3 least impressive Pittsburgh Penguins players from 5-0 shutout loss to Minnesota Wild ft. Arturs Silovs

The Pittsburgh Penguins were on the short end of a 5-0 blanking on Friday night at the PPG Paints Arena. The Minnesota Wild summarily defeated the Penguins, handing them their sixth loss of the season.

The scoring was all Minnesota as Matt Boldy scored twice for the Wild, with Joel Eriksson Ek (PPG), Marcus Johansson, and Kirill Kaprizov getting the other goals. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins failed to get much offense going, mustering just 19 shots on goal.

So, here’s a look at the three least impressive Pittsburgh Penguins players from their shutout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

3 least impressive Pittsburgh Penguins players from shutout loss to Minnesota Wild

#3 Kris Letang

The Pittsburgh Penguins veteran blueliner did not have a good night. He ended the game a minus-3 in nearly 20 minutes of ice time. He was outmatched on several occasions, leading to Minnesota goals.

Here’s a look at one such example, as shown on the Wild’s official X account:

Letang lost the puck in a battle along the boards. The pass came to the front of the net, where Matt Boldy had all the time in the world to beat Arturs Silovs. Letang didn’t even try to get back into the play. His defense partner, Ryan Shea, tried to get back, but was far too late to manage anything.

#2 Ryan Shea

Letang’s partner was equally bad on Thursday night. He also ended the game a minus-3 in a little over 18 minutes of ice time across 20 shifts. He did not manage a shot on goal, while getting two blocks.

Here’s a look at one particularly tough situation:

Shea was unable to move Eriksson Ek away from the front of the net. So, the Wild forward was able to easily find the puck and redirect Zeev Buium’s point shot past Silovs. Shea, in the meantime, was unable to do much to prevent the game from becoming 2-0 midway through the second period.

#1 Arturs Silovs

Arturs Silovs was coming off a series of good starts. Despite managing just one win in his last three outings, the Penguins' netminder had been solid. However, he was on the wrong end of a bad performance against the Wild.

Silovs surrendered four goals and ten shots and was done early in the second period. Sergei Murashov came in relief and stopped 11 of 12 shots the rest of the way.

Moving forward, the Penguins hope Friday night’s outing was just an aberration for Silovs. The Penguins will be looking to get back into the win column as they take on the Seattle Kraken at home on Saturday night.