Arturs Silovs, Penguins struggle mightily in lopsided loss to Maple Leafs

Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 29, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — The Maple Leafs arrived at PPG Paints Arena amid a mess of problems. Nobody in the Eastern Conference had allowed more goals. Only the Sabres had fewer points and road wins, triggering a full-blown Canadian emergency.

Roles were reversed on Saturday.

Instead, the Penguins looked like the team heavy on questions and short on answers, suffering a 7-2 loss to Toronto at PPG Paints Arena that featured an unsavory blend of deficient defense and porous goaltending.

After solid responses against Buffalo and Columbus earlier in the week, the Penguins (12-7-5) had nothing left against Toronto — and the hole they dug for themselves was far too big.

Arturs Silovs started in net after Tristan Jarry stood tall in those first two games. Silovs fought the puck and was pulled 20:29 in after allowing four goals on 10 shots.

Silovs, who began the game with a .907 save percentage, has now dropped his past four starts and gone 1-3-4 during his last eight.

Suffice to say, there’s plenty of open runway for Jarry, who may end up playing himself into a trade.

Ben Kindel and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, but it wasn’t anywhere close to enough. Six different players scored for Toronto, which was just 2-6-2 in its previous 10 while allowing an average of 3.7 goals per game.

Second periods have been an especially big problem for the Leafs this season, Toronto getting outscored by 11 goals (33-22) during the middle session. But that’s actually when the Penguins fell apart on Saturday.

It started with right winger Bobby McMann’s goal at 2:24, when Ryan Graves failed to win a board battle, Toronto gained possession, and McMann shot through a screen for a 3-1 lead.

Left wing Dakota Joshua made it a 4-1 game when he gathered a loose puck near the feet of Kris Letang, turning and whipping a shot from just below the hash marks.

Another Letang issue followed, this time when the Leafs had a power play. Center Nicolas Roy cut to the net past the Penguins defenseman and finished a saucer pass from right winger Max Domi to extend Toronto’s advantage to 5-1 at 13:58 of the third.

The Penguins accounted for eight of the first 11 shot attempts, but the Maple Leafs jumped out to a 1-0 lead with Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal at 6:46 of the first.

The Toronto defenseman followed his own shot — and did so successfully after the Penguins offered little resistance, beating Silovs over his blocker.

The Penguins answered with their NHL-best power play. Kindel got the goal, when he knocked a loose puck out of the air baseball-style at 8:14 of the first.

The goal was the first in nine games for Kindel — since he had two in Toronto on Nov. 3.

However, the Penguins couldn’t hang onto the lead due to a shaky goal from Silovs, who looked uncomfortable from the outset.

Right winger William Nylander passed on a shot, and rookie left winger Easton Cowan flashed his quick release from the right circle for a 2-1 lead at 11:06 of the first.

It was over when …

Joshua had way too much time and space around the net on Toronto’s fourth goal, continuing a theme of the night.

Around the boards

— Penguins coach Dan Muse kept the same lineup as Friday in Columbus, aside from starting Silovs in goal.

— Toronto’s power-play goal was just the fourth allowed for Pittsburgh’s penalty kill during the past 16 games.

— The Penguins are 0-7-3 in their past 10 tries while playing the second night of a back-to-back set.

— Pittsburgh has now dropped six of its past seven against Toronto, going 1-4-2 in that stretch.

— Crosby’s second period assist marked his 940th career home point, taking the franchise record from Mario Lemieux. He added 941 with a backhand goal at 4:37 of the third, his 16th of the season and third in the past two games. That moved Crosby into sole possession of 15th all time with 641 and extended his point streak against the Leafs to six games (2 goals, 7 assists).

Stat of the game

8: Goals allowed by Silovs (on 20 shots) in his past two starts. He was pulled both times.

Up next

The Penguins have a travel day Sunday before Monday’s game against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia has been one of the better home teams in the NHL, posting an 8-3-2 record.