The Pittsburgh Penguins are wrapping up their pre-season in another home-and-home series. How successful has the club been in these back-to-back situations since 2021?
The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena, dropping the second game of a home-and-home series with the Original Six franchise, just a day after collecting a 5-1 win in the Little Caesar's Arena.
The club finishes the pre-season this week with a back-to-back with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (Nationwide Arena) and Friday (PPG Paints Arena). So far in 2024-25, the Penguins are 1-3 in these home-and-home contests and could use a split or a sweep to finish the pre-season on a positive note.
Out of curiosity, we wondered how successful the Penguins have been in home-and-home games since the 2021-22 season when the NHL resumed regular schedules after the restructured pandemic year of 2020-21.
Unsurprising, since Pittsburgh has failed to qualify for the playoffs in consecutive seasons, they are 7-11 in back-to-back contests with the same opponent but have outscored them 57-54.
Here's a simplified examination of a complex set of statistics:
- Home (Game 1): 1-1 with six goals for, six goals against
- Away (Game 1): 2-5 with 23 goals for, 26 goals against
- Home (Game 2): 4-3 with 24 goals for, 16 goals against
- Away (Game 2): 0-2 with for goals for, six goals against
The Penguins have dominated their series with the Blue Jackets since their inception in 2000 with a comfortable 38-10-0-6 record, good enough for a .703 win percentage.
Whether at home (23-4-0-0) or on the road (15-6-0-6) against Columbus, the Penguins can improve on these home-and-home statistics. These two clubs have met only once back-to-back in the past three seasons, splitting the contests 3-2 (PIT) and 4-3 (CBJ).
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