The Pittsburgh Penguins ended 2025 on a high note after being one of the league’s top teams in the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena for their second straight win following the holiday break.
“The last couple of years, Carolina has had a lot of team’s numbers,” Anthony Mantha said. “They've been at the top of the division for a couple of years in a row. You just know that it's a hard game against them. So, we were ready. Obviously, [Skinner] made some great saves for us. We just took over."
Five different players recorded multiple points on Tuesday: Anthony Mantha (2G), Justin Brazeau (1G-1A), Tommy Novak (1G-1A), Bryan Rust (2A), and Erik Karlsson (2A).
Goals aside, what was most impressive was the way the team was able to play against an opponent in Caroline that does such a great job at disrupting breakouts, generating shots, and being structured defensively.
“It’s just that balance of recognizing when things aren’t there,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “I think we’ve got the ability to create their off the forecheck and put ourselves in good positions that way. Finding that balance is important, and I thought it was a real good step in the right direction here tonight.”
It was the Penguins’ strong forecheck from the team’s top line that forced a turnover behind Carolina’s net right from the jump. Rust retrieved the puck and found Rickard Rakell, who quickly made a cross-ice pass to Sidney Crosby, and he then buried it for the 1-0 lead.
Coming off a hat trick on Sunday’s game against Chicago, Brazeau stayed red hot with arguably one of the best goals of the season. The six-foot-six forward found himself on a partial breakaway and dove forward to chip the puck past the Hurricanes’ goaltender Frederik Andersen.
“Coming off the bench, I was just trying to get to a spot, honestly, to get it in,” Brazeau said. “[Kulak] made a great look to me. It was kind of a lucky one. Just chipped it and got a lucky one in.”
Not only did newly acquired defenseman Brett Kulak record his first point as a Penguin on the pass to Brazeau, but it was also the 100th assist of his career. To that, Brazeau’s tally gave him 12 goals on the season in just his 24th game, breaking his previous career-high of 11 that was set last season between Boston and Minnesota in 76 games.
“The puck seems to be going in,” Brazeau said. “It’s one of those things I felt like when I got back, I had some games where I had some chances, and they didn’t go in. And now, they’re all going in. I’ll take them when they come like that. But I’m just happier with how I’m playing, getting back that spot.”
While Brazeau found strong chemistry with Evgeni Malkin at the start of the season before each of them went down due to injuries, Brazeau and Mantha each have continued to build off of one another in the center’s absence.
Novak, who has slotted in for Malkin on the second line, opened the scoring in the second period, followed by Mantha’s second goal of the game to extend his goal streak to three games. On Mantha’s second goal, it was a great example of the playmaking and finishing ability that both he and Brazeau have.
“Kind of created a two-on-two,” Mantha said. “He let go, and I tried to beat that guy one-on-one, and I used a Braz, and he just gave me a perfect dish for a redirect there. So, great play all around.”
In the third period, it was a combination of the defense and Stuart Skinner who were able to stop Carolina’s pushback and ultimately completed their full 60-minute effort.
“He had to come up with some big saves, and some of those saves came at critical moments in the game as well,” Muse said. “I think, overall, we did a better job in front of him tonight, too. It was a combination of both things, but his game was on.”
While Skinner didn’t get the results that he wanted in his first few games as a Penguin, the 27-year-old goaltender has started to build more chemistry with the team in each passing day.
“Tonight was really good,” Skinner said. “The guys have been doing a really good job at communicating with me. We found some really good chemistry back there. So I know the first couple games might be a little bit wonky, just because there's subtle changes, but we've done a really good job finding that chemistry pretty quickly here.”
After now beating the top team in the Eastern Conference and closing out the calendar year on a high note, the Penguins will look to build off their performance and carry it into 2026.
“They’re obviously a fast team that likes to play aggressive,” Brazeau said. “We did a really good job of being ready for it and making sure we were in the right spots to support each other and make plays underneath. It shows. It’s one of the things that we’ve got to build off something like that.”
