At the trade deadline, Kyle Dubas said the message to this Penguins team is that they expected them to uphold the standard here, which is to come in and be at their best each and every day. To their credit, the guys have kept those intentions despite being recently eliminated from playoff contention.
They put forth a strong effort in their final road game of the 2024-25 season, battling back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 4-2 win on Friday in New Jersey. Evgeni Malkin, Valtteri Puustinen, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust all scored for Pittsburgh, while Tristan Jarry made 28 saves.
“To be in that hole, especially early in this game and a game that many could say was kind of meaningless – for both sides, they're kind of locked into their (playoff) spot, and we're kind of locked into our spot, which isn't great – we could have easily kind of just rolled over there and just tried to go through the motions,” Rust said.
“But I think it just shows a lot about the guys in this room and the leadership in this room, that we still have that pride and that character to continue to go out there and try and win games and try and do right by the Penguins jersey.”
New Jersey opened the scoring just 15 seconds in on a breakaway. The Devils built a 2-0 lead in the first six-plus minutes of play before Malkin got Pittsburgh on the board in the frame’s final minutes with a hard-working goal at the blue paint.
The Penguins built on that momentum in the second, with Puustinen netting a power-play goal in his first game after being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Head Coach Mike Sullivan had done some foreshadowing before the game, saying they felt like the 25-year-old forward could help them on the man-advantage.
“I think Puusty has decent offensive instincts. He thinks the game pretty well,” Sullivan said. “We want him to play his game. We're trying to put them in positions where they can effectively play their roles, set them up for success, so to speak.”
Dubas also referenced how there are massive opportunities for players like Puustinen who have aspirations to spend more time at the NHL level. He took advantage of the opportunity he got tonight with a number of players ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury.
“I thought Puusty had a solid game,” Sullivan said. “I thought he did some good things 5-on-5. He was skating. I think he sees it pretty good. He thinks the game pretty well. He scores a goal for us on the power play. I thought he was pretty good in that bumper position on Geno's unit. I thought he had a solid game.”
So did Jarry, particularly in the third period, reading plays well and making saves with calmness and confidence.
“I give credit to the whole team, starting with Jars,” Sullivan said. “Just the resilience, kind of the stick-to-it-iveness, not getting down. There's a lot of hockey left. We just got to keep competing, and that's what he's doing. He's competing hard. It's all about the next save.”
Crosby then put the Penguins in front with his 33rd goal of the season, which also came on the power play. Matt Grzelcyk earned primary assists on both of those tallies.
“I think we're just playing really simple,” Grzelcyk said. “We're really effective when we're moving the puck, and we kind of don't really have one set play that we like to run. We're getting all five guys involved. I thought we did a good job of that tonight, just kind of spreading them out, getting them on the run a little bit, and then making plays from there.”
Rust’s empty-netter was his 29th of the season, establishing a new career high for the star winger that Sullivan often calls a “Pittsburgh Penguin born-and-bred.” He set a new personal best in points on Sunday in Chicago, and now has 61 on the year.
“For me, it's obviously special,” Rust said. “Obviously, the team success is first, and you want to win games, win championships. But a second to that is personal success. So, any time you can hit new milestones and get new career highs, especially after 10 years, that means you're probably doing something right. So, I think that means a lot to me, but it's only 29, and there's a lot more.”
NOTE: Both teams wore helmet decals for the late Ray Shero, who served as general manager of both Pittsburgh and New Jersey. There was a moment of silence before the game to honor Shero, who died on Wednesday.
