We are heading down the final stretch of the NHL’s regular season and for the teams in the playoff race, every standings point matters. For the Pittsburgh Penguins, they are in a dead heat with the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders within their division. Additionally, if the Penguins fall out of the top three in the Metropolitan Division they will have to contend with the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and their opponent last night the Ottawa Senators.
Last night, the Penguins were able to come away with a very valuable two points in their exciting shootout victory over the Senators. With the victory the Penguins maintain their second place standing with 88 points after Columbus lost to the Montreal Canadiens and The Islanders beat the Dallas Stars. Here’s a snapshot of where things stand.
After two clunkers against the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes last night’s two points were a must and the Penguins got them.
Erik Karlsson’ brilliance continues
The Penguins MVP this season has been a future hall of famer, but it is not the familiar ones we’ve grown accustomed to over the past two decades. Erik Karlsson has returned to his elite form in 2025-26 and it has been special.
Last night he was absolutely brilliant
First I’ll present some season long statistics and then I’ll highlight the month of March he’s having.
This season in 67 games played he has 12 goals and 57 points. He has a 52.83 xGF%. His points per 60 at 5v5 is 1.47 which is 14th overall among defensemen with 1,000 minutes played. He’s playing in all situations and saves his best for when the team needs it most. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have both missed time to injury recently and sometimes it coincides with one another. Karlsson has been there every step of the way to lift the Penguins up.
Since the beginning of March Karlsson has been playing at a world class level with few peers. His 5v5 points per 60 is 3.32. This leads all defensemen in the NHL. In the 14 games in March he has 8 goals and 21 points. Only Nikita Kucherov, who is on a Mario Lemieux like pace, has more points this month at 26.
Previously, Karlsson hadn’t found his stride against his former club while playing for the Penguins. He only had two assists in eight games played against Ottawa while a Penguin. He changed that last night. Karlsson finished with a goal and two assists in a game where the Penguins scored three goals total. It was Karlsson’s first career goal against the Senators.
Karlsson has been so fun to watch this year and this stretch has been electric. Years ago in one of my mailbags someone asked the question if I could pick one player to add to the Penguins roster who would it be? I answered Erik Karlsson. This is what I thought it would look like. It’s pretty cool.
Crosby injured
While the victory last night was cause for celebration it wasn’t all smiles for the big picture. Sidney Crosby got dinged up in the first period, came out for one shift in the second period, and then left the game permanently.
As of right now we do not have an official update and with the Penguins skate being cancelled today we are going to have to wait longer. Speculation is that Crosby aggravated something in his lower body when Nick Cousins finished a pretty basic check on the Penguins captain in the first period
Crosby’s shift in the second period looked pretty benign. His stride looked fine and on the surface it didn’t look like anything serious was going on.
Crosby obviously felt otherwise and took himself immediately off and did not return. I know the immediate reaction is to have concern about the MCL sprain he suffered in the Olympics, that was also where my head went. However, it might be the other leg. It looks like his left leg got crunched.
However, whatever the injury is, it didn’t appear to be causing him great discomfort after the game.
For now, we will have to wait and see. The Penguins return to action tomorrow at 5PM to host the Dallas Stars. Given the quick turnaround and the fact Crosby took himself out of the game I am not expecting to see him dress for the game.
Another lost goalie interference challenge
Dan Muse attempted to get a goalie interference call reversed for the ninth time this season. It happened after the Senators scored to tie the game at 3. For the ninth time this season the Penguins lost that challenge. Muse and his staff are 0-9 on the year. They don’t deserve to be 0-9 and probably should
have won the challenge last night.
The Ottawa player unabated goes into the blue paint, makes contact with Skinner’s stick/blocker, which leads to the rebound going to where it did. I agree that the contact did not prevent Skinner’s lower body from getting over to the far side rebound. The issue here is that Stuart Skinner was unable to punch and guide the puck to the corner away from the net front because of the contact.
Given how ludicrous the goaltender interference rulings have been this year I didn’t like the challenge from Coach Muse. The Penguins penalty kill has been cold lately and I don’t think the risk reward made sense. The Penguins were outplaying the Senators. Ottawa was in their sixth game in nine days. It could have been really damning if the Senators found a way to get another power play goal. Teams were seven for their last 19 on the Penguins PK which is only a 63.1% success rate.
Thankfully, things ultimately worked out even if I didn’t love the probabilities of the situation.
Regardless, the Penguins being 0-9 on goalie challenges this year is so pathetic for a bevy of reasons.
Shootout success
The Penguins have wins in back to back shootouts, in this economy?
As crazy as it sounds the Penguins have strung together wins in back to back shootouts. After a thrilling overtime session where either team could have ended the game on multiple occasions, the teams entered the skills competition.
I will give credit where credit is due. Dan Muse has done a better job of selecting his shooters. Although, part of that success is when Sidney Crosby is not available.
Muse led things off with Rickard Rakell who has done a nice job on his attempts, even when he is unable to score. Rakell after all was the player who ended the last shootout when he beat Connor Hellebuyck on the blocker side.
Where I think Muse is nailing it is by using the younger players. I’ve said it multiple times this year the younger generation has better hands and grew up doing this stuff. It comes natural to them. Egor Chinakhov’s hands and shot should be utilized every single shootout. There’s a quiet brilliance to him in these. Yes, his shot is electric and gets all the attention, but he does a really nice job of keeping the puck in a shooting position and does little things to freeze the goalie.
With how good the goalies are these days you have to have those small nuances in your shootout game and Chinakhov does.
I love going with Ben Kindel in the third spot. He’s totally built for this. His hands are great and he has a nice shot release point. He does a great job of coming in at an angle while keeping the puck in a shooting position. This freezes the goalie and keeps them honest. With his head up he is able to strike when the moment is right. If he doesn’t like his look he can continue on with the attempt while forcing the goalie to go side to side. This is because he is coming in at an angle, giving him more options.
I think Trevor Zegras is one of the best ever at the shootout, but it isn’t because of the fancy stuff, which he can do. It is because he nails the basics
I think Chinakhov and Kindel are great options for Pittsburgh because they do those things, too.
So keep these two in every shootout, even if it means 87 doesn’t get one of the first three attempts.
Tomorrow, the Penguins are up against one of the better teams in the NHL in the Dallas Stars. The Stars are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Islanders and won’t care if the Penguins don’t have Crosby and/or Malkin in the lineup. Pittsburgh has to continue to find a way.
Erik Karlsson will definitely be leading the way.
Home › Forums › Karlsson Brilliant Against Former Team
Tagged: nhl, Pittsburgh Penguins