There really isn’t anything tangible that would validate any postulate suggesting rookie Arturs Silovs is the Pittsburgh Penguins’ best goaltender.
Veteran Stuart Skinner as well as prospects Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov — each stationed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League at the moment — might have something to say about that matter.
But what is certain is that Silovs is the only Penguins goaltender who has a win at the NHL level in the past three weeks.
In fact, he has two over that span.
His latest came Sunday in a 7-3 road win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Silovs stopped 21 of 24 shots in that triumph.
A four-goal outburst in the first period propelled the visitors.
“A big surprise yesterday, scoring four goals on seven shots,” Silovs said Monday in Cranberry. “Happy to see (teammates) thriving and getting the goals. Overall, it was a good game. Guys played hard. Competing, battling, blocking shots. Every single little detail — winning the board battles — it matters so much.”
As far as Silovs’ specific duties are concerned, seeing the puck is a major detail, if not the primary criterion for success. As he labored through an individual seven-game losing streak (0-3-4) between Nov. 8 and Dec. 18, Silovs admitted he needed to do a better job of identifying the puck through traffic.
“When it’s harder to find the puck, the game gets faster,” Silovs said Dec. 3. “You’re always a little bit behind it. And at this level, you can’t really do that.”
Within the context of his brief, ongoing two-game winning streak, he feels his view of the puck, despite net-front chaos, has improved.
“When I see more pucks, I feel confident in the things that I do,” Silovs said. “Battling the traffic, sometimes even when you see the puck and (players) block it (shooting lanes), it’s still a good sign. Maybe they’ll tip it. But traffic-wise, I think it’s been pretty good.”
His past two victories have been a study in contrasts.
A 4-3 shootout home win against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 21 was a furious battle that featured a handful of lead changes. After holding steady during a dominant overtime period for the Canadiens, Silovs stopped two of three shootout attempts to get a win.
As for Sunday’s game, He had a big lead throughout the contest and rarely seemed in danger of yielding it.
But having been on the wrong end of a handful of losses this season in which his team gave up multi-goal leads in the third period, Silovs knows better than to get comfortable.
“When you get an early 4-0 (lead), you (might) think the game is over. But it’s never over in this league. Guys are really talented, and they can do so many things in a short span of time. You just have to be ready and just keep battling. Not giving them too many chances.”
To be certain, Silovs’ numbers over these two games won’t make anyone forget Marc-Andre Fleury (or even Les Binkley). He has allowed six goals on 49 shots, equating to a .878 save percentage, over this two-game sample.
But wins are wins, and he’s the only Penguins goaltender with any since Dec. 7.
“If you go through maybe a stretch that you’re not happy with for a player at any position, sometimes you’ve just got to get back to those fundamentals of what makes you you and what works best,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “You’re seeing him get back to some of those things. You see it in games, but you also see it in practices, too. He’s a real competitor. That’s the driving force of his games, just staying with some of those high-danger plays.
“He’s never out of it. He’s been showing it in some recent games here.”
How any of this might dictate which or how many games Silovs gets to play in the immediate future is unclear.
Through some combination of Silovs, Skinner, Murashov and former starter Tristan Jarry, the Penguins largely have alternated almost every other start in net this season. While a platoon has not been formally declared by Penguins management, it has simply unfolded in that fashion for the bulk of 2025-26.
Following the Dec. 12 trade that sent Jarry, a two-time All-Star, to the Edmonton Oilers (with Skinner coming to Pittsburgh as part of the exchange), Silovs understands he has a wonderful opportunity to stake a claim to earn a greater share of the starts.
At the same time, he limits his focus to strictly his next game. Whenever that is.
“I think it just opened the door a little bit more for me,” Silovs said. “(Jarry) had been here playing 10 years. … For me individually, I just like controlling what I can control in my circle.”
Largely a spare part in the three partial NHL seasons he spent with the Vancouver Canucks before joining the Penguins via a trade in July, the 24-year-old already has set career highs in games played (17) as the campaign approaches the midway point.
Being in the NHL on a day-to-day basis is still very much a learning process for Silovs as he makes a case to be the Penguins’ top goaltender.
“Just getting into the flow of the season, you understand more from the mental (side), how you have to prepare every single day to be here,” Silovs said. “It’s a growing process. First (full) season. Just one day at a time.
“There’s still half of a season, a little bit more. Just chipping away.”
Note: Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was withheld from practice Monday because of an unspecified illness. Muse labeled his absence as precautionary.
