Penguins Come Together For Much-Needed Win Over Montreal

When speaking to the media on Wednesday ahead of the NHL trade deadline, Kyle Dubas said he outlined to the players that he is trying to be as patient as possible, giving them the time to make a push.

“Ball’s in our court. We got to prove we’re worth taking a chance on, and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Bryan Rust said.

The Penguins took a big step in that regard, getting two huge points with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.

Kris Letang opened the scoring and capped it off with an empty-netter, while Rust and Drew O’Connor scored 21 seconds in the second. Tristan Jarry had 31 saves for Pittsburgh.

“At times it was a little sloppy, at times Jars made some big saves for us. Guys had to make big plays, but at the end of the day, we came together and got a win,” Rust said.

Given the situation the Penguins are in, fighting for their playoff lives, Head Coach Mike Sullivan said it would be important to stay in the moment and have a next shift play, next play mentality no matter what happened throughout the course of the night.

Letang personified this against his hometown team. A turnover early in the game ended up in the Penguins net, but he quickly bounced back, scoring a goal of his own not long after.

“It's one of those plays, like, you read something, and you're kind of the only one reading it,” Letang said with a wry smile. “When you make a play in the middle like this, you have to be 100% sure. I was glad I got that goal back… the fact that we go down by a goal, we don't get discouraged or anything like that – we keep playing, and that sums it up."

The Penguins power play, which ranks near the bottom of the league, has struggled at times to find timely goals – but that was not the case tonight. Rust’s tally six seconds into Pittsburgh’s first man-advantage gave the Penguins the lead at the 11:30 mark of the second, and some much-needed momentum.

Just 21 seconds after Rust’s goal, O’Connor put the Penguins up two. This marked goals in back-to-back games from the 25-year-old forward, who’s been in Pittsburgh all season, the longest stint he’s had in the NHL.

“It's nice to contribute offensively,” O’Connor said. “I think we needed more guys to step up and start contributing offensively.”

O’Connor logged 2:39 shorthanded minutes as the Penguins came up with two big penalty kills in the third period to go 3-for-3 on the night and preserve their lead. Noel Acciari, making his return to the lineup after missing the team’s previous six games with a concussion, made his usual impact there.

“He’s a huge part of our group,” Jarry said. “He leads us on the PK, he wins faceoffs, he blocks shots. And I think that helps a lot when we can start with possession and get some clears. And he does a great job and he’s a leader for us.”

The stellar play of Jarry played a huge part in the win, with the goaltender earning high praise from his teammates and coach for his performance.

“You gotta give him a lot of credit. He made some huge saves,” Rust said. “Not just in the first period, I think all game long. Gotta give a lot of props to him. He’s been great all year long. Just been dialed in.”

The Penguins will look to win back-to-back games when they wrap up their four-game homestand on Sunday against Philadelphia.

"That’s been a challenge this year, to string wins consecutively. I hope this is some good momentum for our group,” Jarry said. “Hopefully, it carries on and we're able to string together a couple games from this.”

NOTE: During the game, the Penguins announced that they had acquired forward Emil Bemstrom from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Alex Nylander and a conditional 2026 sixth-round draft pick. The 24-year-old has spent parts of five seasons in the NHL, all with Columbus. In 204 career regular-season games, he’s picked up 31 goals, 38 assists and 69 points.

With the trade being announced in the middle of play, and Sullivan having just come off the bench, he didn’t have time to get fully acquainted with the newest Penguins forward.

“But what I do know is that he's a talented player,” Sullivan said. “He scored 10-plus goals in the league a couple of years when he was in Columbus. Beyond that, I don't have a real good grasp of his overall game. I know Kyle and the hockey ops guys do, and so, they obviously think he's a guy that can come in and help us.”

Montreal also claimed Colin White off of waivers from the Penguins earlier in the day, and he made his Canadiens debut against the team who had signed him to a contract after inviting him to training camp on a professional tryout.