5 Moments That Defined The Penguins Season – Hockey Writers – Pittsburgh Penguins

As with most teams in professional sports, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2025-26 season has been filled with its fair share of ups and downs. Starting the year as a team that wasn’t expected to do much, the Penguins — while battling injuries throughout the roster almost from Day 1 — refused to crumble in the face of adversity, a trait that defined the team all season as it struggled to rewrite its narrative.

Despite falling victim to some frustrating losses both on home ice and on the road, Pittsburgh was able to pull off enough of a winning statement to get them into the spotlight, which turned out to be enough to make the playoffs. Although Pittsburgh’s season run was short, it’s hard to say that it completely erased all the progress the team made this season to become a true contender again.

Here are five key moments that shaped Pittsburgh’s surprising campaign.

Monumental Victory in Chicago

Simply put, the month of December was a nightmare for the Penguins.

After starting the month with road wins in Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, the Penguins seemed primed to bounce back after enduring subpar hockey in November. But victory was only fool’s gold. Instead, things got worse for Pittsburgh.

In 17 days, the Penguins struggled through one of their most painful stretches of hockey in recent memory. From December 7-23, Pittsburgh posted a lousy 1-5-4 record, eventually advancing to the postseason later in the season. But it’s not just that the Penguins lost; it’s how they lost some of those games that made the stretch really frustrating.

Every time it felt like the Penguins held a comfortable lead, it was only a matter of time before it disappeared. After a 2-1 loss in Dallas that resulted in an overtime loss on December 7th, Pittsburgh saw the Anaheim Ducks force overtime and tie the game with 0.1 seconds left in regulation. The Ducks went on to steal the extra point, but the worst was yet to come.

In back-to-back home contests against the San Jose Sharks and Utah Mammoths, the Penguins carried leads – 5-1 and 3-0, respectively – into the third period and still lost both games. The holiday break couldn’t come soon enough in Pittsburgh.

Back in action on Dec. 28, the Penguins’ schedule has given them a solid opportunity to begin righting the ship against one of the league’s bottom feeders, the Chicago Blackhawks. Although the United Center has become a difficult place to play for Pittsburgh, it got the job done. Behind Justin Brazeau’s first hat trick and multiple scoring performances by Bryan Rust, Anthony Mantha, and Ryan Shea, the Penguins scored seven goals and never came close to closing in on a 7-3 victory.

While beating a team as established as the Blackhawks wasn’t a heartbreaker, the positive move helped pave the way for the team’s strongest performance in January.

Sidney Crosby Injured During the Olympics

The Penguins, like all NHL teams, were well aware of the risk they were taking when they sent their top four players – Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Erik Karlsson, and Arturs Silovs – to compete in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

As each team brings a playoff-like mentality to the international stage in hopes of winning gold for their country, injuries are more likely. The poster child for this accident turned out to be Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who suffered a season-ending injury while competing against Team Switzerland.

Although it wasn’t as difficult, the Penguins were forced to deal with a similar situation when Crosby suffered a lower back injury late in the contest. After receiving an aggressive chant from Team Czechia’s Radko Gudas, Crosby left the game early and did not return for the remainder of the contest. The Penguins captain was a game-time decision in the gold medal game against Team USA, but ended up sitting out as he watched his team fall in heartbreaking fashion.

Crosby missed 11 games for the Penguins before returning on March 18 in a road game against the Carolina Hurricanes, where he had a goal and an assist. In his absence, the Penguins have amassed a 5-3-3 record, but it’s worth wondering how much that mark would have changed had Crosby completely avoided injury.

Pens Blow Out Islanders in Pivotal Divisional Matchup

With April just around the corner and the Penguins separated by just one point from the New York Islanders, the two sides’ final regular-season clash on Long Island on March 30 was as important as they come for both teams.

A victory for New York would have put them three points ahead of Pittsburgh for second place in the Metropolitan Division. A Penguins victory would have moved the Islanders one point ahead of that spot.

Mo IS time ✨ pic.twitter.com/2GUXSY1vft

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 31, 2026

Without Evgeni Malkin in the lineup, the Penguins’ offense was sluggish early on, allowing New York to score three of the game’s first four goals. But about halfway through the middle frame, Dan Muse’s lineup flipped a switch.

Led by Mantha, Pittsburgh rattled off four unanswered points to stun the UBS Arena crowd and jump out to a 5-3 lead to close out the second half. Backed by Silovs’ eight saves in the third, Pittsburgh put the Islanders to sleep with three more tallies to get two big points in the series with an 8-3 win.

Playoff-Clinching Win in New Jersey

Winners of four of their last five contests, the Penguins enter the Prudential Center on April 9 with a situation every team dreams of late in the regular season: Win and we’re in.

All that stood between them and a long-awaited return to the Big Dance was a New Jersey Devils team that was only playing for pride at the time, with their playoff hopes already gone. In the last two meetings between the two teams, the Penguins comfortably won by three goals. Thanks to strong performances from each member of Pittsburgh’s big team in Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang, they collected yet another three-goal victory over New Jersey, this time by a margin of 5-2.

Rust, Tommy Novak, and Egor Chinakhov pushed Pittsburgh ahead 3-1, but Devils star Jack Hughes put the pressure on Pittsburgh heading into the third when he cut it to 3-2 with a snipe from the top of the slot. But just as they did in the Long Island days before, Pittsburgh’s defense shut down the net in front of its goalie in the final 20 minutes, as Stuart Skinner faced just five shots during the stretch. On the other hand, Malkin and Karlsson sealed the victory for Pittsburgh with back-to-back goals.

For the first time in 1,456 days, the Penguins clinched a playoff spot, and with it, home field advantage in the first round.

Curtain Call in Philadelphia

One goal.

That’s all that separated the Penguins from forcing an improbable Game 7 back in Pittsburgh after seemingly dead in the water down 3-0 in the series. A third period followed in which Pittsburgh outscored its cross-country rival 13-5, carrying all the momentum of the game into overtime as emotions ran high among the Flyers faithful in attendance.

Pittsburgh continued to push the envelope at halftime, but goaltender Dan Vladar stood on his head enough to give the team in front of him room to end the streak. Soon after impressive saves from Silovs on Owen Tippett and Porter Martone, the Flyers went on to win the next game, with Cam York scoring the long-range winner in the final minutes of overtime.

The main thing is that Muse’s team did not come ready to play out of the gate in Games 1 and 2, which ultimately meant their demise. Only four teams in NHL history have ever come back from a 3-0 hole, and the Penguins learned why in this series.

As shown by their accomplishments this season, the window for Stanley Cup contention may be starting to open again for the Black and Gold. Now, it’s just a matter of keeping it that way for as long as possible.