The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a solid start to the 2026-27 NHL season thus far. Pittsburgh has been able to claim some big wins early on. However, Rickard Rakell and his teammates were unable to pick up a win on Monday night.

The Penguins took on the Winnipeg Jets, who have had a solid start to the year in their own right. The Jets are coming off a win over the Detroit Red Wings. And they kept that momentum going with a 3-2 win on Monday. After the game, Rakell explained why he felt his team couldn't put Winnipeg away.

“I thought we had a good start to the game, but then we kind of got away a little bit,” Rakell said, via NHL.com. “Got a little bit impatient maybe, which kind of made the momentum go to their side. Not enough shifts going hand in hand in trying to get back into this game. We just have to be better.”

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It was a rather low event game for the first half of the contest. However, Pittsburgh was able to score the first goal. Ben Kindel scored his second of the season to make it a 1-0 game. Unfortunately, they let this lead slip in the third.

Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry scored for the Jets as part of a three-goal third period. Declan Carlile added one of the Penguins, but it wasn't enough. Pittsburgh dropped its first game of the season, while Winnipeg has won two straight.

The Penguins have a chance to get back on track on Wednesday night when Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.