Penguins End Road Trip with Loss to Blackhawks

The Penguins’ three-game road trip ended in a 3-1 setback to Chicago on Sunday night. The loss officially eliminated Pittsburgh from playoff contention for the third consecutive season.

"Obviously, we're not where we want to be," Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. "We all understand that. We know where we're at. We know where we’ve got to go, and we’ve got to keep working toward that."

The Penguins were well aware of the situation heading in, knowing a lot would have to go right for their hopes to stay alive. Unfortunately, they couldn't carry over the momentum from a big win against a loaded Dallas team on Saturday night.

“Both teams looked a little loose (in the first period), and I think they were able to get to their game a little quicker than we were able to get to ours,” Alex Nedeljkovic said.

The Penguins netminder received his first start since March 21 against Columbus and was fantastic all night long, recording 28 saves on 30 shots, with the two goals coming off breakaways. The final was an empty-netter.

Chicago opened the scoring with 1:05 remaining in the second period. In the final seconds of a Pittsburgh power play, the Blackhawks found themselves on a 2-on-1 rush, and Frank Nazar scored a shorthanded goal.

Then, 9:40 into the third period, Ilya Mikheyev broke free on a breakaway and put one home.

"They had some good looks," Nedeljkovic said. "I would have liked to have made another save for them, pretty much the two breakaways. So, if you can find a way to go 50 percent there, it’s 1-1."

Pittsburgh created chances all game long but ultimately, couldn’t execute until 5:24 remaining in regulation, when Rickard Rakell got his team within one. The goal was Rakell’s 34th of the season, tying a career high set in the 2017-18 season. It was assisted by Bryan Rust and Ville Koivunen, Koivunen’s second NHL point.

"It was a great play," Sullivan said about Koivunen’s assist. "I thought it was a great play all around by those guys. One of the reasons he's out there is because we think he has good instincts. We think he sees it pretty well."

Koivunen’s fellow rookie Rutger McGroarty continued to impress, playing with confidence and delivering an accurate cross-ice pass to Rust in the second period. Rust just narrowly missed what would have been the game’s first goal.

McGroarty recorded a point in each of the first two games of the three-game road trip — two against St. Louis and one against Dallas.

"They're two good young players that we're excited about," Sullivan said about Koivunen and McGroarty. "About where they are right now and potentially where they could go moving forward."

Pittsburgh now heads back home, where they will once again face the Blackhawks on Tuesday at 7 PM. The Penguins have four games remaining in the 2024-25 campaign.