The Final Push

For the Pittsburgh Penguins, beating the New Jersey Devils has been a tough ask in recent years. The Devils have simply had their number. In fact, the Penguins had lost seven straight against them. But yesterday, for the first time since 2/13/2022, when the final horn sounded, the Penguins were the team that stayed on the ice to congratulate their goalie.

Before Monday’s game at Madison Square Garden, I was working on a piece about what I would do in the offseason if I were the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But after beating the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils on back-to-back nights, it’s not impossible for the Penguins to make the playoffs. Difficult, yes. Unlikely, sure. But they don’t look to be done yet. Not by a long shot.

Let’s take a look at the standings:

NHL Eastern Conference standings, as of 4/3/2024.

Tonight will be a night off for the five Eastern teams who still appear to be in the playoff hunt— unless, that is, the Devils upset the Rangers at MSG to make things even more interesting. On Thursday, however, the real fun begins.

First and foremost, Pittsburgh will need to take care of business. The Penguins (4-0-1 in their last five) will go into Washington and face off against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals (2-2-1 in their last five). A regulation win would put the Penguins one point behind the Capitals, although Washington would have a game in hand. The New York Islanders (3-2 in their last five) are also in action, and will play the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Friday is when it will become apparent if the hockey gods are smiling down on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, and Detroit Red Wings will all play. The Flyers (0-3-2 in their last five) will play the Sabres in Buffalo. The Red Wings (1-2-2 in their last five) will play the Rangers at home, and the Capitals will face the dominant Hurricanes in Carolina.

I imagine that, by Saturday morning, Penguins fans will have a good idea of if their team still stands a fighting chance to make the playoffs.

A Weakened Penguins Team

The Penguins, as per usual, aren’t fully healthy. Noel Acciari is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and isn’t eligible to return during the regular season. Jansen Harkins is on long-term injured reserve after undergoing surgery for a hand injury, and Matt Nieto hasn’t played a game since November 30th against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ryan Graves, who left Saturday’s game against the Blue Jackets late in the first period, has been diagnosed with a concussion.

Michael Bunting exited that same Blue Jackets game early with an illness, but has since returned to play. However, it seems that whatever plagued Bunting— a, ah, stomach bug, apparently— is now sweeping through the Penguins locker room. Drew O’Connor was reportedly playing through illness against the Rangers. John Ludvig has missed the past two games. Tristan Jarry, who was originally slated to start Monday’s game against the Rangers, was a late scratch. Jarry was in such bad shape that Joel Blomqvist— Pittsburgh’s 22 year old top goalie prospect— was recalled to back up Alex Nedeljkovic as Nedeljkovic started his second game in as many days.

And speaking of Ned…

Ride the Hot Hand

Alex Nedeljkovic has started the last six games— including a back-to-back— and is 4-0-2, with a .915 SV% and a 2.5 GAA during that stretch. I love Nedeljkovic’s game. He’s so calm in his crease, so positionally sound, and so clutch. He’s made no shortage of impressive saves as of late, but this stop in close against Dawson Mercer yesterday against the Devils sticks out to me. The score was 2-1. The Devils had all the momentum, and had a 20-7 edge in shots. That might’ve been a back-breaker for the Penguins. But Nedeljkovic bailed them out.

Tristan Jarry was money in the beginning of the year. However, since the All-Star Break, his production has fallen off. Since then, he has a record of 6-10-1, a .887 SV%, and a 3.29 GAA.

The Penguins have seven games remaining in the regular season. With how he’s played as of late, Nedeljkovic should start most—if not all— of them. The Penguins are playing for their postseason lives. They don’t have any room for error. You have to ride the hot hand, and Nedeljkovic’s hand is on fire.

The Core Three

This has been a strange year for Kris Letang. After acquiring Erik Karlsson in the offseason, Letang took a step back offensively. Defensively, however, this has been one of his best seasons. For about the past month, Letang hasn’t quite looked himself. He made some great plays, however, on Monday against the Rangers, and looked better yesterday against the Devils. If the Penguins are to make a push to get into the postseason, Letang will have to return to form.

Evgeni Malkin was magnificent against the Devils; I would argue that he was the best player on the ice. Even before he got on the scoresheet, he was seeing the game at a remarkably high level. He was so engaged, and there were flashes of prime Geno all game. First, there was his power play helper, when Sidney Crosby got the Penguins to within one. Then, 67 seconds later, he deflected Jack St. Ivany’s shot past Jake Allen to tie the game at three. Then, just over twenty seconds after Rickard Rakell gave the Penguins the lead— and, my god, what an absolutely electric goal call from Josh Getzoff— Malkin once again found the back of the net. Malkin is 37 now. He’ll be 38 in July. But look at the emotion he showed on any and all of those goals. He’s hungry. Do you think he looks done? I don’t.

And Sidney Crosby… well, I think he deserves his own section. We’ll come back to him. But first, here’s a fun stat: the Penguins are 106-10-5 when both Crosby and Malkin score. There have been six occasions where Crosby and Malkin each score twice in one game. Pittsburgh’s record in those games? 6-0-0.

The Supporting Cast

Before we talk about the brilliance that is Sidney Crosby, let’s first acknowledge the efforts of two unsung heroes for the Penguins this year.

Marcus Pettersson is having a career year, both offensively and defensively. He’s got four goals, which is good for double his previous career high. He’s at 24 assists— one more than he had last year— and 28 points. But his real contribution is his defense. He’s Pittsburgh’s best pure defensive defenseman. I don’t put much stock into plus-minus, but he leads the team at +22, which is nine better than the next best. He’s third on the team in ice time behind Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang. He’s due for a nice raise.

Bryan Rust is on a six-game point streak. He has five goals and nine points during that stretch. With 50 points in 55 games, he’s third on the team in scoring. His 26 goals are good for second on the team. He’s averaging 19:25 of ice time. He’s one of Pittsburgh’s best penalty-killing forwards. This season, the Penguins have looked lifeless and unmotivated for long stretches; this has never once been an issue for Rust.

Sidney Crosby

With an empty netter on Monday against the Rangers, Sidney Crosby once again etched his name into the history books and tied Wayne Gretzky’s record of 19 consecutive point-per-game seasons. There isn’t a more perfect record for Crosby to share ownership of. The longevity of Sidney Crosby is the secret eighth wonder of the world.

There was a time this season where I was worried that he wouldn’t do it. Silly me. I should know by now not to bet against Sidney Crosby. He’s currently on a six-game point streak. He has six goals and nine assists, which is good for fifteen points in that span. He’s 36 years old.

Crosby is one goal away from 40 on the year, which would be the third most he’s scored in a season. Again, he’s 36 years old. He’s got Father Time in a headlock.

There are two more milestones rapidly approaching for Sidney Crosby. He’s currently 11th on the NHL All Time Points Leaders list, and is just four points away from tying Phil Esposito for 10th. Crosby needs just three more assists to hit 1,000 on his career. And it’s very unlikely that it’ll happen this year, but Crosby only needs 11 goals to hit 600.

All this to say: whether the Penguins make the playoffs or not… this was not a wasted season. Not by a long shot. No season where Sidney Crosby is still playing at this level is wasted. Don’t take this for granted. It’s been said that when Sidney Crosby hangs up his skates, he’ll go down as one of the best players in NHL history. In my eyes, he already is.