Stuart Skinner’s calm 18-save performance and a three-point opening frame slammed the door on Calgary, pushing Pittsburgh’s white-hot run to 9-2-2 and exposing the Flames’ post-Andersson scoring vacuum.
Stuart Skinner didn’t have to be spectacular; he only had to be surgical. The 26-year-old turned away all 18 Calgary attempts, improving to 17-12-4 and 6-2-1 lifetime against the Flames as the Pittsburgh Penguins cruised to a 4-1 victory at the Saddledome Wednesday night.
Behind Skinner’s composure, the Penguins raced to a lead they never relinquished, snapping Calgary’s brief hope of a comeback with a Bryan Rust wrap-around 50 seconds into the third—the dagger that sealed back-to-back regulation losses for the home side since shipping top-pair defenseman Rasmus Andersson to Vegas on Sunday.
Malkin & Novak Ignite Early Barrage
Evgeni Malkin wired his 11th of the season top-shelf at 7:49 of the first, capping a sequence that began with a Sidney Crosby face-off win and ended with Tommy Novak feeding the Russian center alone in the slot. The helper extended Crosby’s point streak to four games (2-5—7).
Novak doubled the advantage late in the period, jumping on a Jack St. Ivany rebound for his sixth. The rookie defenseman, inserted after Kris Letang (upper body) missed his first game of the season, finished with two primary helpers—his first multi-point NHL outing.
Calgary’s Collapsing Offense
Minus Andersson’s 28 points and power-play quarterbacking, the Flames have managed just two goals in two games. Their lone strike Wednesday came with three seconds left in the second when Yegor Sharangovich benefitted from a Zach Whitecloud point shot that pin-balled off his pants past Skinner.
Coach Ryan Huska shuffled the deck—Martin Pospisil returned from a concussion in place of the scratched Jonathan Huberdeau—but the new-look second line of Pospisil–Morgan Frost–Joel Farabee generated only one high-danger chance at 5-on-5, per AP tracking data.
Standings Ripple Effect
The victory lifts Pittsburgh to 24-14-11 (59 points), leap-fogging idle Detroit and pulling within two points of the Rangers for third in the Metropolitan. Their 9-2-2 run since Dec. 19 is tied with Florida for the Eastern Conference’s best record over that span.
Calgary, meanwhile, sinks to 21-24-5 and 11 points out of the final wild-card spot in the West. With the trade deadline six weeks away, GM Craig Conroy’s teardown could intensify; forwards Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko are already circulating in rumor mill chatter, league sources tell AP.
Key Numbers
- 6-2-1: Skinner’s career record vs. CGY
- 4: Straight games with a point for Crosby (7 pts)
- 2: Goals for CGY since trading Andersson
- 0: Letang’s first DNP of 2025-26
What’s Next
Pittsburgh’s three-game Canadian swing continues Thursday in Edmonton, where Skinner could face the Oilers for the first time since last spring’s playoff duel. Calgary stays home to host Washington on Friday, likely without Huberdeau (lower body) and potentially minus more veterans if Conroy pulls the trigger on another pre-deadline move.
Keep it locked on onlytrustedinfo.com for the fastest postgame film breakdown and instant fantasy fallout—because every shift matters and we deliver the numbers before the ice dries.
