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Penguins keep rolling, stomp out Flames | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Penguins keep rolling, stomp out Flames

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
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Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic reaches to make a save during the first period against the Flames.
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The Penguins’ Anthony Beauvillier scores past Flames goaltender Dan Vladar during the first period Saturday.
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Penguins center Sidney Crosby looks to pass the puck as he is defended by Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau during the first period Saturday.
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The Penguins’ Anthony Beauvillier celebrates after scoring during the first period against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
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The Penguins’ Michael Bunting shoots to score behind Calgary goaltender Dan Vladar during the second period Saturday.
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The Penguins’ Philip Tomasino (right) celebrates with Matt Grzelcyk after scoring during the second period against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

The 2024-25 season hasn’t gone as Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic would have preferred.

When you have a save percentage of .877 — as was the case before Saturday — going into December, nothing has gone as scripted.

But Nedeljkovic and the Penguins managed to draft something new on Saturday.

A three-game winning streak.

With Nedeljkovic making 30 of 32 saves, the Penguins smothered the Calgary Flames, 6-2, at PPG Paints Arena, giving the home team its third consecutive victory, a new high-water mark this season.

Three goals with the man advantage — all by the Penguins’ second power-play unit — sparked the offense.

“These last three games were huge for us,” said forward Michael Bunting, who scored one of the three power-play goals. “Look forward to the next game. We had a tough schedule here. … The last three games were good teams. That obviously gives us a little bit of a boost knowing that we can play.

“We want to keep that going.”

Nedeljkovic’s record was boosted to 4-4-1.

“He’s a battler,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said before the game. “He competes hard in there every night. Some nights are better than others, but you know what you’re going to get from him most nights. He’s a consistent guy.

“He competes extremely hard.”

That was evident 15 minutes, 59 seconds into regulation when Nedeljkovic robbed Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson with a stunning glove save.

Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl fired a wrister from the left point of the offensive zone but missed — perhaps intentionally — wide on the near side. The puck ricocheted off the end boards and deflected to the right circle. Andersson claimed the rebound and appeared to have the cage dead to rights only to have his wrister rejected by Nedeljkovic, who made an acrobatic lunge to his left to glove down the puck. Officials briefly reviewed the sequence and verified the puck did not cross the goal line.

“I just picked up the point shot late and then kind of figured on the angle that it was kind of coming in, it was going to pop out to the other side,” Nedeljkovic said. “Just saw (Andersson) coming down, so it was just trying to get across and take up space, and thankfully got a glove on it.”

A few shifts later, forward Anthony Beauvillier handed the Penguins the lead with his seventh goal of the season at 17:14 of the first period.

After Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar fumbled a puck at the right point of the Penguins’ zone, Bunting claimed possession and fed a pass to linemate Blake Lizotte, allowing him entry into the Calgary zone on the left wing, initiating something of a two-on-three rush. Lizotte slipped a pass to the right circle for Beauvillier, who flipped a subtle backhander to the near side between goaltender Dan Vladar and the post. Lizotte and Bunting had assists.

“We played a good game tonight,” Beauvillier said of his play with linemates Lizotte and Bunting. “We created some chances and felt like we were in the offensive zone quite a bit tonight. Some good plays. Felt like we had some good chemistry and going to try to keep building on that.”

The Penguins built up a two-score lead at 2:40 of the second period when Bunting found his fifth goal during a power-play sequence.

Off a faceoff in the Flames’ left circle, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang accepted the puck at the left point and fed it to the far half-wall for defensive partner Matt Grzelcyk, who blasted a one-timer at the cage. Vladar made the initial save but permitted a rebound to the right of the crease that Bunting tidily swept into the cage with a forehand shot. Grzelcyk and Letang logged assists.

It was the first of three scores for the Penguins’ second power-play unit which includes Bunting, Grzelcyk and Letang as well as forwards Kevin Hayes and Philip Tomasino.

“Our mindset going over the boards, it’s just creating chances with shooting,” Letang said. “I think we did a pretty good job. (Bunting) was pretty good today around the net. So, we kept it simple.”

Tomasino — not even a week removed from arriving via a trade with the Nashville Predators on Monday — scored his second goal — of the season and in as many games — at 9:02 of the second frame, also during a power-play scenario.

In the dying seconds of the man-advantage opportunity, Letang chopped a pass from the top of the Flames’ right circle to the right of the crease for Bunting, who deflected the puck on net. Vladar made a sprawling save but could not contain the rebound. Letang followed up on the sequence by collecting the puck, scurrying behind the cage and sliding a pass to the left circle for Tomasino, who snapped a wrister into a mostly vacant net. Assists went to Letang and Bunting.

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell put the game out of reach 5:25 into the third period via his team-leading 10th goal.

Driving the puck deep into Calgary’s left corner, Crosby fended off a check from Flames defenseman Jake Bean then flicked a slick pass to the crease where Rakell, facing little resistance, was stationed. Taking the pass on his forehand, Rakell went to his backhand and flipped the puck past the blocker of a vexed Vladar. Crosby and linemate Bryan Rust registered assists.

Letang got in on the act by scoring his third goal during a power-play opportunity at 7:59 of the final frame.

Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Grzelcyk maneuvered toward the center point and slid the puck to the left half wall where Letang swiped a one-timer to the far side. The puck glanced off of Vladar’s left arm and found an avenue into the cage. Grzelcyk and forward Kevin Hayes had assists.

The Flames broke up the shutout bid at 14:27 of the third period via forward Jonathan Huberdeau’s eighth goal.

Flames forward Martin Pospisil forced Grzelcyk into a turnover on the Penguins’ right half-wall, allowing forward Nazem Kadri to claim possession in the near corner. Avoiding Letang and Grzelcyk, Kadri slipped a pass to the slot for Huberdeau, who lasered a wrister by Nedeljkovic’s blocker from close range. Assists were tallied by Kadri and Pospisil.

Kadri followed that up with his eighth goal 38 seconds later.

From the center point of the offensive zone, Bahl chucked a wrister toward a mass of humanity in front of the crease. Nedeljkovic made the initial save but couldn’t collect the rebound, which sat loose just to the left of the crease between Huberdeau’s skates. Kadri fished it out and lifted a forehand shot that struck off Nedeljkovic’s right arm and deflected into the net. Assists belonged to Huberdeau and Bahl.

Lizotte’s fourth goal capped the scoring at 18:23 of the final period.

Stealing a puck off of Flames forward Conor Zary in the neutral zone, O’Connor gained the offensive blue line on the right wing, spun to his right and offloaded a pass to Lizotte in the high slot. Veering slightly toward the left circle, Lizotte loaded up and unleashed a heavy wrister by Vladar’s blocker on the near side that clinked off the crossbar and into the cage. The only assist went to O’Connor.

A three-game winning streak is hardly a reason to celebrate wildly. But it does alter the narrative — albeit slightly — about the 2024-25 Penguins.

“Just doing the little things,” Nedeljkovic said of his team’s improved play as of late. “Paying attention to details, playing a 200-foot game, not cheating for offense, not giving them easy offense in our own end. You see we’re getting rewarded for it in the other end. The bounces are kind of going our way, but at the same time, we’re creating more because of it. We’re wearing them down and we’re forcing them to make bad plays or to make high-risk plays that we were maybe making ourselves a week or two ago. We’ve gotten away from that in our game as well.

“That’s obviously helped clean up a lot of things.”

Notes:

• The Penguins’ power play was 3 for 5. The three goals with the man advantage were a season high for the team.

• Their last game with that many power-play goals came in a 7-6 home win against the Panthers, Jan. 24, 2023. Crosby, Letang and forward Evgeni Malkin scored those power-play goals that night.

• Tomasino had four shots on net. In his three games since joining the Penguins, he leads the team with 12 shots over that span. Rust is second with 11.

• In 11 games with the Predators this season, he had 17 shots.

• Tomasino is the second player to score two game-winning goals in his first three games with the franchise, joining forward Chuck Kobasew (2013-14).

• Nedeljkovic (22-11-10) surpassed Patrick Lalime (21-12-2) for 25th place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.

• Grzelcyk has 10 points (all assists) in 26 games this season. He had 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 63 games last season with the Boston Bruins.

• In 23 career games against the Flames, Crosby has 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists).

• Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering returned to the lineup after being scratched the previous two games due to an unspecified illness. He opened the contest on the third pairing with Ryan Shea.

• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivany as well as forward Jesse Puljujarvi were healthy scratches.

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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