As Dan Muse spoke, the emotion, passion and honesty in his voice was evident.

His press conference following Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken felt like a breath of fresh air due to that level of rawness. But it was also indicative of the Penguins’ precarious position around the NHL season’s quarter pole.

Is this a bad team coming off a hot start, or a good team enduring a bump in the road?

It’s tough to handicap right now, the Penguins balancing a 8-2-2 start with a 2-4-3 November and needing to improve in a few areas to show those first 12 games weren’t a fluke.

“We’ve taken some steps from the beginning of the year,” Muse said. “There’s also a lot of room for improvement. That’s the exciting part.

“Taking it one day at a time and getting a little better each day, I

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