Hey y’all! Hope you’re enjoying this winter so far. I wanted to take a minute after the Olympics and share some thoughts on how things are going in the NHL and specifically (obviously) how the Pittsburgh Penguins are doing.
It’s been a wild ride, but it looks like the Penguins are on track for a playoff appearance, their first since 2022. Of course, things could still go off the rails, but the fact that they are in this position at all after the preseason predictions suggested Pittsburgh would be in the Metropolitan Division/Eastern Conference/NHL basement is worth celebrating on its own. As things stand after the Olympic break, the Penguins are second in the Metropolitan Division, fourth in the Eastern Conference, and seventh in the entire NHL. Most critically however, they are five points ahead of the three teams tied for fourth in the Metropolitan Division with three games in hand on one of them. Right now the two Wild Card teams in the East are Buffalo with 70 points and Boston with 69 points. If the Penguins were to fall out of the top three in the Metro Division, they would also fall out of the playoff race.
The bad news for Pittsburgh is that they have the toughest schedule in the NHL ahead of them after the break, including both contests against the League-best Colorado Avalanche and the Pacific-leading Vegas Golden Knights as well as three against the Carolina Hurricanes. If the Penguins are legit, unlike in years past they won’t simply collapse against playoff teams. So far, they’ve done fairly well against teams in playoff position, with an 8-3-2 record against playoff teams in the East and 3-2-4 against those in the West. Pittsburgh has just two breaks of two off-days in the last almost seven weeks of the season. It’s a final gauntlet that will tell the ultimate story of the Penguins’ season.
Nevertheless, it has been a surprising year for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of all the years they could have used some overperformances from a few players, this year they’ve gotten them from practically everybody. Evgeni Malkin is still pulling off a point-per-game season at 39 years old. Rookie Ben Kindel stepped in and has immediately made himself a fixture for not just his offensive production but on defense as well. Anthony Mantha is headed for a career year. Justin Brazeau already has eclipsed his career highs. Erik Karlsson has been playing more like he was expected to when he was traded for a few years ago. In-season acquisition Egor Chinakov is relishing his change of scenery from Columbus. Tommy Novak, Connor Dewar, Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari…name a skater, and they’re pretty much doing their jobs and then some.
TIME TO HUNT!
LGP