The Penguins last hope this season is being able to turn some of these games in hand into victories. Today’s wild 7-6 victory of the Flyers in regulation is a necessary step towards that goal. They are nine points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning with five games in hand. The task remains a tall one. The room for error at this point is slim to none. The road ahead sees them traveling out west to face Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, and Edmonton.
It’s a good thing they have Sidney Crosby. He’s the only reason they are a longshot for the playoffs. He led the way, yet again. He finished the afternoon with a goal and three assists against the Flyers. This is par for the course as Crosby now has more goals, assists, and points against the Flyers than any other player in league history.
Pick a category, any category - Sidney Crosby is the all-time leader in NHL history in goals, assists and points against the Flyers 😎 pic.twitter.com/QiCqidh1Gs
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) February 25, 2024
Bryan Rust was also a key contributor in yesterday’s victory.
Update: Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell's assists on Kris Letang's goal (Pittsburgh's 7th) have been removed.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 25, 2024
Updated points below:
Crosby 1G-3A
Rust 2G-1A
Rakell 1G-1A
Letang 1G-1A
Pettersson 2A
Bemstrom 1G
O'Connor 1G
Karlsson 1A
Smith 1A
Malkin 1A
Puustinen 1A
He *was* a key contributor until he left the came with an upper body injury and didn’t return. The team cannot afford to lose Rust at this point with Guentzel already injured and likely on the move via trade. The longshot becomes an impossibility without him.
Bryan Rust is being evaluated for upper body injury, he's scheduled to travel with Penguins to West but coach Mike Sullivan said he's not sure if Rust will travel. TBD.
— Rob Rossi (@Real_RobRossi) February 25, 2024
The news about him traveling with the team is encouraging as long as it remains true. If he were to stay back in Pittsburgh that would be a huge blow moving forward. Sid is unbelievable, but he needs some help and Rust has been providing it.
Newcomer Emil Bemstrom made his presence felt. He scored in his debut game with the Penguins on the power play. While it is great to see the new acquisition score so soon it would be hard to ignore the fact that if he scores five more times the Penguins will owe a third round draft pick to the Blue Jackets. I remain skeptical any goals he scores the rest of the season are going to matter in the big picture. Outside of the goal Bemstrom was on the ice for 11 shot attempts for and only 4 against in his 8 minutes of 5v5 ice time. He finished with an xGF% of 52.46. All in all a good start for Bemstrom. I still worry about him shooting 20% and hitting those six goals for the trade escalator. It is what it is.
Now we wait for a Bryan Rust injury update.
Thanks for reading!