PITTSBURGH — It has been a miserable start to the season for the Penguins, but Sidney Crosby gave his team something to smile about Saturday when he scored his 600th NHL goal.

But the moment was fleeting, as Pittsburgh wasted his milestone with another loss.

The Penguins fell 6-1 to the Utah Hockey Club at PPG Paints Arena, unable to earn even a single point in the standings during a weekend back-to-back on home ice.

As Thanksgiving nears, the Penguins are stuck in the Metropolitan Division cellar.

But hey, at least the fans who showed up Saturday could soak in a special moment.

Crosby beat Karel Vejmelka for his 600th career goal 3:11 into the second period.

His latest milestone — and one of his most impressive — came on a 5-on-3 power play in the second period. Pittsburgh got that man advantage because Crosby threw a crushing hit on Nick Schmaltz and Utah took a couple of penalties in retaliation.

The captain had two excellent looks earlier in the power play. But Vejmelka got his toe on the first Crosby blast, then Crosby whiffed on a tap-in try at the back door.

The Penguins left their big guns on the ice and kept the heat on Utah, and Erik Karlsson teed up Crosby — parked in his favorite spot, just off the right post — for No. 600.

As Crosby screamed and unleashed an emphatic fist bump, the Penguins emptied the bench and swarmed Crosby. Alex Nedeljkovic raced from his net to join them.

Crosby is the 21st player in NHL history to hit the milestone. And he is the seventh all time to do it with one franchise. Mario Lemieux also topped 600 for Pittsburgh.

Moments later, Crosby received another round of roaring applause from the crowd. The Penguins icon, who signed an extension in September, waved in appreciation.

Crosby’s goal pulled the last-place Penguins back within one. But they were unable to generate much momentum from it before Utah scored to make it a 3-1 game.

Nick Bjugstad, the former Penguin, scored with Jesse Puljujarvi in the penalty box.

Utah tacked on three more goals in the third period to make it yet another blowout.

It was the third straight loss for the Penguins, who are 2-5-3 in their last 10 games.

When the calendar flipped to 2024, not many would have predicted that by the end of the year, a Penguins team still being captained by Crosby would be down this bad.

Then again, no one could have guessed Utah would have a team. But here we are.

The hockey club formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes had won just three of its previous 13 games. But the Utahns skated to Saturday’s victory with relative ease.

The Penguins, skating in the second half of a back-to-back, had another uninspired start in front of their home crowd. They fell behind 2-0 during the opening period.

Dylan Guenther set up Jack McBain with a sneaky pass from behind the Pittsburgh net, then the Penguins had their nightly breakdown while trying to defend the rush.

They had even numbers back but still surrendered that goal to Mikhail Sergachev. Nedeljkovic, who let in two of the first seven shots, maybe should have stopped it.

The popular puck stopper is still trying to recapture the form he showed down the stretch last season. Nedeljkovic has won just three of his 10 starts so far, and it has been three weeks since he allowed fewer than three goals in one of his outings.

Guenther tallied two power-play goals in the third period. Alex Kerfoot also scored.

Ice chips

— Logan Cooley, the West Mifflin native, had two assists and a plus-2 rating for Utah. He also shook off a scary collision during the final frame and stayed in to finish the game.

— The Penguins have allowed nine power-play goals on their last 25 penalty kills.

— Owen Pickering was promoted to the top pair going into Saturday’s game, the fourth of his career. The 20-year-old played alongside 37-year-old vet Kris Letang.

— Ryan Graves suited up Saturday after being a healthy scratch for the last three games.

— Matt Grzelcyk was good to go for this game after a hard shot hobbled him Friday, but he was dropped to the third pair. He played the right side on a pair with Graves.

— Mike Sullivan also shook up his top six. Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust started the game with Crosby. Evgeni Malkin got Anthony Beauvillier and Michael Bunting.

— The Penguins sent forward prospect Vasily Ponomarev to the American Hockey League so they could activate Kevin Hayes from injured reserve Saturday. The big forward returned to action after missing eight games with an upper-body injury.

— Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany and Valtteri Puustinen were scratched by the Penguins.

Stat n’at

1,295 — the number of games Crosby needed to reach the 600-goal plateau

Coming up

After their back-to-back, Penguins players get a scheduled off day on Sunday. The Penguins plan to practice Monday and Tuesday in Cranberry, Pa., ahead of their annual Thanksgiving Eve game at PPG Paints Arena. This year’s opponent is Vancouver.

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