Penguins rout Red Wings in another boost to playoff hopes

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — The Penguins mustered a massive effort in a win against the New York Islanders on Monday. It would have been understandable if they didn’t have much left in the tank Tuesday.

Instead, they played a nearly flawless first period and raced past a fellow Eastern Conference playoff hopeful. The Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1, at PPG Paints Arena.

The back-to-back victories have put Pittsburgh in prime playoff position with seven games to go.

Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing four games with an upper-body injury. Bryan Rust was a late scratch with a lower-body injury.

The Penguins won their most important game of the season in dominant fashion Monday, scoring seven unanswered goals in an 8-3 victory on Long Island.

They stretched the run to double digits in the first period Tuesday.

Rickard Rakell got it started with his sixth goal in the last five games, placing a wrister perfectly into the top corner off a Sidney Crosby feed four minutes into the game.

And less than five minutes later, Anthony Mantha became a 30-goal scorer for the first time in his career. The big winger located a loose puck around the crease and fired it over Red Wings goalie John Gibson for Mantha’s fourth goal in the past three games.

The Penguins kept applying pressure, and Egor Chinakhov put them in front by three late in the period. Chinakhov scored from long range for his 15th goal in 37 games with Pittsburgh.

The Red Wings pulled Gibson after the first intermission, and Cam Talbot took over in net for Detroit.

The Red Wings finally snapped the Penguins’ streak of 10 unanswered goals with a power-play tally early in the second period. Dylan Larkin won a faceoff and pounced on the rebound of a Patrick Kane shot five seconds into the man advantage.

But Pittsburgh took control of the game again from there. Justin Brazeau restored the three-goal lead with a savvy tip of a Connor Clifton shot from the point at the 12:23 mark of the second period.

Stuart Skinner made some big stops — especially a pad save on Alex DeBrincat in tight — to carry that advantage into the second intermission.

Connor Dewar fought Jacob Bernard-Docker in the first period, and the Penguins forward took the Red Wings defenseman to the ground. The game stayed chippy in the second period with several scrums around the net.

Skinner continued to deliver critical saves in the third, gloving Lucas Raymond and contorting his body to make three stops in quick succession later in the period.

And the fourth line gave him some insurance, as Noel Acciari poked in the rebound of a Ryan Shea to put the Penguins in front 5-1.

It was over when …

The fourth line got on the board for the third straight game to give Pittsburgh a four-goal lead with about eight minutes remaining.

Stat of the game

— 47: The combined goals this season for summer free-agent signings Mantha and Brazeau after they each scored Tuesday.

Around the boards

— Rust missed practice Sunday, but Penguins coach Dan Muse called it a maintenance day. Rust had two points Monday against the Islanders and did not appear to exit early with an injury.

— With Rust’s absence, forward Avery Hayes played his second straight game.

Up next

The Penguins head to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning at 7 p.m. Thursday in their final game of the season against a team currently in the playoff field.