In what will likely be their final game against a friendly foe, the Pittsburgh Penguins put together a solid defensive and goaltending effort.
The Penguins defeated Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota Wild, 3-1, in Fleury’s presumed final start against the team that drafted him. The Penguins played a pretty tight defensive game, but their own guy in net – Tristan Jarry – was a major story in this one.
Jarry stopped 29 of 30 Wild shots, and 12 of those came on high-danger chances against. He held the fort down while the Penguins were getting pretty heavily outplayed, especially later in the game.
The Penguins’ penalty kill was also seven-for-eight in the game, and Jarry was a huge part of that, too.
“So thrilled for him,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “You know, this has been a tough road for him. And I thought he was terrific all night long. He was big in the net, he looked confident, and that’s what he’s capable of. He’s a solid NHL goaltender when he plays up to his capabilities, and I was thrilled for him.”
Forward Bryan Rust went even further.
“I love that s—,” Rust said. “He was awesome tonight, and he’s been through a lot, obviously. He’s come right back up here – great attitude – came in and had a hell of a game. I think that shows how high-character he is, and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Jarry and Fleury kept the game in a deadlock until the end of the second period, when Evgeni Malkin picked up the loose change in front of the net off his own deflection attempt to make it 1-0 for the Penguins on the power play.
New Penguins’ forward Tommy Novak left the game early in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return. The Wild got a fair amount of chances, but the Penguins had theirs, too. And their captain delivered.
Sidney Crosby added his 20th goal of the season midway through the third period to put the Penguins ahead by two, and Ryan Hartman scored on a four-on-one power play for Minnesota with just over five minutes remaining in regulation to make it 2-1.
However, Crosby came in clutch at the end, too. With an empty net, he hustled to chase down a loose puck in the Minnesota zone. He won the footrace over Wild defenseman Brock Faber, and with one hand on his stick, he batted the puck into the net from the left circle to seal the game, 3-1.
Sidney Crosby beats Brock Faber to the loose puck and swipes it in the empty net, Faber destroys his stick on the pipe and throws the rest away pic.twitter.com/609HVeHZ6A
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) March 9, 2025
It seems quite fitting that Crosby and Malkin were the ones to score on Fleury for the win, but it didn’t surprise longtime teammate – and former teammate of Fleury’s – Rust one bit.
“I was waiting for ‘Tanger’ to score,” Rust laughed. “But, yeah, it’s cool. I was actually… Sid and I were joking about it before the game. I was like, ‘one of you guys got the game-winner tonight’, and… here we are.”
He also spoke on Crosby in particular, who registered his 17th season of 20 or more goals.
“I say it every time he gets a milestone, is that you can see what makes Sid Sid,” Rust said. “His incredible work ethic, year in and year out… he’s still doing it with a head full of gray hair and still leading this team, obviously, by example. I mean, you can’t say too many more good things about him, and I hate just pumping his tires like this, but I feel like I’ve got to do it almost every game.”
As for Crosby, he was happy to score against his former teammate – and good friend – one last time. He smiled when recalling his first goal, which was a lucky one-timer off a nice cross-ice pass from Erik Karlsson that floated behind Fleury and into the net.
“I think one of their ‘D’ helped me on that one and ended up tipping it,” Crosby said. “But it was nice to see that one go in. Hopefully some bragging rights for a while with that one.
“I think I’ve got three on him. I think that’s my third one. I had one in Vegas when he was there, one here last year, and that was my third one. But to get one there in the last game against him… I’ll remind him of that many times.”
Although he suffered the loss, it’s a game Fleury won’t soon forget, either – even if two of his close buddies got the best of him one last time.
“A little bit more sour, I would say, than the last one [in [October],” Fleury said. “Both of them scored, you know, ‘G’ and Sid. But I don’t know… I feel like I’m gonna hear about that one for a long time.”
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