Penguins, Tristan Jarry shut out Blackhawks, but Rutger McGroarty leaves with injury

There is nothing for the Pittsburgh Penguins to gain with what remains of the 2024-25 campaign, at least not from the perspective of contention for the upcoming postseason that they were mathematically eliminated from Sunday.

But that doesn’t mean the members of this flawed roster have any intention of simply going quietly into the offseason without offering everything required of being professional hockey players.

Such was the case on Tuesday in a 5-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena.

In a matchup of two teams bound for early summers, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry unofficially stopped 26 shots in his second shutout this season as his record improved to 15-11-6.

The result extracted something of a toll, however, as Penguins rookie forward Rutger McGroarty did not complete the game with an undisclosed injury. He was hobbled after blocking a shot and did not record a shift beyond the 19 minute, 9 second mark of the second period. There was no immediate word on his status.

The impassioned pursuit of a playoff berth is easy to understand. But how do players on teams with expired postseason aspirations remain motivated when their unappetizing fate has been determined?

“Because at the end of the day, this is what we do,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said after Tuesday’s morning skate in Cranberry. “This is what we love to do. This is what we want to do. This is our job, and we’re expected to do this.

“Obviously, things are in an unfortunate circumstance. When you feel like you’re playing for nothing, you’re always playing for something. You’re playing for next year and some things that might work for next year, whether it’s line combinations or (defensive) pairings or little tweaks systems-wise. You’re playing for the guy next to you and whatever situation he might be in, whether he’s a new guy or a free agent or a guy who didn’t have the year he wanted. You’re playing for that guy to have a strong end of the year and have as much confidence going into next year. You’re looking for that confidence going into the offseason and into next year.

“There’s a lot of guys in here fighting for something. As pros, we’ve got to work hard.”

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby put in the necessary work to open the scoring at 19:44 of the first period with his 31st goal of the season during a power-play sequence.

Accepting a pass on the left half-wall of Chicago’s zone, Rust turned to his left and dished the puck low to the near side of the cage for Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, who one-touched a forehand pass to the inner rim of the near circle, where Crosby chopped something of a clunky one-timer to the far side that fluttered by goaltender Spencer Knight’s glove.

Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson scored his 11th goal of the season and 200th of his career 4:45 into the second period.

Taking a pass low to the right of Chicago’s cage, Penguins rookie forward Ville Koivunen slid a clever feed across the front of the crease for Karlsson, who was able to deposit an easy wrister by Knight’s blocker on the near side.

The hosts went up by a field goal when defenseman Kris Letang logged his ninth goal at 4:28 of the third period.

Penguins forward Kevin Hayes capped the scoring with his 12th and 13th goals at 7:42 and 18:13 of the third frame, respectively.