It wasn’t the prettiest of wins. That may not be the way head coach Dan Muse wants it to go. But the Pittsburgh Penguins found a way on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, finishing with a puzzling 4-3 regular-season victory. They blew another three-goal lead, somehow regained it late in regulation, allowed a game-tying goal, got a huge breakaway when an NHL-initiated replay review overturned them on a hand pass error, and then somehow gave up on an apparent breakaway from Nikita Kucherov in the final seconds, only to have Tristan Jarry stone him and secure the two points. Very silly and fun game. Two points are important. Importantly, as of Friday, the Penguins were 14-7-5 on the season, sixth in the NHL and third in the Eastern Conference in terms of points percentage.
Going into this week, I said that if the Penguins could get three points out of this tough three-game road trip, that should probably be considered a success given the injuries and competition in front of them. They already have four points heading into Saturday night’s game against the Dallas Stars.
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As chaotic as Thursday’s game was, there was still a lot to like.
Evgeni Malkin had a classic performance with two outstanding goals.
They showed some resilience to bounce back from losing the lead and still find a way to build on it and take it back with a win on the road against a top team.
Tristan Jarry made some huge saves.
Youngsters Ben Kindl and Will Koivunen scored.
There was concern a few weeks ago that the Penguins might be starting to face reality after a strong start, and that maybe that strong start was over. They have now won four of their last five games and remain very high in the table.
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This is more than just a strong start.
It was one of the best starts in recent franchise history. Maybe the entire history of the franchise.
Let’s look at some numbers to put this into context.
With Thursday’s win, the Penguins have 33 points in their first 26 games, with a record of 14 wins, seven draws and five losses.
Throughout the Penguins’ 58-season history…
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There have been only 17 seasons in which they won at least 14 of their first 26 games.
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Only 13 seasons have they won more than 14 of their first 26 games.
Their .635 mark through the first 26 games of the season is the 11th-best start through 26 games in franchise history in terms of total points and point percentage. The previous 10 starts and the following 2 starts all resulted in playoff berths.
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There are definitely flaws in the lineup and defensive approach. They win a lot of games due to their strong offense and goaltending, and there’s definitely a ceiling to what a team like this can do, and maybe even a lot of smoke and mirrors. But here’s the reality: The Penguins are still a team capable of generating a lot of 5-on-5 offense, they still have high-level high-end players on their roster, and the success of their power-play style just ultimately matches their talent and expectations.
Goaltending is always a wild card (for every team) and so far, it’s delivering on its promise. After so many years of failure, I think the Penguins will accept this and not apologize for it.
They were still wasting points despite being without any of their top four forwards (Rikard Rekker on the first line, Justin Brazeau on the second line, Filip Haaland on the third line and Noel Asciari on the fourth line).
They win games and collect points in the first quarter of the season, which historically puts them and the league as a whole in a good position to make the playoffs.
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At some point it stops being a good start and starts being a good team.
I’m not sure we’ve reached that stage yet. We are definitely getting closer to it.
It might not be a Stanley Cup team, but it still might be a very good team. In a season that no one expected, this could be a very good team, while also seeing real development in key players that they will rely on in future seasons, that they may be able to become a Stanley Cup team again.
