CHICAGO — Only 24 hours after a very impressive win against one of the NHL’s best teams in Dallas, the Pittsburgh Penguins came back to earth with a thud in Chicago.
Looking fatigued and without any crispness in their game, the Penguins fell 3-1 to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday evening.
Sidney Crosby’s season-best 12-game scoring streak finally ended in the game that officially eliminated the Penguins from qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs. This marks the third straight season the Penguins have failed to reach the postseason, their longest stretch since missing the playoffs four straight seasons between 2002 and 2006.
The teams play each other in a rematch on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Perhaps the Penguins will display more life in that game, because they didn’t have much in the tank against the Blackhawks on Sunday.
“We weren’t even close to the team that we were yesterday,” Mike Sullivan said. “It was one of those nights — we just didn’t seem to have the energy.”
Rickard Rakell scored the Penguins’ only goal, his 34th of the season, which matches his career high.
WE WANT ANOTHER❗️ pic.twitter.com/T8BfK8aYVq
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 7, 2025
Ilya Mikheyev scored twice for the Blackhawks and Frank Nazar started the scoring with a shorthanded effort.
Alex Nedeljkovic was sharp in defeat, stopping 28 of 30 shots.
Ten postgame observations
• During the first TV timeout, the Blackhawks paid tribute to Alex Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record earlier in the day by scoring his 895th career goal in New York.
Most of the Penguins and Blackhawks tapped their sticks on the ice while the crowd cheered. Evgeni Malkin’s response was interesting. While the rest of the players tapped their sticks while going about their typical business during TV timeouts, Malkin sat by himself on the end boards, staring at the scoreboard while it showed the replay of Ovechkin’s historic goal.
Malkin and Ovechkin have been friends since they were teenagers, having been drafted in the same year and playing for Team Russia for years before they were drafted in 2004. There have been some bumpy days in their friendship, notably between 2007 and 2010 when Ovechkin took a number of runs at Malkin during games, which illustrated a strain in their friendship for a time.
Much as Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin have seen their relationship improve in recent years, Malkin and Ovechkin have clearly strengthened their friendship.
“It’s a huge day for hockey,” Malkin said. “I’m glad I’ve played with him, against him. He’s a great player. I hope he stays healthy, maybe he’ll score 900 goals (this season), you know? His family will celebrate today. Probably the whole country of Russia, and the U.S., were watching today. It’s huge. I’ve played against him for 20 years. He’s a machine. He never stops. Bad times. Good times. He finds a way to score.”
Malkin gushed about Ovechkin’s accomplishment.
“If you played for 20 years and scored 40 goals every year, he still would not have broken the record,” Malkin said. “It’s amazing.”
Crosby and Malkin both texted Ovechkin after he tied the record on Friday to congratulate him. Malkin said he will call him once things settle down.
“I probably won’t call him until a little bit later,” Malkin said. “He has 1,000 messages probably. I sent him a message before the game today, said congrats. It’s an amazing day for Russian hockey. I’m glad Wayne Gretzky (was there). A great day for hockey for all of us.”
Malkin shook his head when it was mentioned that he and Ovechkin were drafted more than 20 years ago. He also took some time to throw a friendly barb at Ovechkin, whose diet is the stuff of legend.
“He not believe it (that it’s been more than 20 years), I not believe it, that he’s broken the record,” Malkin said. “He never stopped. He isn’t a typical player. He doesn’t work out every day. He doesn’t eat healthy. He just loves hockey.”
• Crosby and Ovechkin, once upon a time, weren’t on the friendliest of terms. It surely is difficult to be pals when you’re compared with one another daily.
At one point, I think they realized people will be comparing them and arguing about one or the other long after they’re gone from hockey. And along the way, they’ve developed a liking for one another.
Crosby reached out to him after he tied the record against Chicago on Friday and again today.
“We text a little bit,” Crosby said. “So obviously, when he tied it I reached out, and again today. That’s a pretty special moment. The playing at the same time, you think of how long hockey history is, how long the game’s been around — and to be playing at a time when he gets a record like that is special.”
• As for the game, I think it was a reminder that the NHL season is too long. The Penguins just had nothing. I wouldn’t say they played a poor game, per se — they just had no energy and as a result produced precious little offense.
The game was a relative bore. Sullivan wasn’t really displeased after the game so much as he probably felt helpless because energy hasn’t typically been an issue on the second end of back-to-backs during most of this season.
• This might have been the first game I’ve seen any signs of fatigue in Crosby since the 4 Nations Face-Off. He’s been brilliant for the last two months but wasn’t at his best in this game. He is human, it appears.
Dating back to the 4 Nations championship game against Team USA, Crosby has played 22 games in four different time zones in the past 46 days. He’s played huge minutes during that stretch and probably isn’t 100 percent healthy. Even for Crosby, that’s a lot, especially at 37.
• Bad things happen quite a bit for the Penguins when Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are on the ice together.
On Chicago’s first goal, Karlsson made a bad read, pinching when he shouldn’t have. Letang doubled down on general badness during the sequence: instead of taking away the pass on a two-on-one — you know, like you’re supposed to as a defenseman — he attempted to simply pick the puck from the puck carrier.
He’s been doing this with regularity lately. It ended up in the back of the net, as the Blackhawks were essentially given a breakaway on the play.
Frank’s first shorthanded goal, nbd🤷 pic.twitter.com/G4F0jQRKrk
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 6, 2025
• Letang and Karlsson are great talents who have enjoyed wonderful careers. Currently, they’re doing more harm than good to the Penguins.
If both of them are back next season, I don’t see things improving.
• I continue to like Ville Koivunen’s game quite a bit. He’s smart. He’s got a nifty way about him on the power play. He reads plays extremely well. Clearly his hockey IQ is high. The sky appears to be the limit for him.
• Speaking of which, I also liked Rutger McGroarty’s game again. It’s a cliche to say it, but he does all of the little things so, so well. The way he takes hits to make plays, the decision-making, the attentiveness in the defensive zone. You name it.
Chris Kunitz was in the building and stopped by the locker room to visit with some of his old teammates following the game. I see some of Kunitz in McGroarty’s game.
• If you want the Penguins to tear things to the ground, beware. Look at where the Blackhawks are and how far away they remain.
• It’s hard not to notice draft positioning at this point of the season. The Penguins currently would own the seventh pick (before the lottery makes it official) in the NHL Draft. Mathematically speaking, they could still easily finish with fourth-worst record in the NHL. They could also finish with the 11th- or 12th-worst record. That’s a pretty dramatic swing in a draft that isn’t real deep.
(Photo of Sidney Crosby and Ilya Mikheyev: Talia Sprague / Imagn Images)