Penguins, Alex Nedeljkovic blank Predators for 1st shutout of season

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered Saturday in something of a dour mood.

Defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor, two popular teammates, had left in the middle of the night after being traded away to the Vancouver Canucks in a transaction Friday that was necessitated by the Penguins’ mostly lackluster performance to this point of the regular season.

As for those who remain, they profess a devotion to being competitive and maintaining some semblance of contending — even if through a wobbly definition of the term — for a wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.

“That’s everyone’s thought process,” Penguins forward Kevin Hayes said in Cranberry after an optional morning skate. “If it’s not, I think it will get weeded out quickly. We’re here to win games. No one’s here just going through the motions. Hopefully, we start putting a good amount of wins together.”

That happened Saturday as the Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators, 3-0, at PPG Paints Arena. The result was their second consecutive victory but only their fifth win (5-8-3) in the past 16 games since New Year’s Eve.

Stopping 25 shots, Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic recorded his and the team’s first shutout this season while boosting his record to 11-9-4.

The departures of Pettersson and O’Connor weren’t unexpected. Both players were on expiring contracts and Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has had a stated goal of stocking up on future assets.

Still, their exits weren’t easy to digest for their now former teammates.

“Luckily, I was asleep when the news came out, otherwise I wouldn’t have slept again last night,” Nedeljkovic said. “Obviously, it sucks losing two good players like (Pettersson) and (O’Connor). I think everybody forgets the human side of it and they’re two really unbelievable people.”

The Penguins got back two people — veteran forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Vincent Desharnais — in the trade along with a conditional first-round draft pick as well as forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom.

Heinen, who spent the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons with the Penguins, and Desharnais made something of a mad dash from Dallas — where the Canucks played Friday — to get to Pittsburgh and were each in the lineup Saturday.

Capable of playing either wing, Heinen opened the contest on the right wing of the second line and logged 12:42 of ice time on 17 shifts and recorded three shots on four attempts.

“Found out about 11 o’clock last night and then was on the road this morning at like 5:45 (a.m.),” Heinen said. “It happened quick, quick turnaround, but it’s kind of better that way to get in and you don’t have much time to think about it. You just get in and get your feet wet. It’s good to be back.”

Desharnais made his debut with the club on the right side of the third pairing. Clocking 16:17 of ice time on 19 shifts, he blocked a team-leading four shots and used his 6-foot-7, 226-pound body to initiate contact with a handful of wayward Predators.

“I’m excited to be with this group of guys,” Desharnais said. “It’s a great group. There’s a lot of talented players here. Yes, I’m here to play, but I’m here to learn and get better being around those guys.”

This group of guys is still largely the same outfit that struggled mightily last season in the days before and after the trade deadline when popular forward Jake Guentzel — and to a lesser extent, defenseman Chad Ruhwedel — were dealt away.

A handful of players acknowledged a malaise set in before the Guentzel transaction then continued to linger.

At least based on Saturday’s triumph, no such doldrums appear to be in place following the egresses of Pettersson and O’Connor.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had experience with it,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “Obviously, that sucks. But we didn’t want what happened last year to happen again. For us, we’ve just got to accept it and move on. Obviously, there’s certain guys, myself included, that it might hit a little bit harder. … We’ve just got to understand we’ve got to keep on battling. We’ve got to keep moving forward because if we have a little lull because of it, (stuff) can hit the fan and we can slip further away from the playoffs. For us, we’ve just got keep focusing on the day in front of us.”

The Penguins got out in front exactly 10 minutes into regulation when former Predators forward Philip Tomasino tallied his sixth goal of the season.

As a power-play opportunity for the hosts expired, the Penguins moved the puck around the perimeter of the offensive zone. That sequence culminated in defenseman Erik Karlsson, from the center point, one-touching a pass to the upper left circle where Tomasino stroked a one-timer that glanced off goaltender Juuse Saros’ left elbow and entered the cage on the far side. Tomasino, who was traded by the Predators to the Penguins under less-than-ideal circumstances Nov. 25, offered a somewhat jubilant celebration near the visiting bench. Karlsson and Letang had assists.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Philip Tomasino with 10:01 remaining in the 1st period.

Assisted by Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang.

Pittsburgh: 1
Nashville: 0#NSHvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Smashville pic.twitter.com/zSQ2z4ICcB

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 2, 2025

Forward Sidney Crosby’s 17th goal supplied the Penguins with a two-score lead at 10:43 of the second period.

Accepting a feed in Nashville’s left circle, Rakell shielded it from Predators defenseman Nick Blankenburg then spun to his right before delivering a clever seam pass to the far side of the crease where Crosby swept in a one-timer by Saros’ glove on the near side. Crosby extended a goal-scoring streak to four games. Rakell and Karlsson collected assists.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Sidney Crosby with 09:17 remaining in the 2nd period.

Assisted by Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson.

Pittsburgh: 2
Nashville: 0#NSHvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Smashville pic.twitter.com/WDvpAZEuhi

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 2, 2025

Rust reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth consecutive season by securing victory with an empty net score at 17:59 of the third period. Rakell and Crosby had assists.

Empty net goal for Pittsburgh!

Scored by Bryan Rust with 02:01 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby.

Pittsburgh: 3
Nashville: 0#NSHvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Smashville pic.twitter.com/GHYmAxkmJ4

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 2, 2025

Even without accounting for the emotional component of parting ways with two cherished teammates, the Penguins offered one of their more impressive and complete efforts of the season in recording their first shutout of 2024-25.

Nedeljkovic largely deflected any significance in a personal accomplishment to his teammates.

“I thought we did a great job all night of limiting their quality chances and just chances overall,” Nedeljkovic said. “I don’t think they got many. … Even when there was that extra ice (during four-on-four situations), we had, I thought, the puck for the majority of the time.

“We played a pretty complete game from start to finish.”

Teammates were more than eager to sing the praises of their affable goaltender.

“(Nedeljkovic) was huge all night,” Rust said. “He made saves when we needed him to. He made a couple of big ones.

“That’s how we wanted to play. We didn’t give them too much space out there.”

Even with all of their struggles this season and even with a few teammates traded away, there isn’t an insurmountable amount of space between the Penguins (22-24-8, 50 points) and a wild card position. The Tampa Bay Lightning (27-20-4, 58 points) currently inhabit the final wild card station in the Eastern Conference.

Most of that is largely due to the gaggle of would-be playoff contenders seemingly all having flaws, much like the Penguins.

But it’s also a reflection of how the incumbent members of this roster view the remaining two-and-a-half months of their regular season.

“For us, every point to us is so incredibly valuable,” Rust said. “Every win is incredibly valuable. We’ve got to string some together here.

“It’s a sprint to the finish line.”

Notes:

• With the Penguins breaking their goose egg on shutouts, the Chicago Blackhawks are now the lone team without a shutout this season.

• The Penguins went nearly a year between shutouts. Their last such victory was a 3-0 home win against the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 5, 2024.

• The Penguins’ last shutout against the Predators was a 2-0 home win on March 30, 2023. Tristan Jarry made 28 saves in that victory.

• Nedeljkovic recorded his eighth career shutout.

• Desharnais became the 20th player to wear No. 7 for the Penguins in a game of consequence. His predecessors (via PittsburghHockey.net):

Art Stratton, Lou Angotti, Bryan Hextall, Steve Durbano, Russ Anderson, Rick Macleish, lan Turnbull, Rod Buskas, Joe Mullen, Andrew Ference, Kelly Buchberger, Matt Hussey, Michel Ouellet, Mark Eaton, Paul Martin, Matt Cullen, Colton Sceviour, Dmitry Kulikov, John Ludvig

• At 6-foot-7, Desharnais is tied with defensemen Hal Gill and Jamie Oleksiak as being the second-tallest players in franchise history. Only forward Steve McKenna (6-8) towers over all of them.

• Heinen donned his former digits (No. 43). His peers in those figures:

Jeff Daniels, Tomas Surovy, Philippe Boucher, Scott Wilson, Conor Sheary, Jansen Harkins

• Tomasino scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season. Only Crosby (five) has more among teammates.

• All of Tomasino’s six goals have come as a member of the Penguins.

• Penguins forwards Matt Nieto and Jesse Puljujarvi as well as defenseman Ryan Shea were healthy scratches.