Penguins' Improvement On Defense A Big Factor In Playoff Standing

When the Pittsburgh Penguins started got off to a blazing 8-2-2 start to the 2025-26 season, there was a lot going right for them.

They were putting pucks into the net with frequency. They were getting far above average goaltending that they had been missing for quite some time. They also had a league-best power play that was clicking in the 30 percent range. All in all, they were checking most boxes.

But, at that point, team defense was still a bit of a question mark. The Penguins were still allowing a fair amount of odd-man rushes, and there were underperforming players on their blue line making costly mistakes. 

Fast forward a few months, and all of the aforementioned positives are still a thing. But that team defense has finally caught up, too.

Since the holiday break, only one team - the Tampa Bay Lightning - has more points than the Penguins. They are 10-2-2 since the break, have won three straight games, and have climbed up to second in the Metropolitan Division with 61 points. 

A huge part of their success has been their defensive process. And it doesn't look like something that's happened by accident, either. The Penguins are playing better than they were at the beginning of the season on the defensive side of the puck.

And that makes them a far more dangerous team. 

According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the Penguins are in the upper half of the NHL in goals against (12th), expected goals against (12th), expected goals against per 60 (13th), shots allowed (11th), and high-danger chances allowed per 60 (15th). And, per Moneypuck, that's also true for unblocked shot attempts against (12th), blocked shots (15th), rebound goals against (ninth), and rebound shots against (13th).

And on top of that, their Corsi (shot attempts share) at five-on-five - according to Natural Stat Trick - has been steadily climbing since mid-November and has not fallen below 50 percent since the holiday break. They are also 10th in the league in both scoring chances for share (51.25 percent) high danger chances for share (52.7 percent) and down to 17th in PDO (1.001), an indicator of a team's luck based on shooting percentage and save percentage. 

While none of the defensive numbers or the shot attempts share jumps off the page, the Penguins were a bottom-10 team in nearly all of those categories at the beginning of the season, when they were still winning hockey games. The fact that those numbers have steadily climbed to the upper-half of the league shows that there is improvement happening, and it's also proof of process.

If the Penguins were riding their special teams or PDO to a playoff spot, it would be a different story. But they're not. The fact that they're in the upper half of the league in some major five-on-five defensive categories as well as in controlling shot attempts shows that, under the hood, this is a playoff-tier team.

Of course, a ton of credit has to go to head coach Dan Muse and the rest of the new coaching staff, as the Penguins have played with a commitment to defense all season long. Their stick detail around their own net and in their own zone as a whole has been much-improved since last season, as has their net-front defense. 

But, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the players. According to data from Hockey Stat Cards, five of the Penguins' eight regular defensemen - including Erik Karlsson (plus-0.3), who has been notorious for his poor defensive play in years past - have positive values as far as defense rating, with Parker Wotherspoon's being the highest at plus-2.4. In addition, the entire Penguins' fourth line has defense ratings of plus-2.2 or higher, as does third-line center Ben Kindel with a plus-0.1 - and these are the forwards most counted on in defensive zone starts and situations for the Penguins. 

As a whole, they're also playing a more responsible brand of hockey. The team still gives away the puck with some frequency when in the attacking zone - and when pinching - but the difference is that they nearly always have coverage and are far more risk-averse in general. When they don't have coverage, their goaltenders have been there to bail them out. 

All in all - on both sides of the puck - this is a pretty fundamentally sound hockey team that has steadily shown improvement in the process, and it's paying off for them. They may not yet be a Stanley Cup contender, but they are getting the most out of a roster a lot of folks expected to be closer to the bottom of the standings than to the playoffs this season. 

And, if they can continue to hone the details and control five-on-five play, they may actually be able to make some noise if they do, indeed, end up in the postseason.

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