Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes and Tommy Novak also scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry remained extremely sharp since missing three weeks with an injury, denying 28 of 29 Philadelphia shots. And the Penguins killed off six of seven penalties while scoring three power-play goals.

The chase for Mario Lemieux’s franchise points record of 1,723 has entered single digits, as Sidney Crosby scored twice against the Flyers in a 5-1 win on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena to get within eight.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby shared his perspective on Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini, weighing in on the NHL buzz around the young star.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' game itself showed many of the issues Sidney Crosby mentioned. Arturs Silovs allowed four goals on ten shots before being pulled in the second period. Tristan Jarry came in and made ten saves, but the Penguins were already in trouble.

Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, the first overall pick in 2024, is already drawing comparisons to future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby.

Here's what's driving the growing optimism that the Penguins might be good enough to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.

With 1,714 career points, Crosby is within range of becoming only the fifth player in NHL history to reach 1,800 points, a milestone he could reach next season. A more immediately achievable one is becoming the eighth player in history to record 1,100 assists. He’s currently sitting at 1,074 and could reach 1,100 in January.

The Philadelphia Flyers returned home Monday night hoping to build on an otherwise strong stretch of hockey. Instead, they got a hard reboot of the NHL’s most unforgiving truth: momentum does not survive a lack of execution.