The Penguins Keep Finding Ways to Figure It Out

SIDNEY CROSBY | PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

That daunting, four-city, five-game road trip the Penguins finally completed this week ended as it had begun, with an extra-time loss in Carolina. The extended excursion nonetheless provided confirmation regarding where the Penguins are eventually headed.

That would be back to the playoffs for the first time in four seasons — not that they’ve clinched anything just yet, far from it.

The race for qualification remains tight, with a handful of teams battling for not enough spots to accommodate them all.

But in a season that began with zero anticipation and has surprisingly far exceeded expectations, the Penguins have done enough for belief to finally supersede concerns about when the other shoe, or, in this case skate, is finally going to drop.

Monday night’s 7-2 blasting of Colorado, a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, provided the statistical exclamation point, in the event those still threatened by skepticism needed such a declaration.

It was the Pens’ 34th victory of the season, which matched their number of wins from a season ago with 15 games still remaining in this one.

Their 82nd and 83rd points earned pushed the total in excess of what they managed in the 2024-25 campaign to three.

The goals-per-game average was at 3.42 in the immediate aftermath, an increase of 0.47 per contest. The goals-against average of 2.90 was down 0.60 from a season ago while their penalty kill had improved from a 77.8-percent success rate to 84.5 percent.

Empirical evidence, for those in need, that it’s a different team and a different season.

One reason why, perhaps, is that the Penguins have had to do it the hard way all along, deploying four goaltenders and 38 skaters as circumstances have demanded.

In doing so, they’ve established a character, a chemistry and a camaraderie that can’t be measured but is every bit as significant as their improved points percentage.

They’ve had opportunities to succumb from period to period or game to game to what, at times, have appeared to be their obvious fatal limitations. For some reason though, this particular collection of Penguins has refused to accept them.

They’re imperfect, to be certain, and at times their flaws are obvious, but this team keeps coming.They don’t blink; that collective characteristic has made them as entertaining as they are surprising.

In addition to being a better-than-anticipated hockey club, the Penguins are fun to watch. As a result, what we’ll see down the stretch from this bunch promises to be compelling.

They’ll still need to finish what they started, but the sample size is such by now that, where there was once reason to doubt, there’s now every reason to expect that no matter what confronts them into the second week of April, the Penguins will find a way to figure it out.

They either don’t know they’re not supposed to be contending to reach the postseason or they just don’t care.

What’s become their trademark resiliency was on display again on Wednesday night as the Penguins rallied from 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits. And yes, they allowed a short-handed goal and yes, they allowed a late-third period lead slip away on the way to losing, 6-5, in OT.

Sidney Crosby was back in the lineup and the competition level was off the charts. As it has been much more often than not with or without Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, the Pens repeatedly found a way to scratch and claw and eventually earn a point despite being seemingly overmatched for much of the night.

They can work with that, heading into the postseason and beyond.