The future is now for the Pittsburgh Penguins after they called up goaltending prospect Sergei Murashov on Tuesday. 

Murashov was called up to the NHL squad from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, along with forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Ryan Graves, before the Penguins announced on Wednesday that forwards Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari, along with goaltender Tristan Jarry, will be out for multiple weeks with injuries. The Penguins also sent defenseman Owen Pickering back to WBS.

Brazeau has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, while Acciari and Jarry sustained their injuries during Monday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

This will be Murashov's first chance to show what he can do in the NHL after lighting up the AHL to start the 2025-26 season. He was named the AHL's Goaltender of the Month on Tuesday after finishing October with a 5-1 record, a 1.68 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage, and a shutout. He also allowed only 10 goals on 154 shots last month.

He was asked about that honor after Wednesday's practice and thanked his teammates for their efforts. He also confirmed that his confidence comes from what he's doing in the process, not the results.

"My confidence always comes from what I’m doing from the process, not from results," Murashov said. "So yeah, I think it was a really good process. First and foremost, I would like to say thanks to my team. They were all battling, and efforts all around were really, really high, and I truly appreciate that. I think it’s a good to work with all of the coaches in the Penguins organization. And yeah, I think again, it’s all about the process and what I’m doing, and enjoying my time."

Overall, he's 5-2 with a 1.73 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage this year. He's a significant reason why the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are off to an 8-2-0 start. He also got time with the WBS Penguins last year and won his first 10 starts, setting a new franchise record for the longest winning streak in a rookie season. 

He always looks so calm and composed while he's in the crease. Everything comes naturally to him, and his athletic ability is freakishly good. He still needs to work on his rebound control a bit, but it has improved to start this year.

Up to this point, the Penguins have rotated starts between Jarry and Silovs, and head coach Dan Muse was asked if that will continue now that Murashov is up. He didn't want to tip his hand just yet. 

"I mean, I guess I'll even go on the start of that with the going 50/50. That's been the case up to this point. At no point did we say this is something we're locked in and has to be this way; we're like everything else. We're constantly evaluating, we're constantly looking at what those options are. In terms of right now, in terms of how we're gonna go through things, we're still having conversations," Muse said after practice. "We're having conversations with the coaching staff, conversations with (Penguins goaltending coach) Andy Chiodo, and the rest of the staff. We're gonna continue to have those conversations, make decisions based on what we think is best, and those conversations will continue to go from game to game."

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The Penguins are about to go through a stretch where they'll play three games in four days. Murashov will get at least one of those three starts, but could he get two? The Penguins are set to play Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday. Wouldn't it be something to see Murashov go up against Ovechkin in his first NHL start? If he got that start, he'd get one of the two games over the weekend since the Penguins play the New Jersey Devils on Saturday and the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

However, Muse could opt to play it safe and give Silovs the start on Thursday before splitting the weekend back-to-back. 

Nevertheless, he's going to play at some point this week (and after), and he'll have the chance to show everyone that he could be the Penguins' goaltender of the future. 

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