The good news for the Penguins is that the last week has looked better than the first 3 weeks did. Arturs Silovs stopped 26 shots in a 4-0 shutout of Florida that ended a 4-game skid. Then he started again in a 3-2 win over Nashville, the night Avery Hayes made his season debut after a hot start at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 5 goals and 4 assists in 6 AHL games. That's 2 goals allowed in 2 games at home, and it came with a thin blue line.
Utah has its own blue-line problem. John Marino is out, Maveric Lamoureux is on IR, and Michael Carcone (upper body) is on IR up front. Those holes show. As of Monday, the Mammoth have allowed 4 or more goals in 4 of their last 5, including a 6-2 home loss to Edmonton and a 5-3 loss in Seattle. They keep winning shootouts by another name: 5-4 over Pittsburgh, and 5-4 in overtime over Tampa Bay after climbing out of a 4-2 hole, with rookie Dmitri Simashev scoring his first NHL goal along the way.
So here's the matchup: a Utah team that scores in bunches and gives a lot back, against a Pittsburgh team that has suddenly started keeping the puck out of its own net with whoever is healthy. If Silovs keeps playing like he did against Florida and Nashville, the Mammoth will have to earn their goals in a way they didn't in the first meeting. If Malkin can't go again, the Penguins will have to win a low-scoring game, and that's a lot to ask against a lineup this deep.
Before any of that, watch Tuesday's game against Minnesota. A heavy night there, followed by a flight east and a short turnaround, is the kind of thing that decides a game in October. Pittsburgh gets to sit at home and wait.