Sidney Crosby leads Penguins to vital win against Blackhawks
The Pittsburgh Penguins know what’s needed to reach the playoffs.
Even if they might not have what is needed.
At the moment, they have a deficit of healthy forwards, and they lost one of their best after the team announced Thursday that first-liner Jake Guentzel would be sidelined for “up to” four weeks because of an undisclosed injury.
Regardless of any adversity, they trudge on in hopes of acquiring a postseason berth.
That pursuit was aided Thursday with a 4-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago’s United Center.
The triumph came against the NHL’s worst team, but the Penguins, who entered the contest on a three-game losing streak, are desperate for success against opponents of any quality.
As always, forward Sidney Crosby was important to the Penguins’ fortunes. He scored two goals, the second of which was his 30th of the season.
“We generated some good chances,” Crosby said to the Associated Press in Chicago. “When it was 2-0 in the second, I thought we could have built on it. Had some really good looks, and a post. We can build off this. We need the points.”
The Penguins wasted little time staking out the first lead of Thursday’s game.
To be clear, they wasted only 15 seconds of regulation before Crosby opened the scoring.
After Crosby and linemate Bryan Rust won a puck battle on Chicago’s end boards against Blackhawks rookie forward Connor Bedard and defenseman Alex Vlasic, Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, inserted on the left wing of the top line in Guentzel’s absence, fed a pass from the left corner to the near point. From there, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson leaned down to stroke a shot/pass to the slot, where Crosby made a deft deflection with his stick over goaltender Arvid Sodeblom’s glove. Pettersson and Rakell had assists.
With this goal, Sidney Crosby tallies his 406th even-strength goal, moving him into first place in franchise history for even-strength tallies. pic.twitter.com/7I9dSejILj
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 16, 2024
Forward Reilly Smith’s 10th goal at 12:40 of the opening frame put the visitors up 2-0.
Backchecking Penguins forward Drew O’Connor stole a pass attempt by Bedard in the Penguins’ zone and then transitioned into an offensive rush, gaining Chicago’s blue line on the left wing. With Vlasic providing passive resistance, O’Connor centered a pass to the high slot, where Smith dangled past Bedard and attacked the net, lifting a dagger of a backhander by Soderblom’s glove. The only assist went to O’Connor.
Oh Reilly, you make us so smiley ????
Smith has 11 goals and 18 points in 24 career games against the Chicago Blackhawks. pic.twitter.com/Iu88cTqtuf
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 16, 2024
The Blackhawks’ lone score came at 8:22 of the second period via forward Philipp Kurashev’s ninth goal.
Following a failed connection on a pass by O’Connor with linemate Evgeni Malkin in the defensive zone, Blackhawks rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski stabbed at the puck to keep it inside the blue line. That allowed Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno to settle the puck in the high slot and tap a backhand pass to Bedard. Despite Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves sliding to his belly to prevent a pass, Bedard slipped the puck from the right circle to the far side of the crease where Kurashev lifted a forehand shot by the blocker of a scrambling goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Bedard and Foligno claimed assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) February 16, 2024
Crosby restored a two-goal lead 5:51 into the third period.
Corralling a loose puck at the left point, Pettersson chopped a slapper wide on the near side of the cage. The puck clunked off the end boards and slid to the lower rim of the left circle, where Rakell alertly tapped a pass to the right side of the crease, allowing Crosby to jam in a forehand shot by Soderblom’s left skate. Assists were registered by Rakell and Pettersson.
Simply Sidsational ????
That's 30 goals on the season for Sidney Crosby. pic.twitter.com/WbI0kawvx8
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 16, 2024
Rust capped the scoring at 19:10 of final period with his 15th goal on an empty net during a short-handed sequence. The only assist went to defenseman Kris Letang.
That's goals in three-straight games for Bryan Rust ???? pic.twitter.com/ZnWDN2bCI7
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 16, 2024
Nedeljkovic improved his record to 9-4-3 after he stopped 27 of 28 shots.
“I thought our guys stepped up,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Sid, it looked like he was trying to will it for us. He was locked in from the very first shift, strong on pucks all night.”
Notes:
• Pettersson (114 points) surpassed defenseman Justin Schultz (113) and forward Shawn McEachern (112) for 77th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph and forward Vinnie Hinostroza, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before the game, were healthy scratches.
• Bedard, the top overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, returned to the lineup after missing 14 games due to a broken jaw.
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.