The Penguins on Thursday held their annual Pride Night game at PPG Paints Arena, aiming to celebrate "teamwork, inclusion, respect, and acceptance."

Most of the work done on these nights celebrating different parts of the community -- Hockey Fights Cancer, Military Appreciation, etc. -- is done by the game operations and marketing/communications staffs. Since the NHL banned specialty warmup jerseys, there's only so much players can publicly do on their own to show their support.

For Pride Night, players have always had the option to use rainbow Pride tape on their sticks. It's generally something players only opt to do in warmups, returning to their usual preferred white or black tape for the actual game.

Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Alex Nedeljkovic and Ryan Graves all opted to use Pride tape in warmups.

I asked Graves after the game why he personally made that choice, and I thought his response was a great representation of the purpose of these nights.

"I mean, there's no reason that we don't want inclusivity in our community," he said. "It's a small gesture that doesn't take any effort on our end. I think it's good. I think that all the nights are good -- the cancer night, the military night, the Pride night -- all of them have meaning. We want everyone to feel welcome, not just the Pride community. Everybody should be welcome in as a fan in the hockey world, as a player, whatever it is. I would always use (the Pride tape)."

That's really it. Nothing really requires much effort on the players' end, but the result is something meaningful for the group being recognized -- whether that's fans or even other players, who may be made to feel like they don't belong sometimes. I hear from fans and some of my friends in the community every year about how included these nights make them feel, or how appreciative they are of these little gestures. 

MORE FROM THE GAME

• I saw the Penguins' injured players after the game. Tommy Novak, day-to-day with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot in Minnesota, is walking with a noticeable limp. Ryan Shea, who has been skating on his own and is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, had one of his hands/wrists in a brace and all wrapped up. P.O Joseph is also week-to-week with an upper-body injury, but there wasn't anything visible he was dealing with.

• The Penguins' fourth goal that stood as the game-winner was originally credited to Rust, was switched to Rakell, then later credited back to Rust. Rakell shot it, and the debate was whether Rust got a stick on it in the slot, and he evidently did.

• Rakell, however, did score the Penguins' empty-net goal to make it 5-3, and that goal ends up being his 30th of the season, reaching the 30-goal mark for the third time in his career. 

• Crosby recorded assists on Rust's goal and Rakell's empty-netter. He's riding a nine-game point streak, with five goals and nine assists in that span. With 72 points in 66 games, he has some cushion as he tries to clinch what would be his record-setting 20th point-per-game season.

• Tristan Jarry stopped 33 of 36 shots. It's his third straight win since coming up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and he has a combined .942 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average in those games. The Penguins were outshot 16-5 in the first period alone on Thursday, but Jarry and Graves had the Penguins up 1-0 at first intermission. 

"Without a doubt, the last three games are three of the best games Jarrs has played all year for us," Mike Sullivan said. "He's just ultra-competitive in there. He's battling on pucks. When you look at our last three games, he's the main difference. And in all three of them, he's made timely saves for us. He's competing hard in there. We didn't have the best first period tonight. And he was rock-solid in there. That gives us a chance to find our game."

• Jarry said that "each and every guy on the team reached out at some point" while he was in his last AHL stint, which I think says a lot about how his teammates feel about him. Jarry appreciated it, saying, "I needed a little bit of a lift. And each and every guy in here did that for me, and I think that it meant a lot to me."

• Kris Letang blocked seven shots, a new season-high and his most in a single game since he blocked nine on Jan. 20, 2022 in a 6-4 win over the Senators.

• Blues play-by-play man John Kelly paid tribute to the late Mike Lange in his call of the game, borrowing the call "Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one, too" for the Blues' second goal. Their TV analyst Jamie Rivers paid tribute as well with "Scratch my back with a hacksaw."