Penguins reach 100 points by routing Red Wings

Several Pittsburgh Penguins reached milestones Saturday through their 7-2 rout of the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Captain Sidney Crosby reached the 30-goal mark.

His linemate, Rickard Rakell, netted his 20th goal of the season.

All-Star defenseman Kris Letang matched his career-high in points (67).

Future Hall-of-Fame forward Evgeni Malkin (1,143 points) surpassed Red Wings icon Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142) for 57th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

Heck, if you want to get trivially granular, defenseman Brian Dumoulin (114 points) hopped over former defenseman Justin Schultz (113) for 76th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

But all of those milestones — big and small — were largely overshadowed by what the team accomplished.

For the 14th time in franchise history, the Penguins (45-23-11, 101 points) reached the 100-point barrier. And they did that by going with their 18 best skaters (non-goaltenders).

For the first time this season, the Penguins dressed a lineup without any forwards or defensemen absent because of injuries, illness or other factors

(Starting goaltender Tristan Jarry’s injured right foot denied them an opportunity to dress a completely healthy lineup.)

The notability of the occasion was not lost on coach Mike Sullivan.

“It helps us manage minutes,” Sullivan said to media in Detroit. “We can keep the minutes at a reasonable workload so that players can sustain a high level of pace and performance. That’s an important aspect of playing moving forward, especially in the playoffs. The ability to be able to use four lines, to get contributions throughout our lineup offensively. It just makes us deeper and a lot harder to play against.”

To be clear, the woebegone Red Wings, destined for another lottery pick in the upcoming entry-level draft, might have a hard time playing against a handful of American Hockey League (AHL) teams.

That was clear throughout this contest as 13 of the Penguins’ 18 skaters recorded a point.

Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel’s fourth goal of the season gave the Penguins the first lead of the contest 13:44 into regulation. After Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman failed to corral a rimmed puck on his own end boards, Penguins forward Brock McGinn claimed it in the left corner. Shielding the puck from Walman, McGinn allowed linemate Teddy Blueger to take possession. From below the left circle, Blueger slipped a forehand pass past Red Wings defenseman Jordan Oesterle to the bottom of the right circle. Darting in, Ruhwedel leaned down and one-touched a forehand shot under the left leg of ex-Penguins goaltender Thomas Greiss. Blueger and McGinn had assists.

The Penguins’ top line made it a 2-0 contest at the 15:18 mark of the first period. From his own right circle, Letang snapped a cross-ice stretch pass to Rakell at the center red line. From there, Rakell one-touched a forehand pass to Crosby who gained the offensive blue line at center point then offloaded the puck back to Rakell on the right wing. The pass wasn’t completely perfect which forced Rakell to stop it with his right/rear skate and kick it to his stick. From just above the right dot, Rakell was able to sneak a pass back to Crosby who muscled his way through Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal and re-directed the puck past Greiss’ stick on the near side for his 30th goal. Rakell and Letang logged assists.

Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana – an occasional nemesis of the Penguins dating back to his days with the Washington Capitals – scored his 13th goal at 16:36 of the first. After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Red Wings rookie defenseman Moritz Seider pulled up on the half wall, shielded the puck from Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues and handed it off to Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi. Avoiding Letang, Bertuzzi weaved his way into the left circle then fed a cross-ice pass to Vrana who fired an immediate one-timer from the right dot that squeaked between DeSmith’s left elbow and his ribs. That score snapped a shutout sequence of 133:28 for DeSmith. Assists went to Bertuzzi and Seider.

The Red Wings tied the game, 2-2, only 17 seconds into the second period. Off an ill-time pinch by Letang, Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen generated a two-on-one rush with linemate Oskar Sundqvist. With Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin defending a potential pass, Rasmussen elected to take the shot and wired a wrister past DeSmith’s glove on the far side for his 13th goal. There were no assists.

Rakell regained the lead, 3-2, at 7:44 of the middle frame. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Rakell sauntered his way up the boards, circumnavigated a slide tackle maneuver by Oesterle and attacked the net, flicking a dagger of a forehand shot past Greiss’ glove on the far side for his 20th goal. Defenseman Mike Matheson had the lone assist.

It became a 4-2 game at 11:37 of the second period. After Malkin won a faceoff in the Red Wings’ left circle, Dumoulin settled it at the center point then fed it to Letang driving up the left wing. From low in the left circle, Letang sniped a far-side wrister past Greiss’ left shoulder for his ninth goal. The only assist went to Dumoulin.

Malkin, returning to the lineup after serving a four-game suspension, put his team up 5-2 with a power-play score in slightly strange circumstances at 16:23 of the second. From the right circle of the offensive zone, Crosby spun to his backhand and fed a pass low to the near side of the cage for Malkin who one-touched the puck to the slot. From there, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel jabbed a quick forehand shot on net that Greiss knocked down but failed to fully cover. As Guentzel hovered over the crase, Staal struck him from behind, causing Guentzel to crash into Greiss who responded by shoving Guentzel in the right shoulder.

As that sequence unfolded, Malkin alertly shoveled the puck into the cage while referee Francois St. Laurent whistled play dead. All parties on the ice seemed to believe the puck was frozen by Greiss but a subsequent video review displayed Malkin was in the act of shooting the puck as St. Laurent used his whistle. Rule 37.3 allows for goals when the “puck enters the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result of the play was unaffected by any whistle blown by the Referee upon his losing sight of the puck.”

It was Malkin’s 18th goal of the season. Guentzel and Crosby were credited with assist.

By the start of the third period, Greiss was pulled in favor of goaltender Alex Nedjelkovic.

The Penguins started to pour it on when forward Danton Heinen scored his 18th goal 5:38 into the third period. After Penguins forward Jeff Carter won a draw in the Red Wings’ left circle, Letang claimed possession on the near half wall and sneaked up the boards. Approaching the goal line, Letang backhanded a clever pass across the crease for Heinen who slammed in a forehand shot under Nedjelkovic’s glove. Letang and Carter collected assists.

Malkin capped the scoring late in regulation at 19:34 of the third period. From the right point of the offensive zone, Ruhwedel rimmed a puck to the end boards for Zucker. Settling play for a moment, Zucker dished a backhanded pass to the left circle where Malkin clapped a one-timer over Nedjelkovic’s glove on the near side. Zucker and Ruhwedel recorded assists.

DeSmith, starting a third consecutive game for the first time all season, made 23 saves on 25 shots as his record improved to 10-5-5.

“Casey’s been solid,” Ruhwedel said. “His play has, obviously, shown it. He’s made timely saves. A lot of big saves. And also the routine ones. … It makes our lives easier, especially the (defensemen). … He’s been playing great.”

The Penguins looked great Saturday — albeit against a wretched opponent — by accomplishing something together.

“(Individual) success comes with success of a team,” Letang said. “When everybody is kind of pulling the same direction, individual success always comes.”

Notes:

• The Penguins reached the 100-point mark for the first time since the 2018-19 – the NHL’s most recent full season - when they had exactly 100.

• The Penguins have won seven consecutive games against the Red Wings. Their most recent setback to the Red Wings was a 4-1 road loss on April 2, 2019.

• Penguins forward Bryan Rust has gone six games without a point.

• DeSmith has not played in three consecutive games since a four-game stretch between March 29 and April 6 of 2021.

• Zucker was in the lineup after missing Friday’s practice in Cranberry due to an undisclosed illness.

• The Penguins’ scratches were forward Brian Boyle (healthy), defenseman Mark Friedman (health) and Jarry.