Be it denial or delusion, forward Sidney Crosby hasn’t given up on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season.

But he’s realistic.

“With the position we’re in, I think we just got to take care of ourselves,” Crosby said in Cranberry on Wednesday. “With the amount of teams that are bunched together, some teams are going to win, others are going to lose, but it doesn’t matter unless we grab points.”

The Penguins snatched up two points Thursday with a 3-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena.

Forward Evgeni Malkin buoyed the Penguins to their 15th consecutive home win against the Blue Jackets with two goals while Crosby contributed two assists, the second of which was his 1,580th career point, allowing him to surpass Hockey Hall of Fame Ray Bourque (1,579) for 11th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

That triumph was offset a bit, however, by an undisclosed injury to defenseman Ryan Graves, who did not record a shift beyond the 18:56 mark of the first period.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not provide a substantive update on Graves’ status.

Thursday’s result came with Penguins’ goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic in net for the third consecutive game in place of typical starter Tristan Jarry, whose most recent start came in a 4-2 road loss to the Dallas Stars in which he was pulled in the third period.

Nedeljkovic made 17 saves on 19 shots Thursday to boost his record to 12-6-5.

“You just want to play and you want to play well when you get a chance,” Nedeljkovic said. “So, you just try to do what I did at the beginning of the year whenever I was in net. Just be myself, play my game, give the guys a chance to win. Nothing’s really changed from that aspect of things.

“They keep calling my name; I just keep doing the best I can.”

The Blue Jackets appeared to open the scoring 16:19 into regulation but a would-be goal by rookie forward Dmitri Voronkov was waved off on account of him deflecting the puck with a high stick.

A legal goal was scored by Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier under similar circumstances at 5:20 of the second period.

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After a penalty to Penguins rookie forward Sam Poulin expired, Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger gained the offensive zone on the right wing, held up at the point and snapped a cross-ice pass to defenseman Damon Severson. Backing his way into the left circle, Severson swept the puck to the top of the crease where Olivier deflected it on net. Nedeljkovic made the initial save, but the rebound hopped up in the air and Olivier tapped it down into the cage for his fourth goal of the season. Officials initially ruled the sequence as a valid goal then initiated a lengthy review which ultimately upheld the call on the ice. Severson and Sillinger had assists.

The Penguins responded with a power-play goal from Malkin at 9:20 of the second frame.

Taking a pass at the center point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang faked a shot, pulled down his stick and slipped a pass to the top of the right circle where Malkin stroked a one-timer by rookie goaltender Daniil Tarasov’s glove on the near side for his 20th goal. Letang and forward Bryan Rust registered assists.

The Penguins’ power play, which has struggled all season, was 2 for 4 in the contest.

“(Malkin) is shooting,” Letang said. “Obviously when a guy like that has a shot like that, you want to use it as much as you can. And I thought we were going to the net. We had presence in front.”

Sillinger collected his 12th goal at 13:11 of the second off a three-on-one rush.

With Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson pinching in on the left wing, Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov settled a puck in his own left circle and fed an outlet pass to Sillinger, who initiated the odd-man rush with linemates Alexandre Texier and Kirill Marchenko. Gaining the Penguins’ zone on the right wing, Sillinger offloaded the puck to Texier trailing in the high slot. As Penguins rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany slid to his belly to prevent a shot, Texier dished it back to Sillinger in the right circle. From the lower rim of the circle, Sillinger swiped a one-timer by Nedeljkovic’s glove on the near side. Assists went to Texier and Provorov.

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Another power-play goal by Malkin tied the game again, 2-2, exactly three minutes later.

Settling a rebound above the left circle of the offensive zone, Malkin maneuvered into the circle and then slipped a cross-ice pass to Crosby low in the right circle. Surveying his options for a moment, Crosby dished the puck back to Malkin. Backtracking a bit to open a shooting lane, Malkin waited, waited and waited for Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson to stumble to the ice and Tarasov to provide an opening then fired a wrister under the goaltender’s left leg. Crosby and forward Michael Bunting claimed assists.

Malkin displayed more patience than UPMC Mercy on his second goal.

“Those guys (like Malkin), the game for them seems so slow compared to other players,” Letang said. “They can read, take a second, analyze things faster than everybody else. That’s what they do.”

Malkin did what he did Thursday with his celebrated parents, Vladimir and Natalia, in attendance.

“They come yesterday and they haven’t been here since I think 2018 or ’19,” Malkin said. “It’s a long time ago and it probably gives me a little more emotion. And it works, you know?”

Penguins forward Drew O’Connor put in some impressive work on his 12th goal and supplied the Penguins with their first lead of the contest only 35 seconds into the third period.

Settling a bouncing puck above his own crease, Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph banked it off the right wing boards and created an outlet for O’Connor to transition into an attack. Arriving at the Blue Jackets’ blue line, O’Connor backhanded the puck to the left wing wall for Crosby, who dished it back to an onrushing O’Connor. Driving to the left circle, O’Connor lasered a wrister to the far side by Tarasov’s glove. Crosby and Joseph had assists.

In his fourth NHL season, O’Connor entered 2023-24 with only eight career goals on his resume. Today, he’s manning the left wing of the top line.

“Over the last couple of years, he’s been improving his game, showing a lot more patience,” Letang said. “He sees the ice a lot more than I would say his previous first few years. He’s growing as a player.”

The Blue Jackets pulled Tarasov in the late stages of regulation for an extra attacker and even had a power-play opportunity for the final 29 seconds but fell in Pittsburgh for the 15th consecutive time (0-10-5).

“They’ve done it their whole career,” Olivier said of Crosby and Malkin. “Doesn’t change the fact that we want to beat those guys, especially in this building. Haven’t done it in forever.”

While a level of charity involving a red kettle from other teams in the Eastern Conference would be required for them to play games beyond their regular season finale on April 17, the Penguins’ postseason hopes haven’t been fitted for a toe tag just yet.

“We just need to keep going,” Crosby said. “It’s one of those things where you’ve just got to keep learning with every game and making sure that we’re trying to get better here.”

Notes:

• The Blue Jackets’ last win in Pittsburgh was a 2-1 victory on Nov. 13, 2015. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves on 28 shots in the defeat.

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter returned to the lineup after missing four games due to an undisclosed injury.

• Penguins forward Reilly Smith was in the lineup after missing Wednesday’s practice in Cranberry to attend to a family matter.

• Penguins forwards Emil Bemstrom, Jonathan Gruden and defenseman John Ludvig were healthy scratches.

• Nedeljkovic (12-6-5) surpassed Joe Daley (11-18-6) and Rob Holland (11-22-9) for 34th place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.

• The Blue Jackets scratched former Penguins forward Alex Nylander for the second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury.

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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