It’s not looking good for Pittsburgh with just a few weeks to go. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the first time in 16 years as they sit adrift of the Wild Card places with just a dozen games left.
I did predict (just like many others) this could happen to the Penguins this season, though I really thought they had one last playoff run in this core before the wheels completely fell off.
For the past 16 years in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins have essentially become synonymous with winning and success as they not only have the longest active playoff streak of any team, but they’ve also won the most in that said period too.
With 3 division titles (2 old Atlantic Division wins, 1 Metropolitan Division win), 5 Conference Finals appearances, 4 Prince of Wales trophies, 4 Stanley Cup Finals appearances, and 3 Stanley Cup wins (2009, 2016, 2017), the Penguins have been elevated to greatness due to one of the best Cup winning cores of all-time in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury, and head coach Mike Sullivan.
Only the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty of the 2010’s can compare to the Penguins triumphs of the last 16 years, and even that team didn’t reach as many Stanley Cup Finals, nor a string of playoff berths as long the Penguins. Simply put, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team of the 2010’s and its Hall of Fame core (everyone one I mentioned should find themselves in Toronto when their career’s end) will go down in history.
Yet, just like the Blackhawks dynasty, the Penguins’ years of sustained success have finally caught up with them as they are facing one of their toughest challenges to date: staving off the corrosive hands of aging to make one last playoff run.
I also predicted that the Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins, two of the other most dominating teams of the 2010’s, would fall off this season (which ended up being half true), but it was the Penguins who I thought would beat back the unfortunate wear and tear of aging for one last season.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case as the Penguins, who currently sit in 9th place in the East, are one point behind 8th place Florida for the final Wild Card spot.
Now, they definitely aren’t in a must-win situation yet as they still have a game advantage over the Panthers (Penguins: 70 GP; Panthers: 71 GP), while they also are only one point behind the Panthers. However, the Panthers are easily the in-form team at the moment as they have a 7-3 winning record in their last 10 games, but the Penguins have a woeful 4-6 record in their last 10 games.
Plus, the Penguins are in the midst of a 4-game losing streak where they have been outscored 18-7 by the likes of the Canadians (currently 15th in East), Senators (currently 11th in East), and the Rangers (currently 5th in the East). That’s not good enough for a team that wants to compete for the Stanley Cup.
So, when you also factor in the Penguins painfully average GF (3.2 GF/GM; currently 15th overall), GA (3.09 GA/GM; currently 17th overall), and total goals scored (223 goals scored; currently 18th overall) tallies against the likes of the Panthers and the Islanders (who are in 7th place), the likelihood of the Penguins finally falling out of the playoff chance are very real and alive.
It’ll all come down to how they perform in their final 12 games as if they continue to struggle, then the legendary Penguins success of the 2010’s will end with a whimper in the early 2020’s.
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