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For most of the first 40 minutes against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked like a team fighting itself. 

The execution wasn't there. The power play wasn't clicking and had actually cost them a shorthanded goal against. They surrendered a goal with three seconds remaining in the middle frame to go down by two, and it looked like they didn't have much life.

But Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby certainly had something to say about that. 

Crosby scored twice, Rust scored once, and Kris Letang potted the game-winning goal in overtime as the Penguins completed a 4-3 comeback win over the Jackets to secure their first OT win of the season. They scored three unanswered goals, starting with Rust's goal just 13 seconds into the third period that set the tone for the rest of the game. 

The third period largely belonged to the Penguins thanks to Rust, Crosby, and goaltender Tristan Jarry, who was forced to make some tough saves to keep the score tied at 3-3 for the back half of the third. He stopped 26 of 29 Columbus shots on goal throughout the evening.

But Rust's goal was the turning point, and it came after he went down the runway twice in the second period with apparent injuries.

Tonight's win, by the numbers ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vxx8VZdH8p

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 29, 2025

"The third period was great," head coach Dan Muse said. "I mean, just the start of it, the way you come out there... just try to turn the momentum for us to start that period, especially after the way the second [period] ended. So, obviously, that was a huge shift, huge goal. Thought we had some good follow-up for it."

Crosby opened the game's scoring a little more than six minutes into the game, when the first line of Crosby, Rust, and Kevin Hayes was pressuring in the offensive zone. Letang found Crosby on the doorstep for a shot-pass, and Crosby once again went down to one knee to redirect it and give the Penguins the 1-0 lead. 

From there, Columbus took over. Sean Monahan scored with just over six minutes remaining in the first after a lengthy period of sustained zone time for the Jackets, and Brendan Gaunce took advantage of an out-of-sorts Penguins' power play about four minutes into the middle frame to register his first goal of the season shorthanded off a two-on-one. And with time expiring in the second, star defenseman Zach Werenski - more than likely a lock for Team USA's Olympic roster - put Columbus up 3-1 with a rocket from the top of the left circle. 

Penguins Defenseman Erik Karlsson Hits New Milestone On FridayPittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson hit a new milestone on Friday night.

But that's when Rust came in and shifted the momentum. Erik Karlsson made a nice play on a pinch along the right wall to squirt the puck out to Rust, who wristed one from the top of the right circle and past Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves to bring the game to within one. Then - approaching the midway point of the third - Crosby scored a goal that will probably end up being one of his best of the season.

Tommy Novak got the puck near the left wall in the neutral zone on a feed from Parker Wotherspoon, and he quickly attempted a cross-ice pass to a breaking Crosby on the right side. Crosby, recognizing the pass was a bit behind him - allowed the pass to bank off the boards and ahead of him. He turned on the jets to get to the puck before Greaves could poke check and ahead of Jackets' defenseman Ivan Provorov, brought it in, and quickly went backhand-to-forehand to go top-shelf over Greaves and tie the game at 3-3. 

The goal also put Crosby into a tie with Dale Hawyerchuk at 640 career goals for 15th all-time.

SIMPLY SIDSATIONAL 👑 pic.twitter.com/wKUKERuJgK

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 29, 2025

The rest of the period was played pretty evenly with chances at both ends, but Jarry and the Penguins held strong to force overtime. Then - just 59 seconds into the extra frame - Evgeni Malkin won a puck battle on the left wall in the offensive zone and got the puck to Letang, who broke toward the slot. He fed it to Novak, who gave it back to Letang for a nice give-and-go and shot from the low slot to improve Pittsburgh's OT/SO record to 1-5.

"I think the big takeaway here for tonight is there's going to be games you're playing well, and you're down, " Muse said. "The ability to there to just stay with it, to know that it's another time, it's another situation that we now own, knowing that you can go into a third period in a situation like started the period and come out with a win... great to get the overtime win."

Here are a few takeaways from this one:

- I thought this was the best game that the Penguins' first line has played in quite a while. Rust has been off his game lately, and he showed up in a big way Friday. Crosby has also not been producing at his customary rate over the last couple of weeks, but he came through - and he's also now scoring at a 53-goal pace this season, which would be a career-high for him.

Sidney Crosby Climbs NHL All-Time Goals List<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' captain Sidney Crosby has been known throughout his career as one of the NHL's all-time great playmakers.

And as for Hayes? I thought he played a nice game and was a good complementary piece to the other two. 

Hayes doesn't always get enough credit for the playmaker he is. He certainly isn't the fastest skater, but he's one of the smartest, and he consistently makes good decisions with the puck on his stick. I don't think he's a long-term solution for the Penguins on the top line, and there are going to be some nights where he doesn't quite look as good as he did Friday.

But, given how injury-depleted these Penguins are right now, they may be able to get away with him slotting in there for a few more games while they wait for guys to get healthy.

- On the contrary, I didn't think this was a particularly strong game from the second line. I liked Malkin's play in overtime, but they were hemmed in their own zone for most of the evening five-on-five. Malkin skated with Anthony Mantha and Novak, and Danton Heinen got a few shifts in place of Novak later on in the game. 

This line is really, really missing Justin Brazeau. He, along with Noel Acciari, has been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity. And he can't come back soon enough. 

New Penguins' Winger On Pace For Career-Highs This SeasonOne year ago, right wing Anthony Mantha tore his ACL on a freak kind of play as a member of the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/calgary-flames">Calgary Flames</a>.&nbsp;

- I thought he was a bit better tonight, but Ben Kindel's game has fallen off a bit since about Game 15 or so. He's just not the puck hound we saw in that first stretch, he's turning the puck over more, and he isn't driving offense at the rate he was prior to his brief stint on the first line with Crosby and Rust. 

But, hey, that's okay. Young players are going to go through stretches of down play, especially players as young as Kindel who have not experienced the grind of a full 82-game season. 

With Tristan Broz in the fold for now, it wouldn't surprise me to see him and Kindel get some kind of rotation at third-line center, just to give Kindel some rest days that he was supposed to get earlier on but couldn't because of the injury situation. 

- That said, I'm not sure I agreed with the decision to take Broz out of the lineup altogether on Friday. 

Unlike Kindel, this is a player who is used to the grind of a full professional season and back-to-back tilts. Yes, Broz missed two months with mono last season in the AHL, but he proved capable of handling the AHL schedule prior to that, which is 72 games long. 

How we're lining up in Columbus.#LetsGoPenspic.twitter.com/KFFS5sQDJP

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 28, 2025

I'd love to see Kindel, Broz, and Ville Koivunen play together Saturday in place of Heinen. Broz can play wing or center, so I don't think it will be a huge problem for him to make that shift when Kindel is in the lineup. 

Give me the "kid line." Broz and Koivunen have real chemistry, and so do Koivunen and Kindel. So let's try it.

- And speaking of Koivunen, I thought he played another nice game on Friday. The simply just cannot buy a goal right now. 

I do think there are some timing issues he still needs to work out at the NHL level. He tends to hold onto pucks too long, he waits too long to pull the trigger on shots sometimes, and he looks so desperate to get the monkey off his back that he's almost trying too hard and forcing plays.

But he's generating chances, he's creating offense, and he's often putting himself in the right spots to finish chances. The goal he so desperately needs will come if he keeps playing like this. 

And, on that note: Penguins' fans need to be more patient with young players.

5 Things The Penguins Should Be Thankful ForAmerican Thanksgiving is upon us, and that means <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/penguins-have-passed-the-thanksgiving-benchmark">folks start talking benchmarks</a>, playoffs, and trade deadline storylines around the NHL.&nbsp;

Yes, on rare occasions, you'll get players like Kindel, who make an impact immediately upon arrival. But most of the time, there is going to be a period of adjustment for young players entering the league for the first time. We've seen that with Rutger McGroarty, who very clearly wasn't ready at the start of last season, got sent to the AHL for the season, and was a better player upon his return. We've seen that with Harrison Brunicke, who started off well for the first few games then ran into some trouble after. 

Let's not forget that Koivunen is just 21 games into his NHL tenure and - like Kindel - got off to a roaring start to his NHL career with seven points in eight games last season. He's had a slow start, but he's so close to breaking through. 

So, patience needs to be exercised with Koivunen, and it will need to be exercised with others. The Penguins will have a lot of young talent debuting over the next handful of seasons, and expectations for these young players in their first sustained taste of NHL hockey need to be tempered. As mentioned before, even Kindel has hit a bit of a rough stretch after a wildly impressive start.

Therefore, let's pump the brakes on calling a guy a "career AHL-er" 21 games into his career.

Penguins' Top Prospect Rutger McGroarty Extends AHL Goal-Scoring Streak<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' top prospect Rutger McGroarty can't stop scoring goals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins.

- And, about McGroarty...

He scored yet another goal for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) on Friday, making that four consecutive games with a goal in the four games he's been back from injury. He has six points in those four games as well. 

The Penguins could sure use some scoring depth, and McGroarty is blowing return-to-play expectations out of the water so far in WBS. I know there is a plan in place to ease McGroarty back into game action before making further decisions regarding where he will play the rest of the season.

But I do think there comes a point where needs for the NHL roster - and performance - outweigh whatever preconceived plan came about.

WBS plays the Hershey Bears Saturday. If McGroarty continues his torrid start, I don't think it would be the worst idea to give him an NHL look sooner than expected. The Penguins need all the scoring help they can get right now, and McGroarty is showing that he's, arguably, already capable and ready for NHL minutes this season.

He's definitey one to keep an eye on in the coming days.

Penguins Have Passed The Thanksgiving BenchmarkThe Pittsburgh Penguins are in a playoff spot at Thanksgiving, which could be huge.

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The online countdown of the top 100 hockey players aged 21-and-under comes to an end with the top 20.

The Hockey News' Prospects Unlimited issue's annual ranking of hockey's youngest talent is compiled by Ryan Kennedy, and while he uses our Future Watch rankings as a resource, this is a completely independent compilation.

Future Watch is based on a survey of NHL scouts, while the PU Top 100 is cobbled together by Kennedy based on his projections of what the players will be once they hit their primes.

Since different positions have different prime years, take that to mean we are projecting how good these forwards will be when they are 23 or 24 years old, the defensemen when they are 24 or 25 and the goalies when they are 25 or 26.

The birth year cutoff for this year’s list is 2004. Ages noted are as of Oct. 1.

As we share the top 100 list on TheHockeyNews.com, you can see the full list with player bios and draft information for each of them right now by being a subscriber to The Hockey News and accessing the Archive or by opening the magazine if you've already received it in your mailbox.

Catch up on the players ranked 21st to 40th, 41st to 60th, 61st to 80th and 81st to 100th.   

20. Keaton Verhoeff, D, 17 years old, North Dakota Fighting Saints
NHL Draft: 2026

19. Porter Martone, RW, 18, Philadelphia Flyers
Michigan State (Big Ten)

18. Tij Iginla, C, 19, Utah Mammoth
Kelowna (WHL)

17. Juraj Slafkovsky, LW, 21, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

16. Zayne Parekh, D, 19, Calgary Flames
Calgary (NHL)

15. Artyom Levshunov, D, 19, Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago (NHL)

14. Landon DuPont, D, 16, Everett Silvertips (WHL)
NHL Draft: 2027

13. Anton Frondell, C, 18, Chicago Blackhawks
Djurgarden (Swe.)

12. Michael Misa, C, 18, San Jose Sharks
San Jose

11. Zeev Buium, D, 19, Minnesota Wild
Minnesota (NHL)

The super-skilled blueliner may have only just finished his college career, but he's already seen some big-game NHL action.  Go to the full feature on Buium by clicking here.   

10. Beckett Sennecke, RW, 19, Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim (NHL)

9. Matthew Schaefer, D, 18, New York Islanders
NY Islanders (NHL)

8. Matvei Michkov, RW, 20, Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia (NHL)

7. Ivan Demidov, RW, 19, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

6. Leo Carlsson, C, 20, Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim (NHL)

5. Lane Hutson, D, 21, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

4. Gavin McKenna, LW, 17, Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten)
NHL Draft: 2026

3. Adam Fantilli, C, 21, Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus (NHL)

2. Connor Bedard, C, 20, Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago (NHL)

Although the Blackhawks have struggled the past two years, they have one of the game's premier young stars in Connor Bedard. If they can continue to get better and add help, other teams better watch out.  Go to the full feature on Bedard by clicking here.   

1. Macklin Celebrini, C, 19, San Jose Sharks
San Jose

There's no denying the fact it's been a tough cruise for the Sharks the past few years. But with Macklin Celebrini leading the way, San Jose is posed to get back on track.  Go to the full feature on Celebrini by clicking here.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

Everything is going horribly for the Nashville Predators this season. They currently have an 8-12-4 record and are at the very bottom of the NHL standings.

With the Predators having another nightmare season, they are emerging as likely sellers. One player who has been generating a lot of chatter in the rumor mill due to this is veteran forward Ryan O'Reilly. 

O'Reilly is certainly a player that playoff clubs would love to get their hands on. Mainly because the 34-year-old forward is still an impactful two-way center with a Stanley Cup on his resume. His contract also adds to his appeal, as he has a very reasonable $4.5 million cap hit until the end of the 2026-27 season.

With all of this, let's take a look at three teams that could be great fits for O'Reilly if the Predators officially move him. 

Montreal Canadiens

In a recent episode of TSN Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that the Canadiens are one of the teams interested in O'Reilly. With the Habs needing help at the center position, it would be excellent for the franchise if they won the O'Reilly sweepstakes.

If the Canadiens acquired O'Reilly, he would give them a prime upgrade for their second-line center spot. He would also be a great mentor for the Canadiens' young players to have around as the Original Six club looks to continue to trend in the right direction. 

New Jersey Devils 

The Devils also stand out as a potential suitor for O'Reilly. It's also worth noting that the Devils were reportedly interested in him leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline.

If the Devils landed O'Reilly, their center depth would be among the NHL's best once Jack Hughes returns from injury, as they would have a trio of Hughes, Nico Hischier, and O'Reilly, which would be simply lethal. 

Detroit Red Wings

O'Reilly and the Red Wings could also be a wonderful match. When looking at the Red Wings' current forward group, it is fair to argue that they could use another impactful center. Bringing in a player like O'Reilly would provide them with just that, and he could slot perfectly as their second-line center.

Furthermore, with the Red Wings being a team on the rise, looking to make the playoffs, adding a veteran who has had plenty of success, like O'Reilly, could help improve their chances.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

The Montreal Canadiens are in Denver today to take on the Colorado Avalanche, one of the league's hottest teams. Nathan MacKinnon currently leads the scoring race with 39 points in just 23 games, while linemates Martin Necas (30 points) and Artturi Lehkonen (21 points) are also flying high. As always, Cale Makar leads all defensemen in points with 30, seven points ahead of his nearest pursuer, Josh Morrissey.

After making way for Samuel Montembeault for Friday afternoon’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Jakub Dobes will be back in the Habs’ net this afternoon. The Czech rookie faced the Colorado Avalanche once in his young career, his second game last January. The netminder was named the first star of the match after backstopping the Habs to a 2-1 shootout win, stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced in regulation and the two shots he faced in the shootout, finishing the night with a .957 save percentage. This is the kind of play the Sainte-Flanelle will need from him on Saturday afternoon.

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The offence will have its work cut out for it, too, since the Avalanche are getting some of the best goaltending in the league this season. The tandem formed by Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood has been firing on all cylinders. The former has a .918 SV while the latter has an impressive .928 SV.

In fact, Wedgewood is doing so well that he’s been mentioned as a goaltending possibility for Team Canada at the Olympics. The national side must think outside the box, given that Adin Hill is injured and both Montembeault and Jordan Binnington are struggling this season.

However, Wedgewood, who has played most of the Avalanche game this season, has only faced the Habs once and came out on the losing end of the duel with a 4.45 GAA and a .778 SV. That could have been encouraging news for the Canadiens, but Blackwood’s record against the Habs is almost flawless. He’s 5-0-2 against the Sainte-Flanelle and has a 2.47 GAA and a .922 SV. Since Wedgewood was in the net on Friday against the Minnesota Wild, expect Blackwood to be in the crease on Saturday.

The Avalanche are 6-3-1 in the last 10 duels between the two sides, and they’ve won the last one, a 5-4 shootout win last March while Montembeault was in net, allowing four goals on 37 shots. Colorado was riding a ten-game winning streak until it lost 3-2 in the shootout to the Wild on Friday night.

The Canadiens will need to keep a close eye on scoring race leader Nathan MacKinnon, the center has seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 19 games against the Habs. As for former Canadiens player Lehkonen, he’s got five points in as many games against his former team, while stud defenseman Makar has 10 points in just nine duels with the Sainte-Flanelle.

Up front for the Canadiens, Cole Caufield will look to extend his point streak to at least 7; he has two goals and five assists over the last six games. The sniper has only four points in six games against Saturday afternoon’s hosts, and now would be a good time to increase that production. As for Zachary Bolduc, who has five points in the last two games, he’s got three goals in five duels with the Avs and will be eager to keep his own point streak going. Meanwhile, captain Nick Suzuki has nine points in as many games against Colorado.

Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM and you can catch the game on ALT, TSN2, RDS. 

After the duel, Montreal will be making its way back home and will enjoy a deserved day off on Sunday before getting back to work in Brossard with a practice scheduled for 10:30 AM on Monday in readiness for the duel with the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Center on Tuesday night.

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.

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It’s been a rough holiday week for the Florida Panthers.

Over the past few days, the Panthers have lost consecutive games on home ice for the first time this season, a pair of defeats that that bookend the Thanksgiving holiday.

Florida was outscored 9-5 in losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Calgary Flames, with the latter defeat stinging a bit more due to the combination of familiar faces on the Flames bench and the poor record they arrived in Sunrise with.

Now the Cats get a few days to lick their wounds and figure out how to get back on the winning side of things.

Let’s get to Friday’s takeaways:

OVERCONFIDENT?

Things felt like they were going Florida’s way early in this one.

Before the first period was three minutes old, the Panthers already had a multi-goal lead.

Those two goals were on the team’s first two shots, but Florida failed to build on their momentum and instead allowed Calgary to get the game back to even by the second TV timeout.

For a team like Calgary that has struggled for much of the season but only recently started to find some consistency, they saw a window of opportunity to pounce on the Panthers and boy did they take it.

“When you score two like that, you think you're going to just generate all you want, and when that doesn't happen, you get some frustration built into your game,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “We didn't move the puck very easily tonight, but the expectation that we should isn't realistic. We would have to closer support, and probably suffer the things that frustrate us a little bit a little bit differently, a little change in mindset on what our expectations are every time we touch the puck.”

TOO MUCH MEAT ON BONE

Scoring three goals on 40 shots is usually a recipe for victory.

Three goals isn’t a ton, but recaching the 40-shot milestone generally indicates a night where you possessed the puck quite a bit, or at least enough to make a three-goal output stand up.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, that was not the case on Friday afternoon.

Flames goaltender Devin Cooley was outstanding, stopping eight of Florida’s 10 high danger shots and holding them to just the three goals on a day there the Panthers’ expected goals was 5.96.

It didn’t help that 31 of Florida’s shot attempts were blocked on their way to the net.

“We got 85 shot attempts. It's fine. You get 39 to the net, but you've left an awful lot of zone time,” said Maurice. “Some are good blocks. Their team gets paid too, and we have to be mindful of that. And then I thought, maybe two areas: There were one on one battles where we weren't quite as good as we will need to be to expect to win a game, and then a little slowness in our offensive game.”

GOOD TIME FOR DAYS OFF

After dropping back-to-back contests on home ice, the Panthers will get three days between games to (as their starting goaltender would say) reset, regroup and refocus.

While you never want to go into a period of off time on a down note, the positive is that this will give Maurice and his staff a chance to break down the areas they feel the team is struggling and deliver those adjustments to the team.

“You've got to take the chances that you have to recover, but at the same time, we got a whole bunch of stuff we got to work on and get better, so this will be a good chance for us to do that,” Maurice said.

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Photo caption: Nov 28, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Calgary Flames goaltender Devin Cooley (1) makes a save against Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their winning streak to six games with their 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 28. Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Hagel chipped in during Tampa Bay's win, as he scored a goal. 

With his goal against the Red Wings, Hagel extended his ongoing goal and point streaks to four games. Over that span, he has recorded six goals, 10 points, and a plus-9 rating. With this, there is no question that the former Blackhawks forward is feeling it right now in a big way. 

With his ongoing hot streak, Hagel has now recorded 13 goals, 12 assists, 25 points, and a plus-13 rating in 23 games so far this season with the Lightning. When noting that the former Blackhawk started the year with only one assist in seven games, it is clear that the former Blackhawk has bounced back from his ice-cold start.

Hagel spent three seasons with the Blackhawks from 2019-20 to 2021-22. In 108 games with the Blackhawks over that span, he recorded 30 goals, 31 assists, and 61 points. His time with the Blackhawks ended during the 2021-22 campaign when he was traded to the Bolts.