The latest round of speculation started after the Hurricanes acquired Mikko Rantanen in a blockbuster trade on Friday, fueling "baseless rumors," as labeled by The Athletic's Josh Yohe, that the Avalanche might be positioning themselves to acquire Crosby.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby voiced a very firm statement to General Manager Kyle Dubas and the rest of the organization about the trade buzz surrounding his name in the NHL.

• Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev, two of the prospects acquired in the Penguins’ Jake Guentzel trade last season, each turned hat tricks. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had never had two players score hat tricks in the same game.

Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson scored in regulation as Pittsburgh snapped a three-game losing streak. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.

After Keller recovered the puck for Utah's first possession in overtime, it took only seconds before Utah got its only goal shot of the period. With Utah's Barrett Hayton slapping the ice to call for the puck, Sergachev passed to Hayton right in front of Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.

While Sidney Crosby agreed to a two-year contract extension in September that included a full no-trade clause and could keep him with the Pittsburgh Penguins through at least the 2026-27 NHL season, the struggles the Penguins have endured from October through Monday's 2-1 loss to the lowly San Jose Sharks (15-32-6) resulted in Crosby being the subject of trade rumors for the second consecutive winter.