Penguins blow 3rd-period lead in loss to Kings

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 9, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — The building was buzzing Sunday afternoon as rookie goalie Sergei Murashov made his much-anticipated NHL debut. But the Pittsburgh Penguins were unable to hold onto a third-period lead at PPG Paints Arena and they lost 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings.

Kevin Fiala scored with 8:08 left in the game to spoil the 21-year-old’s first game.

Fiala skated past Erik Karlsson, pulled the puck around Murashov then lifted a shot over the right-catching goalie’s glove and up into the top shelf for the winning goal.

As was probably to be expected, Murashov showed some jitters early in his debut. Early in the game, the Kings rang a shot off the post after he lost track of the puck in traffic. The first goal he allowed in the NHL came against a great player, but from an awful location. Anze Kopitar’s shot from the corner sneaked through his wickets.

Encouragingly, the Russian responded with a confident save on Adrian Kempe just a moment later. He came outside of the blue paint to cut down the angle on Kempe.

His most impressive save came in the second, with the Penguins up 2-1 and on the power play. The Kings skated in on a 2-on-1 rush and Alex Laferriere slipped a pass through Karlsson to Quinton Byfield. Murashov slid over to stop him with his right pad.

He made tough stops on Laferriere and Trevor Moore early in the third period but was fooled by veteran Corey Perry’s wrist shot through traffic with 15:11 left in the game. Murashov was just 1 year old when Perry made his own NHL debut in 2005.

Then, Murashov couldn’t bail out Karlsson after Fiala danced past the defenseman.

Tommy Novak gave Murashov and the Penguins a lead to work with by scoring 8:48 into the game. On his backhand, Evgeni Malkin put that one on the platter for him. The Kings tied it up 1-1 with 5:02 left in the first on Kopitar’s fluky power-play tally.

The Penguins retook the lead in the second with a power-play goal of their own. Anthony Mantha ran a give-and-go with Kris Letang before beating Darcy Kuemper.

But the Kings took control in the third period with those goals from Perry and Fiala.

Murashov made 24 saves in a losing effort.

The Penguins have lost two games in a row.

It was over when ...

They pulled Murashov for an extra attacker late in the third period but were unable to generate any dangerous chances against Kuemper and the Kings.

Stat of the game

1 — Russian goalies to ever start a game in goal for the Penguins. It was Murashov on Sunday. Another, Alexander Pechurskiy, appeared in relief for the team in 2010.

Around the boards

— Rookie forward Ben Kindel went to the dressing room late in the first period after Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke ran him into the wall with a legal hit. It appeared that Kindel’s face hit the boards. Kindel missed the start of the second period but was cleared to return. He resumed his spot on the top line and No. 1 power play.

— Penguins coach Dan Muse stuck with the same lineup he used in Saturday’s 2-1 shootout loss at New Jersey. Harrison Brunicke, Matt Dumba and Philip Tomasino were again healthy scratches. We will see if Brunicke, who has been used sparingly of late, travels with the Penguins to Sweden or if he is returned to his junior team.

— Murashov’s first save in the NHL came on a long, straightaway shot from Kempe.

— The Penguins have scored at least one power play goal in five of the last six games.

— Mantha is up to eight goals on the year. That is twice as many as he had a season ago with Calgary. He played in just 13 games for the Flames before tearing his ACL.

Coming up next

The Penguins will fly to Sweden on Monday. The team will be overseas for several days. The first of their two games against the Nashville Predators is Friday at 2 p.m. ET.

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