What Alchemy is This? Penguins Cook Up Some Unlikely Wins

The Pittsburgh Penguins have one of the oldest teams in the National Hockey League.

Their most important players — guys like Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson — generally are their oldest.

It stands to reason, then, that the Penguins would struggle in the second game when obliged to play on consecutive days. That fatigue would be a major factor that they would be unable to overcome, more often than not.

Perfectly logical?

Absolutely.

Entirely accurate?

Not even close.

Fact is, the Penguins enter their game at Washington tonight at Washington at 7:08 with a 6-3 record in the second game when playing on back-to-back days. That not only is markedly better than their overall record (19-20-8), but is their second-best mark in any days-between-games scenario, topped only by a 1-0 mark when they go three days without playing.

Coincidentally, they earned one of those six victories against the Capitals at Capital One Arena on Nov. 8. That 4-2 decision came 24 hours after a 5-1 defeat at Carolina.

Now, the Penguins have taken points out of Washington with regularity over the years, but doing it in 2024-25 is a significant achievement, considering that the Capitals are tied with Winnipeg for first place in the overall standings.

To put the Penguins’ no-days-off performance in perspective, consider that Washington is 6-4 when its schedule breaks that way, a .600 winning percentage that is lower than all except the Capitals’ 0-0-1 mark (.500) when they have three days between games.

While the Penguins’ 5-2 victory in Buffalo Friday night likely purged much of the sour taste left by losing the final three games on their just-concluded homestand, taking both road games in the season series with the Capitals is a daunting challenge.

Then again, perhaps the schedule-maker did the Penguins a favor by giving them this game without a break, even if they can’t fully explain why they’ve fared so well in the back end of games on consecutive days.

“I don’t know,” winger Michael Bunting said. “I actually have no idea.”

It’s possible that the Penguinsmark ‘ 6-3 in second games is little more than a meaningless anomaly — kind of like how they’re 1-0 in 2024-25 when goalie Alex Nedeljkovic scores a goal — but their unexpected success then is part of the reason they’ve been able to remain in contention for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff field.

Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk suggested that playing more on instinct than usual might play a part in helping the Penguins to navigate those second games.

“Sometimes, on the back end of a back-to-back, you’re not overthinking anything,” he said. “You played the night before, you’re feeling pretty good. Maybe a little less sleep than normal, but your body’s kind of in that game mode.”

He added that veteran leadership is a positive, too.

“Everyone takes care of themselves well, and there’s a lot of really great professionals in here who lead by example,” Grzelcyk said. “A lot of those older guys … guys who have been around a while, they know how to come in each and every day, prepared.”

Of course, that assessment belies the reality that, even after the victory in Buffalo, the Penguins have won just three of the 10 games they’ve played to begin a back-to-back sequence.

Although most clubs are decidedly less productive in those second games — the league-leading Jets, for example, are 1-4 in them — right winger Bryan Rust theorized that not having a day or more between games isn’t as consequential as it was in the past.

“In this day and age, back-to-backs don’t mean as much as they used to,” he said. “Everybody’s in good enough shape, with the advances in technology and how in-depth our staff gets in the supplements we need and the nutrition that we need … even the playing field.”