Dan Muse Uses One Word To Describe Penguins’ Struggles

For the first month of the 2025/26 NHL season, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked like a team reborn. They were fast, sharp, and dangerous, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin turning back the clock and briefly leading the league in goals and assists respectively. But November has told a very different story. With a series of losses, Penguins have fallen from one of the NHL’s best early-season teams to a group stuck in the middle of both the conference and division standings.

The slump has come at a tough time. Pittsburgh’s core has been together for nearly two decades, and while the team has young players stepping up — like rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov, who has been a bright spot in net, and depth forwards contributing when they can — the Penguins are struggling to turn flashes of brilliance into consistent results.

On top of that, this could also be Geno’s final season, though Malkin has vowed to finish his career with the Penguins, adding another layer of significance to a roster that has carried its identity through nearly 20 years of high-level play.

Evgeni Malkin is ONLY interested in playing hockey if it's with the Pittsburgh Penguins 🫣🔥

(h/t @TheRGMedia) pic.twitter.com/wjDmxGA40u
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 20, 2025

The Most Awkward Penguins Moment of the Season

The Penguins’ most awkward moment of the season may have happened off the ice. During this slump, nobody has been more frustrated with the team than their new head coach, Dan Muse. After a 3–2 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken, he was asked during a postgame presser a basic question: Did he see any common themes during the Penguins’ skid?

There was a noticeable pause before Muse answered, leaving the room momentarily unsettled. The silence hung for a few seconds as everyone waited. Then he spoke, giving a single word in response.

“Consistency.”

That was it. One word. Short, sharp, and said with the mix of exhaustion and irritation you’d expect from a coach watching winnable games slip away. It was funny in the way only tense moments can be, but it also made something clear: Muse is flat-out tired of seeing his team play well in stretches but fail to close out games.

Muse Frustrated with how the Penguins are Playing

Part of that frustration comes from knowing the team *can* play better. Muse praised his rookie goaltender for battling against Seattle, and his next answer in the presser showed just how thin the margin for error has become.

“Yeah. Our game was better, but we just came out of this weekend with one out of four points, and that’s not good enough… Was our process better? It was. We need to get points… Those little details, the little things can make a difference… I’m not going to sit here and say that’s good enough. It’s not. We’re past that. We need points right now.”

It was honest, blunt, and as direct as a coach can get.

A WILD stat that shows just how long Sidney Crosby has been dominating the NHL...

Feel old yet? 🤯🐧 pic.twitter.com/QXciVtDjvn
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 7, 2025

What's Next for the Pittsburgh Penguins

If the Penguins want to climb back toward the top of the standings, the solution isn’t complicated. They need the consistency their coach is begging for. Too many games this month have been filled with “positives” but not results. That’s how teams fall out of the playoff picture before Christmas.

Finishing chances. Limiting mistakes in overtime. Getting more from the bottom six. These are small things, but small things are often what separate a slump from a streak.

For all the frustration, one thing remains true: the Penguins still believe they have a team capable of going on deep postseason run. Crosby is still elite, Malkin is still producing, and Letang continues to log massive minutes. The window may be narrow, but it hasn’t closed yet. And with a core this iconic there’s no shortage of motivation to make sure this ending is written the right way.

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