The Penguins were looking to rebound from a poor performance against the Maple Leafs when they took the ice last night at PPG Paints Arena, and they did just that. Paul Steigerwald has the recap.
In addition to Sidney Crosby’s game-winners, the Penguins got goals from Reilly Smith, Jake Guentzel, and Evgeni Malkin. Valtteri Puustinen had two assists.
Before the game, the Penguins activated Rickard Rakell and Noel Acciari from injured reserve and both played last night. In a roster maneuver, they placed defenseman Ryan Shea on waivers, but he remains with the team.
Coach Mike Sullivan says the changes he made to his defensive pairings were effective, but he wanted to review the video before passing judgment.
Sullivan says the Penguins entire organization still has a lot of work to do before they become the team he thinks they can be.
Chad Ruhwedel also returned last night for the Penguins, and Sullivan said Ruhwedel and Acciari made a difference, especially on the penalty kill.
Crosby says it helped that the Penguins jumped on the Wild early.
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic liked the way the new defensive pairings worked last night.
With his goal last night, Crosby passed former Penguins teammate Bryan Trottier for 13th place on the NHL all-time points list. He’s only four points behind former Bruins and Sharks star Joe Thornton and has an outside chance to catch Ray Bourque for 11th place this season. There are three former Penguins still in front of him. Mario Lemieux is 8th all-time, Ron Francis is 5th, and Jaromir Jagr is 2nd.
The Penguins host the Hurricanes on Thursday night.
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