Pittsburgh Penguins News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Oct 9, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Harrison Brunicke (45) celebrates his first NHL goal with the Penguins bench against the New York Islanders during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

New Penguins HC Simplifying Game

Originally posted on Breakaway on SI | By Jacob Punturi | Last updated Oct 10, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins are easily the most surprising team to begin the season 2-0 after they defeated the New York Islanders in their regular season home opener. It was the second straight game that the Penguins played a complete, 60-minute effort and the results followed.

It’s safe to say that no one had much faith in the Penguins entering the season, but through the first two games they are showing that they can win under their new head coach, Dan Muse. In his first NHL head coaching gig, he’s demonstrating how simplifying a few things can lead to great results.

F1, F2, F3 For You and For Me

Through two games, the Penguins are playing with a quick pace and smothering tenacity on their forecheck, and that is largely due to the new tactic implemented by Muse. The team is utilizing a modified 1-2-2 forecheck during even strength, and while it's a very common system, Muse is bringing a new twist to the F1,F2,F3 roles, and it's having a positive impact immediately.

This system of forechecking assigns each forward a role (F1, F2 or F3) and comes with specific assignments in the forechecking process. The F1 is the first forward in on the puck carrier, the F2 is usually charged with supporting the F1 and pressuring where the F1 is forcing the puck carrier to pass to, and the F3 is usually higher up in the zone to prevent the numbers from flipping in the opposition’s favor and as an outlet pass for the two forwards deeper in the zone.

Something the Penguins are executing brilliantly is the F1 and F2 working in harmony. Regardless of which line is on the ice, whoever is first in on the puck is doing an excellent job of forcing the puck carrier in a certain direction, and the F2 is already there to apply pressure or create a turnover. The Islanders and the New York Rangers in the previous game both struggled to make clean exits from their own zone because of this.

Get Dirty

As simply an adjustment as Muse has made with his forecheck is equally as simple a switch he’s emphasizing when the team has possession of the puck. For years under Mike Sullivan, the Penguins were a perimeter team when they were in the offensive zone. They cycled the puck behind the net, moved it to defensemen at the point, and settled for long-range shots.

Through two games, the emphasis on offense is simple: get to the dirty, high-danger areas. And they’re seeing how effective that can be. The team leads the league to begin the season in high-danger shots on goal, with 29 in two games. That’s 10 more than the next best team, the Florida Panthers.

Forward Justin Brazeau has been the key example of this. Playing in his first hand full of games with the team, the rugged winger has been making a beeline every offensive shift to the front of the net and he’s being rewarded. He has seven shots on goal from the high-danger areas of the ice and he’s netted three goals in two games to begin the year.

Sometimes the simplest things can have the biggest impacts and results, and the Penguins are seeing that first-hand to kick off the 2025-2026 season. While the sustainability of this level of forecheck aggression and hard-nosed offense is worth questioning, for now it has Pittsburgh off to the races and holding a 2-0 record to begin their campaign.

This article first appeared on Breakaway on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: