Penguins Pound Detroit, Move Closer to Playoff Berth

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Penguins Pound Detroit, Move Closer to Playoff Berth

Pittsburgh Penguins Game 5-1 Win Over Detroit Red Wings

Vince Comunale · Pittsburgh Hockey Now

Wed, Apr 1, 2026 ·

4 min read

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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (38-21-16) moved one step closer to solidifying a playoff spot on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, defeating the Detroit Red Wings (39-27-8) 5-1. Anthony Mantha , Rickard Rakell , and Noel Acciari each scored for a second-consecutive game and Stuart Skinner stopped 22 of 23 Detroit shots. All four lines scored a goal for the Penguins, who have exploded for 13 goals in their past two games.

The Penguins opened the scoring with a hard-working shift by the team's top line. Egor Chinakhov carried the puck into the zone, but the puck ended up along the left wing boards. That is where Sidney Crosby dug the puck out of the scrum, tapped the puck to Rickard Rakell in the slot who then wristed a laser of a shot past Detroit goalie John Gibson 's stick side. The goal came at 4:10 of the first and was the 43rd time in 74 games that Pittsburgh scored the first goal in a game, which ranks fourth-best in the NHL , tied with Minnesota and Winnipeg .

The Penguins went up by a pair by simply outworking Detroit in front of its own net. Connor Dewar incessantly whacked away at a rebound caught up in the left pad of Gibson, then Evgeni Malkin came crashing towards the net and began poking at the puck as well. Amongst all the chaos, Anthony Mantha swooped in, picked the puck out of the scrum on his backhand, moved the puck to his forehand and then wristed it up and over Gibson to put the Penguins ahead 2-0. The goal was Mantha's 30th of the season and third in the past two games. Despite the Penguins ranking fourth in the NHL in goals scored, Mantha became the Penguins' first 30-goal scorer on the season. Only Crosby (39 in 2005-06) and Malkin (33 in 2006-07) have scored more goals in their first season with the Penguins since 2005-06.

The Penguins got one power play opportunity in the first frame and peppered Gibson, but could not score with the man-advantage, however, they took some of the momentum gained from the power play and scored just 25 seconds after the penalty had ended when Chinakhov (18) took a wrist shot from the slot that got deflected and fluttered past Gibson's stick side to put the Penguins up by a trio of goals.

The Red Wings got their first power play of the game and scored just five seconds into it. Patrick Kane threw a hard wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off the right pad of Stuart Skinner and right to the stick of Dylan Larkin for the easy tap-in past Skinner, who was still down and out from the save he made on Kane's shot. The Penguins' penalty kill unit is clearly missing the injured Blake Lizotte who has been out of the Penguins' lineup since the Penguins' game at Colorado on March 16. The unit has allowed at least one power play goal in six-consecutive games and seven of the nine games that Lizotte has missed.

Connor Clifton was one of only three Penguins skaters that did not register a point on Monday night on Long Island, but he got a huge point for the Penguins on Tuesday when he gathered a failed Detroit clearing attempt at the right point and unleashed a wrist shot from the blue line that was tipped in front by Justin Brazeau (17) and to the upper left corner of the net over Cam Talbot , who came on in relief of John Gibson to start the second period. The goal gave the Penguins their second, three-goal lead of the game, 4-1.

Although the Penguins had the better of the play in the second period, Skinner still had to be sharp, especially in the 1:06 of the period when he faced four quality shots, including two from Alex Debrincat and one each from Moritz Seider , and David Perron .

The Penguins got the only goal of the third period. Just as they had done on their second goal, the Penguins once again outworked the Detroit defensemen in front. This time it was Acciari muscling the puck off two Red Wings and then flipping it over Talbot to push the Penguins to a commanding 5-1 lead and close out the scoring.

The win put the Penguins at 92 points and kept them in second place in the Metropolitan Division.