Penguins beat Predators 3–2 in OT: Crosby ties one-club assists mark
Rakell equalised with 1:06 remaining, Koivunen finished the comeback, and Crosby reached 1,111 assists with Pittsburgh in the October 24 game.
Verified brief
The story in 60 seconds
Pittsburgh beat Nashville 3–2 in overtime on October 24, 2026. Rickard Rakell equalised with 1:06 left, before Ville Koivunen scored at 3:44 of overtime. Sidney Crosby's assist on the tying goal brought him to 1,111 with Pittsburgh, matching Ray Bourque's one-franchise NHL mark. Image: original editorial illustration; symbolic hockey equipment, not a photograph of the game.
This brief and the full story below are based on the disclosed sources. SearchTrends Daily’s interpretation appears later under “Our take.”
Full reporting
The complete story
The Penguins were 66 seconds from a regulation defeat when Rickard Rakell converted Sidney Crosby's cross-ice pass. Ville Koivunen then beat Juuse Saros with a wrist shot at 3:44 of overtime to complete Pittsburgh's 3–2 home win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday, October 24.
The tying play also carried a historical milestone. AP's report, published through ESPN, identifies Crosby's assist as his 1,111th, matching Ray Bourque for the most assists accumulated with one NHL franchise. Crosby reached that total with Pittsburgh; Bourque's corresponding total came with Boston. The milestone recognises sustained production for the same club.
Nashville had led twice. Seth Rorabaugh's detailed TribLive account places Steven Stamkos' opening goal at 9:24 of the first period. Connor Dewar answered 18 seconds into the second, before Jayden Struble restored the Predators' lead at 6:40 of that period. Both AP and TribLive record Struble's goal and the resulting 2–1 advantage.
The second-period ending nearly made Pittsburgh's task harder. Jack Drury pushed a rebound over the line, but the clock had expired before the puck crossed. The play therefore added no goal, and Nashville's lead remained one. Rakell's late finish changed that 2–1 score into 2–2 and kept the game alive for Koivunen's winner.
The goaltenders helped shape that narrow margin. AP records 24 saves for Pittsburgh's Arturs Silovs and 34 for Saros. TribLive reports Pittsburgh ahead 37–26 in shots and describes Saros denying Rakell on a first-period breakaway. The Penguins' own completed account also describes missed Rakell breakaways and sustained chances before his equaliser.
The Penguins' October 25 postgame account describes the result as their second consecutive victory after four defeats. It credits both the continued creation of chances and Silovs' intervention when Nashville threatened.
Source perspectives
What other reporting adds
These are the reports, official records, and trend observations used to build the story. The note under each link explains exactly what it contributes.
Official team postgame account confirming Rakell's equaliser with 1:06 remaining, Koivunen's overtime winner and consecutive wins after four defeats. It adds the team's account of chance creation, Silovs and players in larger roles. Published October 25 about the October 24 game; team perspective, not independent reporting. Source-displayed publication date: 2026-10-25.
Read original source ↗Associated Press via ESPNVille Koivunen scores in OT as Penguins rally for 3-2 win over PredatorsIndependent completed-game recap establishing the 3–2 overtime result, Koivunen's winner at 3:44, Rakell's equaliser with 1:06 left and Crosby's 1,111 assists with Pittsburgh tying Bourque's one-franchise mark. Also records 24 saves for Silovs and 34 for Saros. Source-displayed publication date: 2026-10-24. Displayed time: Oct 24, 2026, 10:09 pm.
Read original source ↗TribLive / Seth RorabaughRickard Rakell’s late regulation goal leads to Penguins overtime win over NashvilleIndependent local reporting supplies the detailed scoring sequence, Pittsburgh's 37–26 shot advantage, Drury's after-buzzer effort that did not count and the late extra-attacker equaliser. Its account of Rakell's chances and the goaltenders adds context to the final score. Source-displayed publication date: 2026-10-24.
Read original source ↗Pittsburgh Penguins / NHL.comGame Preview: 10.24.26 vs. Nashville PredatorsOfficial pregame context listing Crosby on 1,110 assists with Pittsburgh and Bourque on 1,111 with Boston. Used for the milestone's starting point only. This preview does not verify the completed result or provide a current future-fixture schedule. Source-displayed publication date: 2026-10-24.
Read original source ↗SearchTrends Daily opinion
Our take
Analysis
What the evidence and search signal suggest
Our reading is that Pittsburgh's persistence mattered, but the final score alone cannot tell us how repeatable the performance will be. The reported shot advantage indicates sustained attacking activity. It does not measure the quality of every chance, so the shot count alone cannot establish which team created the better chances.
Rakell's evening illustrates the distinction. The reports describe chances that did not become goals before the late equaliser. Continuing to create opportunities gave Pittsburgh another route back into the game; converting that late opportunity still required execution at a precise moment.
The club's account also identifies contributions from players given larger roles, including Koivunen and linemates Hendrix Lapierre and Avery Hayes. That broadens the explanation beyond Crosby's milestone. It supports a discussion of shared contribution in this game, while a claim that the lineup has solved its wider consistency problems would require more completed performances.
Analysis and commentary are SearchTrends Daily’s interpretation. They are intentionally separated from the sourced account above.
Meaning
Why this matters
Pittsburgh's 37–26 shot advantage did not remove the danger of a regulation loss. Saros kept Nashville ahead until the final 66 seconds, so the late goal turned prolonged pressure into a result the Penguins could still win. The difference between creating chances and finishing them is central to this comeback.
Crosby's milestone adds a longer perspective. His 1,111 assists were accumulated with Pittsburgh; the comparison is with Bourque's Boston total. It is a one-franchise distinction, rather than the overall NHL career-assists record. The landmark pass also directly changed the outcome of a game his team was close to losing.
Background
How we got here
The Penguins' official pregame material listed Crosby on 1,110 assists with Pittsburgh, one behind Bourque's Boston total. The assist on Rakell's equaliser brought those one-club totals level, according to AP's completed recap.
For Pittsburgh as a team, the Nashville result followed a difficult stretch. The club's postgame account described consecutive wins after a four-game losing streak. That makes the comeback part of an immediate response to poor results, while leaving open whether the improvement could last beyond two games.
Outlook
What is likely to happen next
Subsequent completed games will provide the stronger test: whether Pittsburgh keeps generating chances across its lines, converts them without needing another last-minute rescue, and reduces the defensive lapses discussed in the club's report. Repeated performances of that kind would strengthen the recovery argument; renewed long stretches without chances or recurring defensive breakdowns would weaken it.
Any later official statistical correction or revised game report would also require this account to change. For now, the verified October 24 result establishes a late comeback and a specific historical milestone. It supports a cautious improvement argument, not a guaranteed winning run.
A conditional editorial assessment based on the evidence available at the review date, not a guaranteed outcome.
Live record
Updates to this story
No material updates yet.
Commentary
What we think
SearchTrends Daily opinion: the most useful lesson from this result is the value of maintaining a workable attacking approach when early chances fail. Rakell's equaliser and Koivunen's winner made that persistence visible, while Silovs' saves kept a recovery possible.
We would still resist declaring a season transformed by two wins. The late escape was a meaningful result, and Crosby's one-franchise mark deserves its own recognition. A stronger judgment about the team should rest on repeated execution across later games, including how it handles the defensive moments its own postgame account says can improve.