Penguins get last sliver of playoff hopes dashed in the Windy City.
Here are your Pens Points for this Monday morning…
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks met for the first game of a home-and-home on Sunday evening. It was a close, scoreless affair for a good chunk of the game, but Chicago was able to break through first and never looked back. The loss officially eliminates the Penguins from Stanley Cup playoff contention. [Recap]
Forward Philip Tomasino missed Sunday’s game against the Blackhawks due to an undisclosed injury. [Trib Live]
Vasily Ponomarev, the other prospect included in last season’s Jake Guentzel trade, has spent most of the 2024-25 season honing his craft in Wilkes-Barre with the AHL team. Even if he hasn’t joined his former teammates Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen in the NHL yet, Ponomarev is keeping a level head as he works toward his ultimate goal. [Trib Live]
News and notes from around the NHL…
The Great 8 Chase is no more. Alex Ovechkin stands alone as the greatest goalscorer in NHL history. On Sunday against the New York Islanders, Ovechkin scored goal No. 895 to surpass Wayne Gretzky’s career mark of 894 as the league’s all-time top goalscorer. [NHL]
Ovechkin surpassing Gretzky for the goals record is an all-time moment for any sports fan, and it isn’t just any old broken record—it’s one that many, including Ovechkin himself, thought would never be touched. [Yahoo! Sports]
We are one month removed from the trade deadline, and as the playoffs are just around the corner, here are six teams that came out of the deadline looking like winners. [The Hockey News]
Could the NHL take a page from Major League Baseball’s playbook and stage the “awards, the draft, and free agency” in one city, akin to MLB’s Winter Meetings? [Sportsnet]