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The Five Key Moments That Built These Penguins
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- The Five Key Moments That Built These Penguins
James Carey Lauder-Imagn ImagesJames Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Playoff bound. The Pittsburgh Penguins are not only a postseason participant, but they earned second place in the Metro Division, a clear step ahead of the jumbled riff-raff behind them who may not get to 95 points and who await them in Round One.
Upon clinching their first playoff berth since 2022, the Penguins PR account promptly tweeted a little “us against the world” comparison.
The Penguins have earned a victory lap with the throttle wide open. No longer do goaltender interference calls matter (at least until the next one), nor does their near persistent shootout misery have any bearing on what comes next.
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At the start of the season, Vegas oddsmakers made them a 91% favorite to MISS the playoffs. Even the rosiest predictions, and PHN was one of them, predicted the Penguins were too good to tank for Gavin McKenna, but by later in the season, trades, and injuries would sap their spirit and they could finish in the 10-14th overall range.
No, in every moment when the team teetered and was about to spin round into the beautiful oblivion, they were able to respond with their best. They followed the awful 10 game stretch in December, which included a season’s worth of blown leads and extra-time losses, with their best from later December through early March. They even surged in the days after the Olympic break without captain Sidney Crosby , while he recovered from a knee injury.
Surprising to many, but not to the team general manager Kyle Dubas constructed, they plowed forward.
Their rewards are just. This Penguins team has earned their way into the playoffs, not by limping to the finish line or being the best of a terrible group, but by scoring more goals over five games than any Penguins team in 30 years, by getting stellar goaltending in their last two games when they needed it most, and somehow figuring out that they were a pretty good team.
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“You don’t ever know, but right from camp, we’ve had those intentions and had that belief. And our start was a good example of that,” said Crosby Thurday night. “So, yeah, I think the belief was there, but it takes everybody, and we’ve got a great group here. And I’m just really happy to have everyone back there.”
The construction and the decisions that built this Penguins team began last April. After a third straight playoff miss, and they weren’t really close, cracks in the organization’s veneer began showing. There was the faintest hint of trouble with coach Mike Sullivan toward the end of the season, but then the floodgates opened.
The days following the sullen conclusion of the 2024-25 Penguins season shaped this success.
5 Key Penguins Moments
5. Firing Mike Sullivan, Hiring Dan Muse
This could be Nos. 5 through 1.
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The change in coaches has done more to rejuvenate the organization than the collective possibly could have known. Yes, fans were hungry for a change, but the internal machinations were steadfast that Sullivan was the guy.
This writer will beg some forgiveness for believing the cacophony of inside voices that never wavered. It wasn’t until the end that some daylight appeared between Sullivan and Dubas, and Sullivan and the team.
Perhaps it was the exit interviews. Perhaps it was the spectre of a potential rebuild. On April 28, the Penguins and Sullivan split, and by June 4, Dan Muse was the coach of the Penguins.
As a small subplot that could have entirely rewritten history, the Penguins are believed to be one of the teams that received a letter accusing coaching candidate Mitch Love of misconduct. While the details are not public, the charges were serious enough that the Washington Capitals relieved Love of his assistant coach duties. Love was a top candidate with several teams; how things might have been different.
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Instead, fate guided the Penguins to Muse, who has proven to be a top-shelf head coach with a solid relationship with the team, but also has the ability to firmly demand more when needed.
“From day one, he and I had a really good conversation. He’s very personable,” goalie Stuart Skinner . “I mean, first of all, he’s just an amazing human being, and the way that he is in the room with the guys–he’s got a really good amount of assertiveness, and he knows when to and he knows what to do at the right time. That’s critical. So from what I’ve seen, he is nothing but impressive.”
The Penguins’ role players are the biggest difference. The empowerment and support they feel have created a deep roster.
The Muse difference was the start. And perhaps the biggest key moment.
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“Dan called me over the summer, and the first conversation we had was that he wanted to get me to 30 goals. And after the last game, he came up to me and he’s like, (remember) we talked about it the first time? I was like, ‘Yeah, we did.’ And so that was, that was a boost of confidence,” Anthony Mantha said. “And then when I got here, things clicked from the start … Everyone’s kind of playing relaxed. It’s a little bit more credit to the coaching staff for not either yelling at us or taking us down if something happens.”
Nay, Muse has picked them up.
4. OH, oh Chinakhov
Dec. 29, 2025. Dubas executed one of the best trades that he will ever make. The Penguins acquired Egor Chinakhov for Danton Heinen , a 2026 second-round draft pick, and a 2027 third-round draft pick.
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The changes were immediate. Dubas and Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell spent months discussing the trade and negotiating. Eventually the situation between Chinakhov and coach Dean Evason, who relegated the player to fourth-line duty and press box nachos aficionado, deteriorated enough and Dubas’s offer rose high enough.
Chinakhov, 24, immediately rewarded the Penguins for prying him from the negative situation.
After a couple of days with the Penguins, Yegor let the Penguins know his real name is Egor. The team immediately set about getting all of his official hockey records changed. And he immediately set about filling the net.
Chinakhov has shown a complete game. He skates backward as well as most defensemen do. His wrist shot is as hard as most slapshots with a much quicker release than most wristers. In 41 games, he has 18 goals and 18 assists.
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In 29 games with Columbus, Chinakhov had three goals and three assists. And to add insult to Columbus’ injury, Waddell terminated Evason just a couple of weeks later.
3. The Rookie Flood
The Penguins have put 12 rookies on the ice this season, including Ben Kindel and Arturs Silovs . Only those two have stuck; the rest were caught by not being ready or, in Filip Hallander ’s case, a serious health issue.
However, what made the group so significant was the focus. The hope. And the fresh takes in the room. Dubas and Muse quickly surrounded the Penguins veterans with a steady stream of a group of kids who were hungry and happy to be there.
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The rookies took the focus away from the smell of stagnant failure that had figuratively worked its way into the plush carpeting inside the Penguins dressing room.
The sight of Kris Letang , Sidney Crosby , Ben Kindel and others staying on the ice for an hour after practice playing pickup games and variations of HORSE was seared into this writer’s memory. Sid again had playmates, and everyone was having fun.
If there was any talk of trading Crosby or him being unhappy, his laughter echoing off the walls at the UPMC Lemieux Complex while playing hockey was enough to quell any lingering doubts.
2. The Tristan Jarry Trade
Dec. 12, 2025.
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So, this one worked out, eh? The Penguins acquired Stuart Skinner, who was brilliant in the clinching win Thurday, Brett Kulak , and a 2029 second-round pick for Tristan Jarry.
Jarry looked reborn this season, but instead of riding the hot hand in goal, he seized the opportunity to fleece Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman, who desperately needed a change in goal as the situation with Skinner had flatlined.
Jarry very quickly reverted to his worst form and is no longer the starting goalie in Edmonton. Reports of some internal friction also surfaced. In Pittsburgh , Kulak revived Letang’s season, then Dubas flipped Kulak to the Colorado Avalanche for Sam Girard and yet another second-round pick.
1. THE SHORTY
March 30, 2026.
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When they play the highlights of the 2025-26 season, this will be THE goal that altered the playoff race and changed a few lives.
It was a divisional game against the New York Islanders with serious playoff implications, and the Penguins were fresh from a three-game beatdown by some of the league’s best teams (Carolina, Colorado, Dallas ), with a lonely shootout win over the Ottawa Senators sandwiched between.
An Islanders win would have put them firmly in control of their playoff fate, and the Penguins very much not in control. In the second period, they trailed the Islanders 3-1 at UBS Arena. Then, Rickard Rakell blocked a shot near the blue line, setting up a shorthanded two-on-one.
“The PK goal, that’s what clicked.That’s a great way to put it. I think it just brought the momentum back to our side,” said Anthony Mantha after the game. “And on top of that, they killed the penalty. That’s exactly what we needed, and our team just went up from there.”
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Rakell put the puck on Bryan Rust ’s stick and drove to the net where he redirected Rust’s pass past goalie Ilya Sorokin for his first career shorty. The Penguins went on a 7-0 run, won 8-3 and they have not looked back, since.
The Penguins are 5-1-0 since and pulled away from the Islanders, Columbus, and the Philadelphia Flyers .
The shorthanded goal was the moment it all came together at the most important time.
Honorable Mention: Signing Anthony Mantha. It isn’t every day a team signs a player for $2.5 million with another $2 million in incentives, who scores 30 goals. Mantha helped carry the team when Crosby was injured and Malkin suspended for five games.
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Honorable Mention: Signing Parker Wotherspoon . A bargain signing produced a top-four defenseman who has provided steady defensive balance as part of a pairing with the resurgent Erik Karlsson .
The post The Five Key Moments That Built These Penguins appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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