan Graves is also out. He played only 22 regular season games and didn't dress in Game 1 either.
The forward group stays intact from Game 1. Chinakhov, Novak, Soderblom, and Dewar all return on the wings, which means Muse is doubling down on the same 12 who came up short at home Saturday.
Sidney Crosby was held scoreless in Game 1 and went -1. He averaged 7 points over his last five games of the regular season. This is the series where he has to show up, and so far he hasn't opened his account.
Evgeni Malkin, meanwhile, was the best Penguin in Game 1. He scored and added an assist in that loss, and over his last five regular season games he posted 5 goals and 5 assists. He's the one Pittsburgh forward who looked ready.
Erik Karlsson had an assist in Game 1 and picked up 13 points over his last 10 regular season games. He's the engine on the power play and the most important offensive piece on the blue line tonight.
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Anthony Mantha put together 11 points in his last 10 regular season games but went -1 in Game 1 and couldn't convert. Pittsburgh needs him to be more than a volume skater if this thing is going to turn.
Kristopher Letang went -2 in Game 1. He's 38 years old and logging playoff minutes. That kind of start is hard to shake off in a short series.
Philadelphia's Travis Sanheim scored in Game 1. Their road record this season was 23-14-4. The Flyers are not a team that cracks under pressure on the road, and Pittsburgh is now the one that has to push the panic button.
Down 0-1 in a series where you lose Game 2 at home, history tends to get very uncomfortable very fast.
Should Dan Muse change his starting goalie and start Arturs Silovs in Game 2?
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