Penguins’ Last Stand? Long, Pivotal Road Trip Looming
CRANBERRY — The Pittsburgh Penguins are aware of just how precarious their situation is.
How they are a full four points out of the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference playoff field going into Thursday’s games, with no fewer than four teams separating them from Columbus, current occupant of that final postseason spot.
It is not where the Penguins expected, let alone hoped, to be in mid-January, and not someplace they can stay for long if they intend to play beyond the regular season for the first time since 2022.
They also understand the opportunities to climb in the standings that were squandered when they went 1-3-1 on their recent homestand, and how that has ratcheted up the stakes for the seven-game road trip that begins Friday evening in Buffalo.
By the time they return home from the trip finale Jan. 29 in Salt Lake City, the Penguins should have a pretty good feel for whether they’ll be poised to make a serious run at the playoffs or whether elimination from contention is a mathematical inevitability.
“We kind of have to look at it (as make-or-break),” defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said after practice Thursday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “We’re kind of running out of runway here, and we don’t want to be throwing points away, especially when we feel like we’re kind of outplaying teams and let them off the hook the last two games.”
If the Penguins have an objective for how many points they’d like to take out of the next seven games, they’re not sharing it publicly. But given that they are 6-10-5 away from PPG Paints Arena in 2024-25, there’s not much reason to believe they’ll pad their total by, say, a dozen.
Still, their lineup of opponents isn’t especially daunting, since five of the seven clubs they’ll face — Buffalo, Anaheim, Seattle, San Jose and Utah — currently sit outside of the playoff fields in their respective conferences. All of those teams have fewer points than the Penguins’ 44.
Then again, three of the four teams that got the better of the Penguins on home ice between Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 trailed the Penguins in the overall standings before reporting to PPG Paints Arena, proving that precedent isn’t necessarily predictive.
While their inability to capitalize on having five games in a row at home could contribute to them sitting out the playoffs for the third consecutive year, right winger Bryan Rust said the Penguins aren’t dwelling on what could have been.
“You move forward,” he said. “You learn, and you move forward. You take your lessons, and you apply them moving forward. You can’t look back.”
If they look past the first two games of the trip — in Buffalo Friday and Washington Saturday — the Penguins will see that they’ll spend more than a week outside the Eastern time zone, with a swing through California before stops in Seattle and Utah.
The Penguins went 2-2 in the U.S. portion of the Pacific time zone last season, with victories in Anaheim and San Jose and losses in Los Angeles and Seattle, but more than a few clubs from this side of the continent have returned from Western trips with little more than some leftover meal money.
For good reason, most of the time.
“Obviously, the travel (is an issue) and usually you’re playing a lot games in a short number of days,” Grzelcyk said.
It was before just such a venture across the continent that former Penguins center Petr Nedved suggested that it would be good for team unity because “there will be a lot of bondage going on.”
While Nedved didn’t quite express it correctly, his point about the benefits of teammates spending time together was accurate.
“This is a good opportunity to continue to come together as a team,” Grzekcyk said. “Going on a long road trip like this can do that for you.”
Of course, winning can bring a team closer, too
And how often the Penguins do that during the rest of the month likely will have an impact on how long president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas is willing to keep this group largely intact.
Come home in, or even close to, a wild-card berth, and Dubas might be less likely to make wholesale changes as the March 7 NHL trade deadline approaches.
“It’s obviously a really important road trip for us,” Beauvillier said. “We’re going to be ready for it. Collectively, we believe in our group. We believe we can be a playoff team.”
The Penguins are about to get a chance to prove it.
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How many last stands have they had? The team has been toast since they let their most important core member go in the Vegas expansion draft. The last season Fleury played was their “last stand”. My opinion.
It was once said, ‘No one circles the wagons like the buffalo bills”, hahaha – this isn’t the Bills.
I don’t remember Fleury that way. He was playing behind Murray most of the last two years before he left. Not to mention Pens didn’t just let Murray take over, MAF was fu$king up a lot, remember when he’d go to retrieve a puck behind the net….I remember yelling NOOOO because he always mishandled the puck..Fleury blew games and wasn’t trust worthy in the playoffs anymore. Murray did benefit with MAF behind him but Murray won those cups and even when Fleury played in those playoffs he had to be pulled so Murray could recover the series and the eventual… Read more »
He did get outplayed by Murray for a while, but he never was as bad as the goaltenders the team has now. Turned out Murray was a flash in the pan. OOPS! Then the 1st year with vegas, Fleury takes the team to the finals. Not long after that, Fleury wins the Vezina. He has continued to play well to above average since. This season, 9 wins 2.54 gaa and .910 sv%. Still better than any goaltender on the current penguins. Meanwhile, the penguins don’t ever win another playoff series after he goes to Vegas and get mediocre to terrible… Read more »
It is always interesting and a pleasure to see the relationship MAF still has with the remaining Pens from that era. He will be missed after he retires.
Yeah, he did have a real impact the time he was here. The main thing that I think he did was give penguins fans hope that the team was moving in the right direction and out of “Generation X”. It began his first game when he made over 40 saves on opening night as an 18 yr rookie! He had some bad times as well, but he always found a way to work out of it, unlike the current roster. We pens fans need someone like him right now!
During his final year with the Pens MAF had a save pct of .909 Reg and .924 during the playoffs. Murray was Sullivan’s favorite and had a playoff save pct of .923. GAA was 2.56 for Fleury and 2.41 for Murray during the playoffs. Your memory is a bit biased in favor of Sullivan’s pet at that time.
Fleury got injured in the first playoff game for our first cup run. I could be wrong. It might be 2nd, 3rd, or even before the first game started. Anyway, that’s why Murray was in the net for the first cup. You don’t pull your hot hand in the middle of a winning run. Next year, Murray got injured pretty much in the same manner. The second cup was all Fleury. Never, in a million years, would we get past Caps without Fleury. Do watch that series, it might refresh your memory. Fleury got pulled right after posting a 23… Read more »
” a lot of bondage going on” Classic Dave Molinari stuff. Thanks Dave, made my day.
As a lifelong fan since the team came into existence, I hate to say it but the team may benefit more from losing a lot of those upcoming games since it may force change and quicker. That said I will certainly be rooting for them to win, nonetheless.
Didn’t Custer at Little Big Horn and Davey Crockette at the Alamo have last stands too?
Any or all of Glass, Acciari and Nieto should be waived to make room for call ups.
You have to think they need at least 9 points on this trip, get back to at least a point per game pace before start of February and March push for last 29 games. Then, probably will need to be about +10 points over point per game to be in position to make playoffs. Regardless, will have to show progress before deadline or plug is getting pulled on some vets. AHLers get some games rest of the way in preparation for next season.
Like 4-2-1 on trip, then need 19-8-2 rest of way? Yikes. Stuff’s getting tight. I’m not sure I see this team doing that, unless we get a goalie on a heater.
Five teams in the bottom 25% of the league. It should be expected.
They just have to make sure they sell early because teams like the Rangers, Nashville, etc will have guys available. I would rather get anything in return for most of these guys.
LMAO. They are toast. FIRE SULLY!
Are you sure, Pete? I know you’ve agonized over the situation to recently come to that conclusion.
LOL. Yep. I just figured it out!
1, 12, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31. These are the current ranks of the teams the Pens play on this road trip. If the Pens can’t win 5 of these games they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. As Dan stated, “the lineup isn’t especially daunting.”
*Dave
The last stand for this team was the past 3/4 weeks. This thing is over. Trade the mid veterans and bring up the youngsters