The Pittsburgh Penguins took a very unfortunate 2-1 loss during a special night, the retirement of Jaromir Jagr’s No. 68. Before the game, they held an emotional ceremony for Jaromir Jagr, who left a huge impact on the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL overall from his time being a player. Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins and Adrian Kempe struck two late goals in the third period to get that 2-1 final on Sunday, February 18th.
Kings lineup against the Penguins:
Fiala – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Laferriere – Dubois – Byfield
Anderson-Dolan – Turcotte – Lewis
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Clarke
Talbot
Rittich
Penguins lineup against the Kings:
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
Smith – Malkin – O’Connor
Puljujarvi – Eller – Phillips
Harkins – Carter – White
Pettersson – Letang
Graves – Karlsson
Ludvig – Ruhwedel
Jarry
Nedeljkovic
Late into the first period at 1:17, Sidney Crosby scored just five seconds into the power play. Crosby took a pass from Erik Karlsson from atop the right circle to score a one-timer. This was Crosby’s third goal in his past two games and his 31st goal of the season.
In the middle frame, they remained scoreless still at 1-0.
It was beginning to look as if Pittsburgh would win with just a 1-0 score throughout the remainder of the game. However, that’s not how it went down.
Adrian Kempe tied the game at 1-1 with 6:11 remaining in the third period. Drew Doughty sent a pass to Kempe from the point and Kempe scored a one-timer to get his 18th goal of the season. Kempe struck again to get his second of the night and his 19th of the season. He shot from the right face-off dot with a short-handed goal on a 2-on-1 for the 2-1 final.
Kris Letang on the Penguins’ 2-1 loss against the Los Angeles Kings: “The game was right there for us and we couldn’t get that one goal to put them away. It’s disappointing. I think for most of the game we played well. It’s just one of those we have to learn from those old mistakes we made, move on, and just keep looking at it… We can’t dwell on a loss. There’s nothing we can do except learn about different things out there, but we have to move ahead and keep a positive attitude because the two points ahead of us are more important than the one we just lost.”
Letang on the ceremony for Jaromir Jagr: “You could see they were emotional. It’s someone that we looked up to as kids. Just the type of person he is and what the city of Pittsburgh meant to him – It’s special. Watching the old videos, makes me think of Geno (Malkin) actually, in a big way. You’re looking at a video of Mario and you’re looking at Sid, it looks like a copycat kind of thing… It was fun to be part of it, see how the city was touched by him, and how much this city meant to him.”
Notes:
– From PenguinsPR on X: Jaromir Jagr has skated with or against 3,287 of the 8,510 players that have appeared in at least one regular-season or playoff game with an NHL team, equating to 38.6% of all players in league history.
– Tristan Jarry made 31 saves for Pittsburgh… Erik Karlsson is one point away from 800 in the NHL (185 goals, 614 assists)
– Jensen Karkins had two shots on goal and two hits in 5:11 of ice team… he has missed the past two games with a concussion.
– Matthews Phillips had one shot on goal and one hit in 11:00 during his Pittsburgh debut. The Penguins had been claimed off waivers on Friday from the Washington Capitals.
– Adrain Kempe is the 10th-fastest player to reach 300 career points with the Los Angeles Kings (525 games)… Among active players, Anze Kopitar had gotten there faster (333)
