(TNS) —The Penguins did not leave their shootout struggles behind in 2025.

They continued Tuesday, yet another strong game — this time a gritty defensive effort against an excellent Lightning team — that netted just a single loser point.

Pittsburgh dropped to 1-6 in shootouts this season. Tuesday’s goalie, Arturs Silovs, has lost five of those after allowing goals on two of Tampa Bay’s three shootout attempts.

The 24-year-old netminder was superb to that point, making 30 saves to carry a Penguins team still mired in an offensive drought to overtime.

But once there, Silovs’ nightmare repeated. He’s now saved just 5 of 16 shootout tries this season. That .313 save percentage is the worst in the NHL among goalies with at least five attempts faced.

Pittsburgh’s other goalie, Stuart Skinner, has stopped 7 of 11 attempts this season (all with Edmonton). Yet Penguins coach Dan Muse said he wouldn’t consider swapping out Silovs in shootouts.

“It’s something that’s very, very rarely been done. It has, but it’s been very rare,” Muse said. “Especially now, [Silovs has] been working at it. He’s been getting better at it. As a team, we’ve been working at it.

“I do think there’s been improvement. I understand it needs to be better. But I think that the idea of subbing out, I think that’s something where you’re now also putting that other goaltender in a really tough situation. I see the work that he’s putting in every day to work on that, and I’ve seen that improvement.”

It’s hard to argue against the logic, both for Silovs and Skinner. Getting pulled after a splendid performance for 65 minutes could crush Silovs’ confidence. A goalie coming in cold is not likely to perform much better.

But the Penguins continue to bleed points in shootouts amid a crowded Eastern Conference. It seems likely to haunt them come April.

If pulling the goalies does not feel feasible to Muse, there are other levers he can pull — ones that might even have a bigger impact.

Pittsburgh’s shootout lineup could use at least one new face.

Egor Chinakhov got the nod in his first shootout game as a Penguin on Tuesday. He launched a heavy wrister past Andrei Vasilevskiy to briefly extend the game, while his more experienced teammates were stopped. He is 3 for 6 in his shootout career — the best percentage of any Penguin — and seems like an obvious choice to keep in the lineup.

Vasilevskiy batted away Rickard Rakell’s wrister with his stick after Rakell made a slow move to the net. Still, he’s scored at a 40.9% career clip in shootouts and converted his only other attempt this season. The 32-year-old Swede should probably stay in the lineup, too.

But the player with the most shootout attempts for the Penguins is now 1 for 6 this season and 2 for 13 over the past two years.

He did not get his attempt off in Tuesday’s shootout, misfiring on a backhand shot.

It seems blasphemous to suggest Sidney Crosby should not be in the shootout lineup, and his struggles will likely motivate him to return to the shootout dominance he showed earlier in his career. But Evgeni Malkin (1 for 2 this year), Ben Kindel (winner of the team’s shootout drill in Sweden earlier this season), or another player might be a better option for now.

The shootout loss puts an unfortunate stain on an otherwise eye-opening effort against the hottest team in the NHL. The Lightning have now won 11 straight, the longest streak for any team in the league this season and tied for their franchise record.

Silovs and a disciplined defense, missing Erik Karlsson for the first time, limited Tampa’s chances throughout. The visitors’ only regulation goal came on a play that could have been whistled dead, as Silovs had the puck in his crease.

He and Skinner have combined to hold opponents to just five regulation goals in their last four games, yet the Penguins collected just three points in that stretch.

Pittsburgh looked poised to win its fourth straight overtime game Tuesday after a 1-9 start this season. They registered four of the five overtime shots, including some golden chances, and controlled the puck.

The team’s 3-on-3 play has vastly improved from earlier in the season — but their one win in seven shootouts is a disservice to the sound hockey that’s carried them there.