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Belmont Bruins and Northern Iowa Panthers play in MVC Tournament

Northern Iowa scores 75.1 points and has outscored opponents by 5.9 points per game. Belmont's average of 7.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 more made shots on average than the 7.7 per game Northern Iowa gives up. Northern Iowa scores 11.4 more points per game (75.1) than Belmont gives up (63.7).

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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-3 Loss Against Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) moves the puck against St. Louis Blues center Dylan Holloway (81) during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

To call Thursday a huge missed opportunity for the St. Louis Blues would be understating it.

Yes, the Blues have been on a roll and playing well, but they had the stage all to themselves with all their competitors in the Western Conference wild card idle and a chance to pull into a tie for the final spot with the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

The Blues came into the game with the Pittsburgh Penguins playing 12 of their final 17 games against teams outside the playoff picture, but this has been their trouble spot in not beating these opponents, and it reared its ugly head again with a 5-3 loss to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

The Blues (31-28-7), who came into the game on a 7-1-2 run (6-1-2 since the 4 Nations Face-Off), also had the chance to move two points ahead of Utah Hockey Club in the standings but give up a game in the standings and remain two points back, now with the Flames having two games in hand and the Canucks and Utah with one.

Zack Bolduc continues his strong play with a power-play goal, Dylan Holloway also scored in the power play and Alexey Toropchenko scored his second goal in three games, but the Blues could not solve a goalie [Tristan Jarry] who was placed on waivers by the Penguins (27-31-10) earlier in the season but improved to 7-1-0 lifetime against St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington (more on him below) was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots.

Let's look at Thursday's Three Takeaways:

* Binnington pulled, outplayed by Jarry -- Binnington had been strong his past eight starts, going 7-0-1 in them, including six straight wins with a 2.27 goals-against average, but he was not nearly good enough on Thursday.

With the Blues actually playing a pretty solid overall team game, average goaltending would have been good enough on this night.

On Graves' goal that made it 1-0 2:17 into the game, you can see he lost track of the puck trying to look around to the left point, and teammate Tyler Tucker was there and instead of getting out of the way, could have perhaps blocked a shot, so an argument could be made that someone in front of him could have done a better job. But you'd maybe like to see the back of the skates at the edge of the crease to take away more angle and identify where the puck is. It was Pittsburgh's first shot of the game and only shot they would get for over 10 minutes.

When Timmins scored to make it 2-0 at 2:20 of the second period, you'd like to see Nick Leddy attack the puck carrier and not allow him time and space to move into the right circle, but Binnington was off his angle and didn't look like he was square to the shooter really hugging the post and exposing the far side from a sharper angle.

The third goal by Dewar, a tap-in late in the second at 17:42 was just a missed assignmentafter Bolduc's power-play goal at 11:35 got the Blues back in it, but the goal that saw Binnington pulled, he was beat on the short side on what was changed to a Rust tip from a Rickard Rakell shot from the high slot at 7:15 that made it 4-2, but you'd like a save there, or at least cover up the near side to not give a lane for a tip to get through after Holloway's one-timer from the right circle at 1:26 of the third that made it 3-2 with the Blues' second power-play goal in as many opportunities.

Jarry, meanwhile, made 33 saves and provided the saves needed for a team that was outplayed for most of the game.

* Penguins, minus-40 at 5-on-5, score four -- The Penguins came in allowing the most 5-on-5 goals in the league this season at 163 and were 21st in the league in 5-on-5 goals for at 123, or a minus-40 on the season, which was worst in the NHL.

Yet the Blues were outscored 4-1 in that category on Thursday, and three of those goals came to players that were not named Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang. They were done in by first-time goal scorers Ryan Graves and Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins getting his third of the season.

Toropchenko's beauty, a coast-to-coast effort that saw him slice through the Penguins like hot butter, cut the deficit to 4-3 at 8:56 of the third period to account for the lobe 5-on-5 goal.

* Not leading the game after one period -- The stats said it all.

The Blues as a team actually didn't play a poor game; they came out like gangbusters and outshot the Penguins 16-5 in the first period, held a 9-2 advantage in scoring chances and had 6:05 of offensive zone time to Pittsburgh's 3:28 and forced six defensive zone turnovers, yet trailed the game 1-0.

The inability to complete the final phase of scoring on Thursday was something that was in great need, and by chasing the game the entire night, despite having a territorial edge for most of the night, was a bas recipe.

Hear what coach Jim Montgomery, Bolduc and defenseman Philip Broberg had to say postgame.

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Penguins Top Blues In 5-3 Thriller To Win Third Straight

Mar 13, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell (left) and center Sidney Crosby (87) celebrate a goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

For the third consecutive game, the Pittsburgh Penguins were pretty steeply outshot by their opposition.

And for the third consecutive game, they found a way to come out on top.

The Penguins defeated the St. Louis Blues by a narrow margin, 5-3, for their third consecutive win against a pretty formidable Western opponent. St. Louis came into this game 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and just two points out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

After a slow start in the first period - and a good start from the Blues - the Penguins came out for the final 40 minutes and played some pretty solid hockey despite several momentum swings. They were also opportunistic on their scoring chances.

And there were a whole lot of "first goals" for Penguins players as well.

Just over two minutes into the game, defenseman Ryan Graves - who has played in 47 games this season - finally registered his first goal of the season.

Defenseman and newcomer Conor Timmins did a similar thing in the second period, firing a shot past Binnington from the right circle to score his first goal as a Penguin just two minutes and 20 seconds into the middle frame. Blues forward Zack Bolduc scored a power play goal midway through the period to make it 2-1.

However, another Penguins' newcomer, forward Connor Dewar - acquired in the same trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs that brought Timmins to Pittsburgh on Mar. 7 - scored his first goal as a Penguin and his first goal of the 2024-25 season with less than three minutes on the clock in the second period to put the Penguins back on top, 3-1.

Then, Kris Letang took a cross-checking penalty in the waning seconds of the period, which ended up carrying over into the third. The Blues capitalized on their power play yet again - this time getting a goal from Dylan Holloway - to make it 3-2, before Bryan Rust tipped a Rickard Rakell shot to give the Penguins back the 4-2 lead.

The goal was originally credited to Rakell as his 30th of the season, but it was later changed to Rust's.

But the Blues struck back yet again. Alexey Toropchenko registered his third goal of the season after carrying the puck up ice almost 200 feet and skating through everyone for his own breakaway chance.

They were pressuring late, but this time, Rakell notched his 30th goal for good off a feed from Sidney Crosby and on an empty net with 7.1 seconds remaining to give the Penguins the 5-3 win.

Even though the Penguins have been outplayed for stretches during the last three games, they're happy with where their game is at.

"We're competing hard," Graves said. "I think that we're continuously trying to improve and just show a lot of character."

Rakell pointed to the team's leadership as the reason the winning culture and a certain standard of excellence hasn't faded from the room.

"Our leaders in this room lead the way," Rakell said. "It doesn't work here to just not go all the way and just play hard until the finish line."

Here are a few other thoughts and observations from this 5-3 win:

- I really like Timmins' game so far. He plays a low-event, simplistic style of hockey, and it's almost calming watching him handle the puck and position himself defensively.

And he also has the ability to get the puck to the net quickly and decisively. He rifled a shot from the right circle past Binnington for his first as a Penguin, buying everyone Big Macs in the process:

He's providing a defensive conscience to the blue line that has not been present for much of the season, even if he's only doing it in third-pairing minutes. Lots of details in his game.

I'd really like to see him paired with one of the Penguins' younger, more offensive-minded defensemen next season, assuming he is tendered an offer as a RFA. He is a steady presence on the Penguins' blue line with a tidbit of offensive upside himself.

- That pass by Lizotte to find Dewar backdoor was a thing of beauty. 

I realize the third and fourth lines are a wash at this point with the players remaining on this roster. And Karlsson made that play happen in the first place. But Lizotte has shown he is capable of more offensively in a third-line center role this season, and I'm not sure why he was ever moved out of that position in the first place.

Given the Penguins' situation, it's unlikely that Lizotte will have too many chances to play with more offensive-minded players as a third-line center for the rest of the season. However, it's something I'd like to see more of in 2025-26, as I think he and Tommy Novak could make for a pretty good combination.

In any case, the third line was very, very good against the Blues. And Lizotte had two assists.

- I was just getting ready to write that Rakell was "snakebitten" at 29 goals. He had gone three games without a goal, and he was playing like a player who was snakebitten, whiffing on scoring chances and gripping his stick a bit too tight.

Well, he is snakebitten no more.

"I love scoring goals," Rakell said. "Especially with the win tonight, it feels extra good." 

He said it himself: this guy loves to score goals. And with 14 games remaining, he needs four goals to tie his career-high of 34 set in 2017-18 with the Anaheim Ducks. 

I think he's going to do it. What a season it has been for him.

- Good for Graves to finally net one this season. If you're keeping track, he now has two points in his last five games - which accounts for his only two points of the season.

It has been another challenging season for Graves, who has been in and out of the press box despite - generally speaking - playing a bit better in sheltered minutes this year. But it's nice to see him finally getting on the board.

In fact, that was one of the happiest goal celebrations I've seen all season from the Penguins, OT goals and milestone tallies aside.

- If you're still keeping track, the Penguins are now just six points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Realistically, the playoffs are a pipe dream. Every team ahead of the Penguins in the standings has games in hand on them, and all of them would have to lose a whole lot in order to even make headway for the Penguins to get back into the race.

But never say never. The Penguins were in almost this exact spot last season when they went on an 8-1-3 run to make things close and, ultimately, miss the playoffs by three points. 

Again, it's highly unlikely. And, frankly, the Penguins are probably better off finishing with a bottom-six pick this season.

Mar 13, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) and goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) and defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) and center Blake Lizotte (46) celebrate after defeating the St. Louis Blues at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

Here's the thing, though, and I'm going to keep saying it: You simply cannot tell NHL players - competing at the highest level of hockey - that they need to lose hockey games.

Crosby - now just eight points away from clinching an NHL record-20th consecutive point-per-game season with two assists on the night - is the sport's ultimate competitor and winner. Goaltender Tristan Jarry - who earned his third straight win and was solid yet again - is probably playing for his NHL career.

Tell those guys to lose. That won't go over well.

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