Penguins Respond with Win Over Detroit in Four-Point Game

After a tough 7-4 loss to the Rangers on Saturday, the Penguins knew they had to respond the right way against Detroit, a team they’re trying to catch in the standings … and bounced back with a big 6-3 win.

Reilly Smith, Sidney Crosby, Valtteri Puustinen, Michael Bunting, Lars Eller, and Drew O’Connor all scored for Pittsburgh, who is now five points out of the Wild Card spot.

“We did some good things yesterday and we didn't get the result. So today, I thought we worked hard and generated a lot - especially in the first half of the game,” the Penguins captain said. “That was the difference, just converted, and good to get that one.”

Alex Nedeljkovic, who signed with Pittsburgh in the offseason after two years in Detroit, made 24 saves for his first win since Feb. 15 in Chicago. When asked how it felt personally to get back in the win column, the netminder said “great, for everybody.

“We’ve kind of been through a rough stretch lately and we’ve got wins in two out of three now, and that's how we have to look at it. Take it day by day and game by game and control we can control. Just got to feel good about it right now. We just need points, we need wins, and we’ll take them however we can get them.”

Nedeljkovic didn’t see much action in the opening frame, as the Penguins had a dominant first that saw them take a 3-1 lead, along with a 15-4 edge in shots. Smith opened the scoring at the 10:10 mark of the period when Marcus Pettersson’s shot deflected off his teammate and in.

The Penguins had a 12-1 edge in shots before the Red Wings got an opportunistic goal on their second shot of the night, with Lucas Raymond picking a corner on Nedeljkovic – in a tough spot after losing his stick.

But the Penguins responded well, with a pair of goals in the last 2:25 to firmly swing momentum back onto their side. Crosby broke his 11-game goalless drought at a key time after finding a loose puck in the slot, kicking it to his stick and scoring backhand. “Been a while, so nice to see it go in, and hopefully some more will start to go in,” he said with a grin. “There's some huge games coming up, and it'd be nice to start seeing some more go in the net.”

Puustinen followed that up with his fourth of the season, getting goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. “If I can score, this is helping the team to win the games, and all the guys know here that we need to get points… I’m happy to win today, and score,” said the 24-year-old rookie, a 2019 seventh-round draft pick of the Penguins.

Puustinen’s veteran linemates spoke highly of him after the game, with Eller calling his shot a weapon, and Smith saying they feel fortunate to be playing with such an enthusiastic learner. “He's like an empty-glass guy. So, he listens to everything you tell him, and he tries to implement it all the time,” Smith said. “He's a smart player, he sees the ice well, and when he gets an opportunity, it seems like they're always going in the back of the net.”

Puustinen then picked up an assist on Bunting’s goal at the 9:34 mark of the second period that put Pittsburgh up 4-1. That’s his second in six games with Pittsburgh since being acquired from Carolina at the trade deadline in the Jake Guentzel trade, and there’s no surprise that it came from the top of the crease.

“He has a semblance of Patric Hornqvist, just his ability to get to the blue paint, make the goalie’s life difficult,” Mike Sullivan said of the 26-year-old winger. “He gets a lot of those goals that are blue paint goals, a foot from the net. It’s a really important aspect of creating offense. He certainly brings that to our team. … Bunts is guy that's a little bit like Horny was back in the day where those guys, they thrive and they go there an awful lot. So, certainly, that's going to help our team.”

The Red Wings then got some momentum out of their first power play, making it a two-goal game before Eller scored his second power-play goal in as many games with 21 seconds to go in the period as part of a unit with Bunting, Crosby, Kris Letang, and Bryan Rust.

“He’s just really solid in every area,” Crosby said. “He can play net front, pocket, he can play the half wall, take faceoffs. I think he's really shown that he's pretty versatile and regardless of who he's out there with, he can do a lot of different roles and contribute a lot of different ways. So, I'd say that's the biggest thing, is just how versatile he's been and his ability to adjust to any role.”

The Red Wings pushed late, which was to be expected, considering they also need to grab points and have been mired in even more of a slump than the Penguins. But Pittsburgh stayed in it, and O’Connor’s empty netter iced the victory. Next up is another team in that dogfight for a Wild Card spot, the New Jersey Devils, on Tuesday.

“We gotta go a game at a time and get points,” Crosby said. “I think we're all pushing, we're all trying to do what we can to put ourselves in that position, and we've got to just worry about going out there and getting the next one.”