3 Takeaways From Penguins 3-1 Victory Over Wild

The Pittsburgh Penguins had one more opportunity to skate against one of their own franchise legends, Marc-Andre Fleury, who plays for the Minnesota Wild. However, the Penguins legends who remained in the lineup led their team to a 3-1 win on a special day in St. Paul.

It’s been months since Sidney Crosby scored two goals in a game, achieving the feat in back-to-back outings on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. On Sunday, he was the driver of the Penguins offense, scoring two goals, including an empty net tally that secured the Penguins’ second win in over a month.

Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin recently had two goals against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 27 and had the game’s first tally against the Wild, giving the Penguins their first tally in five periods.

Despite all the lineup changes in the past twenty years, Crosby and Malkin have been the one constant, and on a day when they faced one of their best teammates, the dynamic duo showed up.

In Tristan Jarry’s last six NHL games, he was 0-3-2 with a 2.66 GAA and .881 SV%. At that moment, the Penguins felt Alex Nedeljkovic deserved the crease and that Joel Blomqvist was the better option in a back-up role.

Jarry went down to the AHL and had mixed results, getting called up ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. Although fans were perplexed by the move, the 29-year-old didn’t play until Sunday, when he turned in a vintage 29-save performance.

Even though it’s only one game, Jarry may have earned another start with a .967 SV%. At this point the Penguins are only playing for pride down the stretch, so if he puts in a couple of good starts, he can regain his confidence and finish the season on a high note.

After 64 games, the most power-play opportunities that the Penguins handed opponents was five, a feat they achieved five times, most recently on Jan. 17 against the Buffalo Sabres.

NHL Highlights | Penguins vs. Wild | March 09, 2025 Watch full game highlights from the matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota Wild on March 09, 2025, condensing all the action into a 10-min…

On Sunday against the Wild, the Penguins unravelled at the strangest time. Thankfully, Minnesota only scored once on their six power-play chances, but Pittsburgh let a team down on their luck have all the opportunities to claw back into a tight contest.

Although they have accumulated more penalty minutes in other games, their 12 minutes against the Wild could have cost them another victory and extended their losing streak.

However, that wasn’t the case. The Penguins played rope-a-dope and let Jarry make the key saves to preserve the win. It was a total team effort with the usual suspects leading the way.