The Penguins were only down by a goal on Saturday when Dan Muse pulled Stuart Skinner in favor of the extra attacker with about 3:30 remaining, only for Mavrick Bourque to score an empty-net goal seconds later. Bourque would add a second empty-net goal with 1:10 to go to cap off a 6-3 loss.
It's not uncommon to pull the goaltender with three or four minutes remaining if down by multiple goals, but to do so only down one goal seemed to be pretty early to go for the extra attacker. I asked Muse afterward why he made that move.
"Give them the extra time," he said. "I thought we had an opportunity. We were in zone, we had it. I didn't have the time out, but I still felt like we wanted to make sure that we had time to operate and time to get in there. Sometimes too, you get the group out there and you're not able to get in the zone, and then so you might need a second chance at it, and so that would have given us an extra chance. I don't think it's too far off from a lot of the pulls this year."
THE ASYLUM
Did Muse pull Skinner too early?
The Penguins were only down by a goal on Saturday when Dan Muse pulled Stuart Skinner in favor of the extra attacker with about 3:30 remaining, only for Mavrick Bourque to score an empty-net goal seconds later. Bourque would add a second empty-net goal with 1:10 to go to cap off a 6-3 loss.
It's not uncommon to pull the goaltender with three or four minutes remaining if down by multiple goals, but to do so only down one goal seemed to be pretty early to go for the extra attacker. I asked Muse afterward why he made that move.
"Give them the extra time," he said. "I thought we had an opportunity. We were in zone, we had it. I didn't have the time out, but I still felt like we wanted to make sure that we had time to operate and time to get in there. Sometimes too, you get the group out there and you're not able to get in the zone, and then so you might need a second chance at it, and so that would have given us an extra chance. I don't think it's too far off from a lot of the pulls this year."
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits!
We’d love to have you!