• Who: Penguins (17-16-5) vs. Red Wings (14-18-4) • What: NHL regular season, Game 39 • When: 8:08 p.m. • Where: Little Caesars Arena • Goaltenders: AlexNedeljković (6-5-3, .890 SV%) vs. AlexLyon (6-5, .897 SV%) • TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, FanDuel (Detroit) • Radio: Penguins Radio Network • Streaming: SNP360 (local), ESPN+ • Boxscore: NHL.com • Medianotes: Penguins | RedWings
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Ballgame. Bad result. Good effort.
• GOAL: Larkin empty-netter with 13.2 to go.
• Thirty seconds.
• Ned's off. Six-on-five. 1:04 left. Stoppage.
• GOAL: Compher. Pettersson fails to move Rasmussen from the front, he sets the screen, Ned doesn't see the shot from the point, and the poke's easy for Compher. That's a power-play goal. Assists: Gustafsson, Berggren. Time: 14:26, third period. Red Wings, 3-2
• Keeping everything to the outside. Risk-free PK. Team Slovenia.
• Detroit power play. Karlsson tripped Compher. 7:05 left. Feels big.
• That's a nope on the power play. Never really threatened. Nine minutes to go.
• Not much doing on this man-advantage. Trying for quick plays -- which is OK -- but they're being shut down just as quickly, which also happens.
• Now a high-stick on Edvinsson. Another power play. Feels big.
• Right pad by Ned on Copp. Well done.
• Shots are 21-21 with a dozen minutes to go.
• A spry left pad save now by Ned on Raymond, allowed to navigate a little too closely.
• GOAL: Pittsburgh. DOC again. Hilarious. No goals in 32 games, now both goals tonight. Right in front. Two cracks. Couldn't be moved. Power play. Assists: Karlsson, Sid. Time: 3:18 third period. Tie, 2-2
• Petry's off for dumping Geno. Funny how that works.
• Third period underway. Karlsson's back. Everyone's back.
• End second period. Geno goes out of his way to talk to the refs. He really got hosed there. Glass goes another way to talk to a linesman. The officials have been brutal tonight. Not sure if I've mentioned that yet.
• Stirring sequence just now in which the Penguins very nearly scored twice, only to be thwarted by Seider sliding back to cover for Lyon. At the end, Geno was cross-checked into the post by Chiarot and stayed down for a while. No call. Refs are brutal tonight. Brutal.
• Having his teeth examinded now on the bench and, from there, he's sent down the tunnel.
• Ouch! Karlsson's caught up high by a Larkin point-blank shot. He goes down, but he's back up quickly and being tended with a towel over the mouth area.
• No goal, but sound work, smart intentions.
• Good power-play pressure from both units.
• Wow! Rust was ALMOST called for slashing Seider's stick out of his hands when it was exactly the opposite. Rust goes berserk, the officials huddle, and the whole thing's nullified.
• Now another flurry in front, this from the Sid line, and Larkin's headed for holding Sid.
• Strong overlapping rush by Glass and Tomasino, resulting in a quality shot by the latter. Lyon got the right toe down to stop it. Yet again, the Penguins are responding well to giving one up.
• Rust with a patented a far-post wrap attempt. Came THISCLOSE to getting that by Lyon.
• GOAL: Kane on the power play. Don't see many longer-range wristers from him, but he beats Ned cleanly to the glove side. Assists: DeBrincat, Raymond. Time: 3:41, second period. Red Wings, 2-1
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 1, 2025
• Glass off for tripping Kasper. Eh. Dude went flying when he felt the stick. Hate that.
• Second period underway.
• For what it's worth, Jesse Puljujarvi's up here in the press box, which means he obviously hasn't been sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yet. I'm still expecting that.
• End first period. And I'll keep repeating that it was a good one for the visitors.
• GOAL: Sure enough, it's Pittsburgh. And you'll never guess who. It's DOC after 32 games without one. Ripped it, too. Assist: Glass, and a great one at that, dangling off the left boards to make it all happen. Time: 18:29, first period. Tie, 1-1
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 1, 2025
• The Red Wings haven't had a single shot since that goal. I'm telling you, the Penguins are fine here. They really are.
• Big chance for Rakell right in front. Lyon's credited with the save, but I don't think he even had time to react. Just hit him.
• Huge stick-lift for Sid there, preventing a golden Detroit chance.
• Two more solid shifts, as the Penguins don't allow the goal to sustain any sort of momentum. I'm telling you, call me nuts, but I like their game so far.
• The Penguins finally get their first couple shots on Lyon. I haven't disliked their game at all, being honest here. They've got their legs, they've got the right push. Just had a 100-foot outlet sneak through the D, which is weird.
• GOAL: Berggren on a clean breakaway shoots top-shelf, sprung by Tarasenko. Other assist: Compher. Time: 7:52, first period. Red Wings, 1-0
Detroit goal!
Scored by Jonatan Berggren with 12:08 remaining in the 1st period.
• DOC clinic on the PK forecheck there. Almost laughing out loud up here.
• Sharp steal and clear by Acciari right away on the kill.
• Here comes a Detroit power play. Geno's off for a whack on the wrists of DeBrincat.
• Seeing Lizotte turn away from the attack with two teammates going hard to the net ... no, that's the opposite. That's not it.
• The Red Wings pump two rapid-fire pucks on Ned, one of those requiring a hard adjustment for the save. He's there.
• First touches for the Penguins are a collective chip-and-chase. That's it.
• Faceoff: Penguins vs. Red Wings, Sid vs. Larkin, 8:08 p.m.
• Place is packed and throbbing. I'm told they love these New Year's Eve games here, even when they start an hour late like this.
• And for Mike Sullivan's visitors:
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Anthony Beauvillier Drew O’Connor-Cody Glass-Phil Tomasino Matt Nieto-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson Marcus Pettersson-P.O Joseph Ryan Graves-Ryan Shea
• For Todd McLellan's home team:
Joe Veleno-Dylan Larkin-Lucas Raymond Alex DeBrincat-Andrew Copp-Patrick Kan Jonatan Berggren-JT Compher-Vlad Tarasenko Michael Rasmussen-Marco Kasper-Tyler Motte
Ben Chiarot-Moritz Seider Simon Edvinsson-Jeff Petry Erik Gustafsson-Justin Holl
THE ASYLUM
Final: Red Wings 4, Penguins 2
• Who: Penguins (17-16-5) vs. Red Wings (14-18-4)
• What: NHL regular season, Game 39
• When: 8:08 p.m.
• Where: Little Caesars Arena
• Goaltenders: Alex Nedeljković (6-5-3, .890 SV%) vs. Alex Lyon (6-5, .897 SV%)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, FanDuel (Detroit)
• Radio: Penguins Radio Network
• Streaming: SNP360 (local), ESPN+
• Boxscore: NHL.com
• Media notes: Penguins | Red Wings
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Ballgame. Bad result. Good effort.
• GOAL: Larkin empty-netter with 13.2 to go.
• Thirty seconds.
• Ned's off. Six-on-five. 1:04 left. Stoppage.
• GOAL: Compher. Pettersson fails to move Rasmussen from the front, he sets the screen, Ned doesn't see the shot from the point, and the poke's easy for Compher. That's a power-play goal. Assists: Gustafsson, Berggren. Time: 14:26, third period. Red Wings, 3-2
• Keeping everything to the outside. Risk-free PK. Team Slovenia.
• Detroit power play. Karlsson tripped Compher. 7:05 left. Feels big.
• That's a nope on the power play. Never really threatened. Nine minutes to go.
• Not much doing on this man-advantage. Trying for quick plays -- which is OK -- but they're being shut down just as quickly, which also happens.
• Now a high-stick on Edvinsson. Another power play. Feels big.
• Right pad by Ned on Copp. Well done.
• Shots are 21-21 with a dozen minutes to go.
• A spry left pad save now by Ned on Raymond, allowed to navigate a little too closely.
• GOAL: Pittsburgh. DOC again. Hilarious. No goals in 32 games, now both goals tonight. Right in front. Two cracks. Couldn't be moved. Power play. Assists: Karlsson, Sid. Time: 3:18 third period. Tie, 2-2
• Petry's off for dumping Geno. Funny how that works.
• Third period underway. Karlsson's back. Everyone's back.
• End second period. Geno goes out of his way to talk to the refs. He really got hosed there. Glass goes another way to talk to a linesman. The officials have been brutal tonight. Not sure if I've mentioned that yet.
• Stirring sequence just now in which the Penguins very nearly scored twice, only to be thwarted by Seider sliding back to cover for Lyon. At the end, Geno was cross-checked into the post by Chiarot and stayed down for a while. No call. Refs are brutal tonight. Brutal.
• And now Glass is playing.
• Glass is back.
• Larkin misses the net on a two-on-one. Probably should've sacrificed some of all that velocity for a little accuracy.
• Still not seeing Karlsson. And for what it's worth from way up here, I'm not seeing Glass on the bench, either.
• Spectacular sprawling save by Ned on Compher. A blocker in that area in this city ... you know what that reminds of, right?
• Having his teeth examinded now on the bench and, from there, he's sent down the tunnel.
• Ouch! Karlsson's caught up high by a Larkin point-blank shot. He goes down, but he's back up quickly and being tended with a towel over the mouth area.
• No goal, but sound work, smart intentions.
• Good power-play pressure from both units.
• Wow! Rust was ALMOST called for slashing Seider's stick out of his hands when it was exactly the opposite. Rust goes berserk, the officials huddle, and the whole thing's nullified.
• Now another flurry in front, this from the Sid line, and Larkin's headed for holding Sid.
• Strong overlapping rush by Glass and Tomasino, resulting in a quality shot by the latter. Lyon got the right toe down to stop it. Yet again, the Penguins are responding well to giving one up.
• Rust with a patented a far-post wrap attempt. Came THISCLOSE to getting that by Lyon.
• GOAL: Kane on the power play. Don't see many longer-range wristers from him, but he beats Ned cleanly to the glove side. Assists: DeBrincat, Raymond. Time: 3:41, second period. Red Wings, 2-1
• Glass off for tripping Kasper. Eh. Dude went flying when he felt the stick. Hate that.
• Second period underway.
• For what it's worth, Jesse Puljujarvi's up here in the press box, which means he obviously hasn't been sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yet. I'm still expecting that.
• End first period. And I'll keep repeating that it was a good one for the visitors.
• GOAL: Sure enough, it's Pittsburgh. And you'll never guess who. It's DOC after 32 games without one. Ripped it, too. Assist: Glass, and a great one at that, dangling off the left boards to make it all happen. Time: 18:29, first period. Tie, 1-1
• The Red Wings haven't had a single shot since that goal. I'm telling you, the Penguins are fine here. They really are.
• Big chance for Rakell right in front. Lyon's credited with the save, but I don't think he even had time to react. Just hit him.
• Huge stick-lift for Sid there, preventing a golden Detroit chance.
• Two more solid shifts, as the Penguins don't allow the goal to sustain any sort of momentum. I'm telling you, call me nuts, but I like their game so far.
• The Penguins finally get their first couple shots on Lyon. I haven't disliked their game at all, being honest here. They've got their legs, they've got the right push. Just had a 100-foot outlet sneak through the D, which is weird.
• GOAL: Berggren on a clean breakaway shoots top-shelf, sprung by Tarasenko. Other assist: Compher. Time: 7:52, first period. Red Wings, 1-0
• Monster time after the kill.
• DOC clinic on the PK forecheck there. Almost laughing out loud up here.
• Sharp steal and clear by Acciari right away on the kill.
• Here comes a Detroit power play. Geno's off for a whack on the wrists of DeBrincat.
• Seeing Lizotte turn away from the attack with two teammates going hard to the net ... no, that's the opposite. That's not it.
• The Red Wings pump two rapid-fire pucks on Ned, one of those requiring a hard adjustment for the save. He's there.
• First touches for the Penguins are a collective chip-and-chase. That's it.
• Faceoff: Penguins vs. Red Wings, Sid vs. Larkin, 8:08 p.m.
• Place is packed and throbbing. I'm told they love these New Year's Eve games here, even when they start an hour late like this.
• And for Mike Sullivan's visitors:
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Anthony Beauvillier
Drew O’Connor-Cody Glass-Phil Tomasino
Matt Nieto-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson
Marcus Pettersson-P.O Joseph
Ryan Graves-Ryan Shea
• For Todd McLellan's home team:
Joe Veleno-Dylan Larkin-Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat-Andrew Copp-Patrick Kan
Jonatan Berggren-JT Compher-Vlad Tarasenko
Michael Rasmussen-Marco Kasper-Tyler Motte
Ben Chiarot-Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson-Jeff Petry
Erik Gustafsson-Justin Holl
• Warmups underway. No surprises.
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