Anthony Mantha scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1. Mantha, who scored in his third straight game, had a power-play goal in the first period and added another goal in the second as Pittsburgh jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

Thirty seven years ago tonight, Mario Lemieux put on a show for the hockey world when he scored five goals in five different ways on a New Year’s Eve game between the Penguins and the New Jersey Devils.

The Penguins are in a better place than we could have guessed three months ago, and their report cards say as much.

Yegor Chinakhov had a succinct way of describing the first day of 2026. “A new page, a new year,” he said. “That’s it.” On Chinakhov opened a new chapter of his NHL career as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Spencer Knight was leaky, and the Blackhawks did have a couple of chances in the first minute of regulation. Blashill, based on his words, thinks that if Knight was as sharp as he's been this year, and maybe they buried one of their earlier chances, that the game would have gone much differently.

Justin Brazeau recorded first NHL hat trick, Bryan Rust scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the sliding Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 on Sunday night.

Expert recap and game analysis of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Carolina NHL game from December 30, 2025 on ESPN.

During the Penguins' Dec. 30 contest against the Carolina Hurricanes, Skinner stepped up in a major way. The Edmonton, Alberta native stopped 27 out of 28 shots he faced against the Hurricanes, which equates to a .964 save percentage. With this strong performance, Skinner also picked up his first win as a member of the Penguins.