Limiting the Detroit Red Wings to 12 shots, the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed a 4-1 win at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.
The 12 shots registered by the Red Wings were the second-lowest figure ever recorded by a Penguins opponent. The Phoenix Coyotes were limited to 11 during a 4-2 road loss at Mellon Arena on Dec. 11, 1999.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner wasn’t terribly busy, but his 11 saves led to his second win since joining the Penguins in a trade Dec. 12 and boosted his record on the season to 13-11-4.
“Made my night very easy,” Skinner said to reporters in Detroit via audio provided by the Penguins’ media relations department. “All the credit to the guys in front of me.”
Saturday’s result extended the Penguins’ winning streak to four games. This surge comes in stark contrast to the dreadful 1-5-4 skid that immediately preceded it.
“For the better part of December, we weren’t really happy with how we were playing,” Penguins forward Blake Lizotte said Thursday at PPG Paints Arena. “But we know internally in this room, when we’re playing well and playing collectively as a group, we can compete with anyone in this league.”
Penguins forward Bryan Rust, a Michigan native, opened the scoring with his 16th goal of the season 3 minutes, 44 seconds into regulation.
Stealing a puck in the neutral zone in front of the visiting bench, Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon fed a pass across the ice for forward Sidney Crosby. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Crosby directed a pass to the opposite circle. Despite Red Wings rookie forward Emmitt Finnie slightly deflecting it with his stick, the puck made its way to the left dot, where Rust settled it on his backhand and then fired a wrister to the far side over the glove of goaltender John Gibson, a native of Whitehall. Crosby and Wotherspoon had assists.
Rusty gets us started! pic.twitter.com/DUKOmeMRAG
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 3, 2026
The visitors doubled their lead at 17:30 of the first period when forward Yegor Chinakhov — acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday — scored his first goal as a member of the Penguins and fourth of the season overall.
After Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson misfired on a pass during a rush into the Penguins’ zone, Wotherspoon settled the puck in the slot and made a small-area pass to the right circle for Penguins rookie forward Ben Kindel. Curling back a bit before moving up the slot, Kindel took advantage of a line change by the Red Wings and snapped a stretch pass to the far blue line, springing Chinakhov on a breakaway. Attacking the cage, Chinakhov fired a wrister from the left hashmarks through Gibson’s legs. Assists were claimed by Kindel and Wotherspoon.
YEGOR CHINAKHOV FIRST AS A PENGUIN ????
(via @espn) pic.twitter.com/EVlt0mbFSZ
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 3, 2026
“It’s (an) unbelievable pass,” Chinakhov said of Kindel’s assist. “He’s a great player.”
Former Erie Otters forward Alex DeBrincat accounted for the Red Wings’ only offense at 15:06 of the second period with his 22nd goal.
From low in Detroit’s left circle, Penguins rookie forward Rutger McGroarty fired a rising wrister that missed the cage and wound up hitting the far corner, then clearing the zone. That essentially served as an outlet pass for DeBrincat, who raced up the left wing and generated a two-on-one rush with linemate Andrew Copp against Penguins defenseman Brett Kulak. As Kulak slid down to be an impediment, DeBrincat sizzled a wrister from the left circle to the far side past Skinner’s glove. There were no assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) January 3, 2026
Penguins forward Rickard Rakell secured victory with his fifth goal on an empty net at 19:00 of the third period. Crosby and Kulak collected assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) January 3, 2026
The scoring was capped by Penguins forward Connor Dewar’s seventh goal, also on an empty net, at 19:28 of the final frame. Lizotte and Letang had assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) January 3, 2026
Notes:
• Chinakhov became the 593rd player to score a regular-season goal for the Penguins.
• Skinner (2-3-0) surpassed Alain Chevrier (1-2-0), Philippe DeRouville (1-2-0), Louis Domingue (1-1-0), Magnus Hellberg (1-0-0), Maxime Lagace (1-0-0), Sergei Murashov (1-2-0), Rich Parent (1-1-3) and Dustin Tokarski (1-2-0) to move into 51st place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.
• Penguins forwards Kevin Hayes and Ville Koivunen, as well as defenseman Connor Clifton, were healthy scratches.
