Penguins’ Arturs Silovs continues to show he’s the real deal
The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to compile crucial points in the standings as they progress toward locking up a surprising berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Even without the injured Sidney Crosby since returning from the Olympic break, the Penguins have gone 2-0-1 to maintain their hold on second place in the Metropolitan Division over a similarly surging New York Islanders squad.
Among many factors that have gone in to making Pittsburgh one of the stories of this NHL season, the success of goalie Arturs Silovs continues to stand out. Acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in the run-up to the regular season, Silovs blanked the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday to up his save percentage for the year to .902.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why Silovs’ contributions this season make him a focal point of the Penguins’ core moving forward.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s keep moving along. Who’s your other man of the weekend? Who do you want to give some love to?
Carter Hutton: I’ve got Arturs Silovs. He’s just been unbelievable coming out of the break. I know he got to play at the Olympics, and it wasn’t really his net. Elvis [Merzlikins] kind of took the net, but he had a shutout the other day, and his last start too, against the Devils, before that, he was great. He’s a goalie that we kind of forget, he doesn’t really have a lot of NHL experience. He kind of became a household name when he played 10 games in the playoffs for the Vancouver Canucks, and this year he’s been rock solid.
Skinner’s been finding ways to win games, his game has been a little bit of Jekyll-and-Hyde… but I think for Arturs Silovs and the Pittsburgh Penguins, this has been the team for me that’s been the most impressive story this year. The success they’ve been able to have, and where they’re at, I think nobody really expected… but for Silovs, kind of pairing this with his run that he had last year during the playoffs in the American Hockey League where he went on to win the Calder Cup, he played 24 games, he had a .931 save percentage and five shutouts. Now, he’s snowballed that into this run this year, and I look for him to play a meaningful role for the Penguins down the stretch.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Well and again, with no Sidney Crosby for, we’re expecting, a full month, someone had to step up and be the hero. The offense has been humming along for Pittsburgh, but for them to grab a couple of wins coming out of the break here, they’re 7-1-2 in their last 10, pushing themselves, I think MoneyPuck has them now at north of a 90% chance to make the playoffs, someone had to step and be a hero, and the fact that you’ve gotten a couple of good games from Arturs Silovs, every point is massive.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…