We’re basically at the quarter-point of the NHL season, and the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t going away, are they?
With points in seven of their last 10 games, a third-place position in the feisty Metropolitan Division and even balance between their home and road marks – it’s impressive in Pens Land right now.
Suddenly, at a time where we were expecting the Pens to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for a fourth straight season, they might be in the conversation for home-ice advantage in the first round of the post-season.
And while that is clearly one of the biggest surprise developments in the NHL this season, the surprises don’t end there.
The Penguins – which were 30th in the league in goals against per game last season, with 3.50 – are now third-best in the NHL with an average of 2.47. That’s more than a goal against better for Pittsburgh’s low-expectation defense corps.
At the other end of the rink, the Pens’ reversal of fortune is equally stark.
In 2024-25, the Penguins' offense averaged 2.95 goals-for, which had them 18th in the league. But this season, Pittsburgh is averaging 3.26 goals, the eighth-most. Those are huge swings in improvement, and it’s no wonder the Pens have surged into a top-three spot in the Metro and made first-year Penguins coach Dan Muse an early candidate for Jack Adams Award honors as the league’s coach of the year.
Penguins' Special Teams Driving Bus For Hot StartNineteen games into the 2025-26 season, things are going pretty well for the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>.
Finally, Pittsburgh’s goaltenders also deserve their share of the credit for coming out of the gate with strong showings.
Veteran netminder Tristan Jarry – who cleared NHL waivers last year – has a 5-2-0 record, 2.60 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Jarry's injured right now, but first-year Penguin Arturs Silovs has been even better, with a 2.44 GAA, .917 SP and 4-2-4 record. Even call-up Sergei Murashov has a .938 SP and 1.52 GAA in two starts. Last season, Pittsburgh would’ve killed to have just one goalie with those kinds of numbers. Now, they have two, maybe three.
In sum, it’s hard to think of how the Pens’ start to the season could’ve gone any better than the way it's gone. By basically every metric, Pittsburgh is an entirely different team than the feeble, weak team it was last season. And in doing so, Pittsburgh is putting the waves of trade rumors into airplane mode.
So long as the injury bug leaves them alone, the Penguins could be for real. And Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang might get one more playoff run together after all.
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