A week ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins went through the NHL Trade Deadline, shuffling the deck with several roster adjustments. Hours later, they got shut out by the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0, despite a solid effort.
Fast forward five days later, and the Penguins met the same Golden Knights, this time on home ice, where Erik Karlsson became a overtime hero, giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 overtime win on Tuesday night. On top of picking up two points, it was a special night for captain Sidney Crosby who had two goals, giving him 70 points on the season.
Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry is 2-0-0 in his return to the crease, so let’s get into what happened in last night’s game.
As mentioned, Crosby had both the Penguins’ goals in regulation. In doing so, he’s notched a multi-goal game against 30 out of 32 NHL clubs, only missing the Utah Hockey Club and Penguins from his collection.
Moreover, Crosby has reached 70 points and is now just ten points shy of 80, which would give him a point-per-game average for the 20th time, breaking the record he currently holds with Wayne Gretzky.
Additionally, Crosby has 23 goals and is just seven shy of 30. If he can reach that plateau, it would be his 13th season reaching the milestone which would tie him with Mats Sundin, Brett Hull, Bobby Hull, and Phil Esposito for seventh all-time.
Jarry returned to Pittsburgh days ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. In his two starts, he’s faced at least 30 shots in one, emerging victories twice. After the longest time posting a SV% under .900, he’s backstopped the Penguins to wins thanks to 64 saves on 67 shots.
Tristan Jarry in his return to play:
• Stopped 64/67 shots
• .955 sv%
• 1.49 GAA / 3.79 GSAx
• 1 assist
• 2 winsReally happy for this guy. Fans have criticized him, he’s bounced between the AHL and NHL, but has kept his head high and is focused on improving his game. pic.twitter.com/9SyBDXQQpl
— ChelPenguins (@ChelPenguins) March 12, 2025
Although the fan base thinks it’s too little too late, Jarry’s resurgence has been a positive thing for the franchise that hasn’t had many things to be excited about down the stretch.
Jarry has three years left on his contract and has been tapped as the Penguins de facto number one goalie. Ultimately, that could change in the offseason or next year, but watching him bounceback in this fashion can help the organization reevalaute their future plans.
Even though the Penguins were shut out in Las Vegas last week, the game was never out of reach until the final 15 minutes or so, when a 2-0 lead expanded to 4-0.
On Tuesday, after going up 2-0, Pittsburgh kept the Golden Knights at bay again, playing competitively at both ends of the ice, which included more hits and blocked shots.
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When the Penguins are firing on all cylinders, they are capable of playing with anyone in the league, including elite teams like Vegas. Because of their place in the standings, most opponents write off Pittsburgh, but as they showed on Tuesday, there is still a lot of heart in the lineup and they won’t just roll over for anyone.
Although there is no hope for a playoff spot with only 14 games left, the Penguins can still make a mess of other team’s plans and that’s the joy of being a spoiler.
