No one — and I mean no one — saw the Pittsburgh Penguins fighting for their playoff lives in Game 4 of their first-round series against their archrival Philadelphia Flyers, but that’s the deal.
So, they’ve gone ahead and made a massive change by swapping Stuart Skinner — a goalie who has appeared in the last two Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers — for backup Arturs Silovs.
The 25-year-old appeared in three games for Team Latvia at the 2026 Winter Olympics and has 10 previous Stanley Cup Playoff starts, all of which came during a surprise run for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2023-24 season.
Now, that may have made you sit up because you realized the little subplot this movie adds to the series.
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The coach of those 2023-24 Canucks? None other than current Flyers bench-boss Rick Tocchet.
“Both guys have played very well for us all year,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said, per NHL.com. “You go through the entire regular season, both guys have won big games. We have a lot of confidence in both guys. (The) decision isn’t based on Stu’s play; I thought Stu’s played really well this series.
“We lost three games and so (we) decided that we made some changes there in the lineup.”
I like it when coaches say, “It wasn’t because of his play…” because, obviously, it is to some extent. If they had been kicking a– and taking names all series long, they wouldn’t be pulling him.
But, in a situation like this, you have to shake things up. However, is it good to shake things up by opting for a backup goalie who the opposing coach is very familiar with?
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I don’t know that it is, but what choice do they have?
Plus, goaltending is just a piece of the puzzle that has been hard to put together for the Penguins this season. They’ve been way too easily falling into the Flyers’ physicality/gamesmanship trap between whistles, and their white-hot offense from the regular season has cooled down.
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So, it’s worth a shot, but this is a definite Hail Mary, especially when the guy behind the other bench is likely to point out every little weakness he has.
But, if it works, maybe it will change the tide for the series if it ends up going back to Pittsburgh for Game 5.
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