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[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Stars Recap: Crosby, Pens forecheck carries the day in Dallas

Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images

The Pens get to work and it pays off. Sidney Crosby gets a hat trick and Pittsburgh notches an upset win over the Dallas Stars

Pregame​

Evgeni Malkin is back from injury for his first game since March 23rd and the Penguins’ forward group actually looks pretty good at this time of year.

Welcome back to the lineup, Geno! pic.twitter.com/iiW7p1O9zi

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 5, 2025​

The Dallas Stars have to play again tomorrow, so they opt to give starter Jake Oettinger the day off so backup Casey DeSmith gets the net for the home team.

First period​

Kris Letang takes a penalty 21 seconds into the game but the Pens still get off to a hot start and test DeSmith early. When Letang gets out of the box he gets tripped and Pittsburgh gets their first power play of the game. They score on it, and it’s who else but Sidney Crosby scoring the goal to extend his point streak to 12 games. 1-0 Pens just 4:16 into the game.

LEGEND TO LEGEND pic.twitter.com/O1yZPntFNZ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 5, 2025​

The Pens turn the puck over and Erik Karlsson gets caught in no man land. He tries to break up Oskar Back’s pass instead of falling back with Evgenii Dadonov and fails on it. Tristan Jarry is way deep in his net and Dadonov skates in and lifts the puck over him. 1-1 game.

Gonna just scoot right past ya pic.twitter.com/MN51PSSuH6

— X - Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 5, 2025​

The Pens get another power play but can’t score.

Shots are 12-8 PIT through 20. Good period for the visitors against a strong opponent, 1-1 score.

Second period​

Roope Hintz has a bad shift where he accidentally clips DeSmith’s head with his side and then takes a penalty. The Pens don’t score but get a couple looks, Crosby almost had a baseball-style mid-air goal but it went high. DeSmith shakes off the jarring hit he took to hold on.

Letang is back to the penalty box and the Stars score this time. Matt Grzelcyk lets a puck get by him and then Matt Duchene fires a pass with no respect to Ryan Shea’s ability to break it up. Shea doesn’t and Dadonov is on the receiving end to score his second of the game. 2-1 Dallas.

What a FEED from Dutchy pic.twitter.com/3DtIoqxFqN

— X - Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 5, 2025​

Shots are 11-5 PIT in the second period and 23-13 PIT overall in the game. Dallas is giving them some outside looks. Not a bad game for the Pens but they trail 2-1 heading into the third period.

Third period​

The Pens come out hot in the third and score 20 seconds in. Bryan Rust gets in on the forecheck and helps turn the puck over to Rutger McGroarty. The rookie bumps a pass over for Crosby and the captain quickly shoots it to the far-side to tie the game 2-2.

Sidney Crosby has TEN goals and 18 points over his 12-game point streak pic.twitter.com/EDYNgA0sFf

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 5, 2025​

The offense has been all Crosby and Dadonov so the latter steps back up for his third goal of the game. Dadonov collects an incoming puck, and sends a backhander by Jarry. 3-2 Dallas is back in front.

SECOND CAREER HAT TRICK FOR EVGENII DADONOV! pic.twitter.com/VspPKuw1fU

— X - Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 5, 2025​

With 11:11 to go, Rust finally breaks the Crosby/Dadonov monopoly on goal scoring. Rust’s pressure on the forecheck forces Ilya Lyubushkin to lose an edge and take a tumble. Puck goes to Crosby on the wall who centers it for Rust to backhand in. 3-3 game.

Rusty's 200th NHL goal is a beaut pic.twitter.com/is1ujws426

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 5, 2025​

A Cody Ceci-involved disaster puts the Pens ahead with just 1:43 to go. Ceci wanders over towards Thomas Harley after the latter was being hounded by Blake Lizotte and they have a huge collision. Danton Heinen receives the gift and passes it over for Lizotte to wire a one-timer by DeSmith. 4-3 Pens.

BLAKE LIZOTTE! Lizotte capitalizes on the brutal Dallas mistake, giving Pittsburgh the late lead!#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/OwbYYi4Pt2

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 5, 2025​

Dallas uses their timeout to regroup. They pull DeSmith but it doesn’t work, Crosby fires a long-range shot from his own end right down the middle for his 30th goal of the season and to put the Pens up 5-3 with 1:15 to play.

That’ll do it, the Stars’ seven-game winning streak is history courtesy of the Penguins.

Some thoughts​

• The first goal of the game saw the 61st occurrence where Crosby, Malkin and Letang factored into the goal, per Bob Grove. Who knows how many more Big 3 exclusive goals there will be, always fun to see.
• Casey DeSmith now has 187 career games but this was the first time DeSmith played against the Penguins. He played pretty well, including a series of big stops against Rakell, Koivunen and Grzelcyk in a third period scramble but the Pens kept pushing and eventually got enough by him.
• Dallas plays a more important game tomorrow against Minnesota so it was tactically wise to rest their starter but it’s interesting that for one reason or another the Pens have faced a team’s backup goalie for four straight games. Presumably that will end tomorrow against Chicago since they don’t play today.
• Dadonov has the look of the Russian guy who if this was 25+ years ago would be smoking cigs during intermission (shoutout Sergei Zubov) and then coming back out and skating around and through everyone.
• Dadonov’s three goals brings him close to 20 on the year, if he gets there that would make the eighth player on their team to get to 20+ this season (counting Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund who did most of their damage on other teams). That’s the most in the league, having that many capable options for scoring should come in handy for them come playoff time. Now they just need to get one of the league’s better defenders in Miro Heiskanen healthy and they should be ready to rock and roll.
• What stands out most about Crosby’s point streak? Gotta be the amount of goals, he’s got 11G+9A in this 12-game run. Of course, 20 total points in 12 games isn’t that far behind in impressiveness. Crosby’s three goals today pushed him up to his 13th career 30-goal season.
• It’s a shame that Rust wasn’t credited with an assist on the second Crosby goal. Rust didn’t get to the puck but it was his pressure and effort that started the chance. Really nice pass from McGroarty, building the chemistry with Crosby/Rust in the final few games is a huge benefit for the future,
• In that regard, the Penguin forecheck in the reason they won today. All three of their 5v5 goals were kickstarted by great F1 forechecks (Rust on the first two, Lizotte on the GWG).

The Pens are back at it tomorrow in Chicago. Puck drops shortly after 6:00pm eastern.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/4/5/...rick-pens-forecheck-carries-the-day-in-dallas

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Chicago Blackhawks 4/6/2025

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

The Pens gear up for the first of two games in a row against Chicago

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (31-34-12, 74 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Chicago Blackhawks (21-45-10, 52 points, 8th place Central Division)

When: 6:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: SportsNet Pittsburgh and Chicago Sports Network in the local markets, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: After not seeing Chicago in the first 77 games of the 2024-25 season, the Pens will deal with them twice in a row with the next game back in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Pens then get two days off before their final road game of the season coming up next Friday in New Jersey before returning home to play the Bruins a week from today in Game No 81. The season ends with a 4/17 home game against Washington.

Opponent Track: The Blackhawks found themselves on the wrong side of history in their last game by giving up two goals to Alex Ovechkin, watching him tie Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 894 career goals. Chicago was winning that game 3-2 at the start of the third period before slumping away to a 5-3 loss on Friday. Overall it’s been tough times, in the last four weeks (since March 8th) CHI has a dreadful 1-10-2 record as their tear-down build continues to scrape the bottom.

Season Series: It’d be difficult to find a season series more delayed than this one. PIT/CHI plays tonight in Game No. 78 of the season for the Pens, then again on Tuesday back in Pittsburgh to knock out a whole season series within a few days.

Hidden Stat: In the Sidney Crosby era (2005-present), the Penguins have only won three out of 12 games played in Chicago (3-6-3). That record has been boosted by Pittsburgh winning in both of their last two trips to the Windy City!

Getting to know the Blackhawks​

Projected lines (from yesterday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Ryan Donato - Connor Bedard - Ilya Mikheyev

Teuvo Teravainen - Frank Nazar - Tyler Bertuzzi

Landon Slaggert - Oliver Moore - Philipp Kurashev

Lukas Reichel - Joe Veleno - Nick Foligno

DEFENSEMEN

Alex Vlasic / Sam Rinzel

Kevin Korchinski / Connor Murphy

Wyatt Kaiser / Artem Levshunov

Goalies: Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom

Scratches: Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach, Pat Maroon, TJ Brodie, Ethan Del Mastro, Louis Crevier, Alec Martinez

IR: Shea Weber, Laurent Brossoit

—First, the irony and absurdity that literal Hockey Hall of Famer Shea Weber is on Chicago’s books, where he’ll be next season as well. Chicago’s full circle from dealing out LTIR-retired contracts like Marian Hossa and Brent Seabrook to taking on the cap hit of their own.

—This lineup has four new rookies all 20 or younger (Moore, Rinzel, Levshunov, Korchinski) finishing out the stretch in the NHL much the same way the Pens are giving McGroarty and Koivunen a late look. Levshunov, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, might be the most intriguing to watch after a very impressive age-18 season in the AHL has him primed to be an NHL impact player sooner than later.

—Before and after those callups, we’re dealing with a very young lineup that’s gotten younger over the season after dealing Seth Jones, Taylor Hall and Petr Mrazek away. There’s a few random vets here and there, but counting scratches there are 13 players in the 19-23 year old range with the NHL club right now.

—They’re young enough where Reichel was scratched for last game due to missing a team meeting by oversleeping thanks to a phone battery failing him. We’ve all been there but this isn’t a very professional operation at the moment with large doses of youth and inexperience permeating the team, and not in a good way. Many fans yearn for starting anew with young players, but Chicago’s current situation shows the growing pains and bumps along the way that come with competing in the world’s toughest league with so many learning the ropes at the same time.

—When Reichel gets back into the lineup today it sadly looks like it will be at the expense of Pat Maroon, who has announced his retirement at season’s end. Would be nice to see the big guy play some more before he goes out. On the vet front, Brodie’s been almost unplayably bad (and on this team it’s saying something) and Martinez joined Matt Grzelcyk in the “so bad contenders don’t even want the depth on an expiring contract at the deadline” area.

Player stats​

(via hockeydb)

—Bedard has failed to meet a lot of the lofty tags and designation he was given upon entering the league but he’s put up 120 points in 144 games as a teenager in the NHL without a ton of team support or structure. It’s probably important to remember that Bedard was the second youngest full-time NHL player in the league this year (behind SJ’s Macklin Celebrini). There’s always a hot take looming but his career path might be heading for more Nathan MacKinnon than Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid. That’s not too shabby either.

—Bertuzzi has three more years on his contract and in a quiet moment would be forgiven for wondering just what he signed up for in his career by going to Chicago last summer as a free agent.

—It’ll be interesting to see if Knight and the Hawks can grow together. A former first round pick in 2019, Knight made it to the NHL super-quick and was looking like a future star by 2022 and age 21 when he inked a contract to match (three years, $4.5m cap hit). Since then, as only goalies can, he’s floundered. The skill is there somewhere but he’s certainly a player with a loud ticking clock to get back on track before he skids out of control.

And now for the Pens​

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rutger McGroarty - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Rickard Rakell - Evgeni Malkin - Ville Koivunen

Danton Heinen - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

Connor Dewar - Kevin Hayes - Philip Tomasino

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Erik Karlsson / Conor Timmins

Ryan Graves / Ryan Shea

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic (Tristan Jarry played yesterday)

Potential Scratches: Vladislav Kolyachonok, Tommy Novak (lower body), Boko Imama (bicep surgery, out for season)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper body)

—We purposely inverted the bottom-six forward lines from how the Penguins list them due to usage. Heinen-Acciari-Lizotte all played 13-15 even strength minutes yesterday against Dallas. The Dewar-Hayes-Tomasino line were all in a 5-6 minute range. Some of that was due to the Stars’ style fit better for capable players along the boards to take more shifts and some due to performance. It certainly was the right call since Heinen and Lizotte teamed up for the game winner yesterday.

—Joona Koppanen quietly got sent back to the minors over the weekend since Evgeni Malkin returned to full health.

—No official word on the goalie for today but Alex Nedeljkovic could be in-line to start only his second game in the last four weeks due to the back-to-back. Pretty crazy how things have shifted from last year at this time when the Pens were roaring down the stretch and Nedeljkovic was in net for the last 13 games. This year it’s been a strong finish but with Nedeljkovic mostly watching from the bench.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/4/6/...ttsburgh-penguins-chicago-blackhawks-4-6-2025

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins/Blackhawks Recap: Mostly lifeless Pens tripped up in Chicago

Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images

Rickard Rakell scores late, but the Penguins can’t climb out of a hole they dig against the Blackhawks

Pregame​

There’s a mild surprise to start the day, Philip Tomasino is injured and can’t play so the up-and-down from the AHL Joona Koppanen is back up for the day. Alex Nedeljkovic gets the nod in net on the second half of the back-to-back.

Tonight's lineup in Chicago.

Philip Tomasino is being evaluated for an upper-body injury and will not play. pic.twitter.com/dAEs5JrlRR

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 6, 2025​

First period​

Of all the periods in a season, the first was definitely one of them. That’s about as much as you can say about that, no goals or penalties or very much in the way of exciting developments.

On the plus side, there is a lot of skating and end-to-end play and a lack of whistles, so that’s nice.

Shots are 8-6 PIT through 20.

Second period​

The second period is a lot like the first. No goals or penalties for the longest time and lots of stretches of whistle-free play. Blake Lizotte deflects a puck past goalie Spencer Knight, but his stick was comically about straight vertical in the air and it was an easy and correctly ruled not a good goal.

With 2:59 to go, the Penguins earn the first power play of the game. The first goal is scored on it, but by Chicago. The Blackhawks got one odd-man rush early but couldn’t score. More zone time happened for the Pens but another situation of a loose puck near the wall caused trouble for Erik Karlsson, as it seems to do. Puck and player both get by him and CHI had another 2-on-1 with Kris Letang back. But the ‘Hawks make two passes through Letang and Frank Nazar wires a short-side shot by Nedeljkovic.

Frank's first shorthanded goal, nbd pic.twitter.com/G4F0jQRKrk

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 6, 2025​

Pittsburgh gets another power play late but neither team can score.

That does it for the second period and we have a goal but it’s by the Blackhawks.

Third period​

The Pens don’t do much with their carryover power play time, besides Matt Grzelcyk charging in and slashing a guy for no reason to send himself to the penalty box. Pittsburgh kills that off.

Bryan Rust almost stuffs one in from the side of the net but no dice.

Chicago extends their lead with 10:20 to play. Ilya Mikheyev leaves Conor Timmins in the dust and Conor Bedard hits him with a pass. Mikheyev finishes the breakaway. 2-0.

Ilya goal Sam Rinzel's first point pic.twitter.com/kHLVdGsBci

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 7, 2025​

Mike Sullivan was going nuts on the bench after the goal to the refs, giving the refs a very angry version of the Logan Roy from Succession (extremely NSFW!) over an uncalled slash in the buildup to the play. The players on the team didn’t have a lot of juice tonight but the coach was still very invested.

Evgeni Malkin gets taken down and slides hard into the boards to send Pittsburgh to one more power play with 5:40 to go. The Pens quickly get on the board just 16 seconds into the power play. Ville Koivunen starts the play off the wall to pass down to Rust on the goal line. Rust one-touches a pass to the bumper for Rickard Rakell to smack into the net for his 34th goal of the season. 2-1 game with 5:24 to go.

Ilya goal Sam Rinzel's first point pic.twitter.com/kHLVdGsBci

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 7, 2025​

Rust loses the puck in the neutral zone and the play goes the other way. Bedard leads a 2-on-1 and calls his own number with a shot. Big stop by Nedeljkovic to keep the game alive.

Nedeljkovic gets pulled with 1:50 remaining. No heroics this time, Rust has a chance low but the Pens lose the puck and Chicago works the puck up the ice to Mikheyev for an empty net goal to cap this one off with 56 seconds to go. 3-1.

Some thoughts​

• It wasn’t the loudest game but it’s fun to zero in on Rutger McGroarty. He put a cross-ice lead pass right on Bryan Rust’s tape in the second period. Rust had some open net looking at him but his aim on the shot went wide. Later in the second, McGroarty showed his hockey IQ and hung back towards the right point when Erik Karlsson gained a zone entry. Karlsson ended up looking back high and hit the pass to McGroarty that led to a nice shot and chance after McGroarty stepped inside a defender. Little things but encouraging to see the rookie putting it together piece by piece as the days and games go by.
• Similarly, they didn’t score but it was a nice little game from the newly connected second line of Rakell-Malkin-Koivunen. They were the best offensive line of the night for generating some chances, with Koivunen featuring in the middle of a lot of it. Malkin had a team-high 5 shots before getting tripped and tumbling hard into the boards late in the game. Hopefully nothing of consequence happened there beyond the uncomfortable moment.
• When I say the game moved quickly in the early part, that was illustrated by the faceoff total. Usually in NHL hockey there’s about a faceoff per minute. Through 40 minutes there were only 28 total faceoffs. Add in period starts, the penalty and the goal and that left only 24 other stoppages in 40 minutes. Might as well zoom through a game like this as quickly as possible.
• For better or worse, Karlsson is always authentically himself in trying to play the puck. It’s a good thing to have a short memory and get after it the next time but he’s got no qualms about attempting low percentage keeps near the blueline. Too often it burns him and the team.
• Whether it’s sometimes being on the left side or in too big of a role, the arrow is pointing down on Timmins in these last few games. He had a really good start with the Pens in his first handful of games and earned a shot for more ice and a bigger role but it hasn’t gone well. Granted, every single defenseman on the team is having his own struggles at times too, might just have to ride it out and see what happens.
• The Penguins looked very much like a team in their third city in four days, especially considering they emptied the tank with a huge effort yesterday against a good Stars team. Sometimes that catches up.
• This loss officially mathematically eliminates the Pens from the playoffs. Not that it was a big surprise.

These same Blackhawks come to Pittsburgh for a rematch on Tuesday night.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/2025/4/6/...ap-mostly-lifeless-pens-tripped-up-in-chicago