If you've been paying any semblance of attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, you've probably heard a thing or two about shootouts.
And, yes, they are a legitimate issue for Pittsburgh this season.
The Penguins are 0-5 in shootouts in 2025-26, but the issues extend beyond this season. Dating back to 2024-25, they have lost nine consecutive shootouts, and that's not accounting for the fact that they have scored on just three of their last 20 attempts. The latest came in back-to-back games against the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks, where the Penguins mostly controlled play and allowed late goals to extend the games past regulation.
In the grand scheme of things, they could have five more points had they just won the shootouts. Even about half those points would be precious, as they would own a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division and be more solidly in playoff position with games in hand on most teams.
That's not the case, yet the Penguins still find themselves in playoff position in the middle of December, which is something that not many expected to happen. They currently sit in the East's first wild card spot with 35 points, and - again - have games in hand on almost every team. In fact, they are tied for the least amount of games played in the league along with the Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators at 28.
Just beyond the third-of-the-season marker, the Penguins are doing pretty well for themselves. Sure, if they miss the playoffs by one or two points this season, many will point to these dreaded shootout losses as a reason they didn't make the playoffs.
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For 59 minutes and 58 seconds on Tuesday, it looked like a <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' resounding victory over the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/anaheim-ducks/">Anaheim Ducks</a> was a given.
And this is where a deeper discussion needs to be had. Because it's not really the shootouts that are the biggest of the Penguins' concerns, especially since the points system in the NHL still quite favors teams that pile up the "loser" points.
It's what they're doing in regulation to get games to the shootout - or, sometimes, not even to the extra frame - in the first place.
By the end of October - in which they got off to a roaring 8-2-2 start - the Penguins had not yet surrendered a third-period lead all season long, and they had only surrendered two leads, period. By the end of November and the first part of December?
Well, let's just say things haven't looked so great:
- Nov. 3: Surrendered a 3-0 third-period lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs, lost, 4-3
- Nov. 6: Surrendered a 3-0 second-period lead to the Washington Capitals, won, 5-3
- Nov. 9: Surrendered a 2-1 third-period lead to the Los Angeles Kings, lost, 3-2
- Nov. 14: Surrendered a 1-0 third-period lead to the Nashville Predators, lost in OT, 2-1
- Nov. 22: Surrendered a 2-1 third-period lead to the Seattle Kraken, lost in OT, 3-2
- Dec. 4: Surrendered a 3-0 second-period lead to the Tampa Bay Lightning, won, 4-3
- Dec. 7: Surrendered a 2-1 third-period lead to the Dallas Stars, lost in SO, 3-2
- Dec. 9: Surrendered a 3-2 third-period lead to the Anaheim, Ducks, lost in SO, 4-3
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If you're doing the math, that's eight out of the 16 games in November and December where the Penguins have blown a lead. Out of those eight games, three have been three-goal leads, seven of them have happened in the third period, five of them have happened with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, and three have happened with less than two minutes to go.
For whatever reason, the Penguins abandoned what was working for them in the early part of the season in terms of their approach to holding late leads. Early on, they didn't take their foot off the gas whenever they held a lead. Instead, they kept pressuring in terms of possession and forechecking, but they simultaneously limited the risk in their game. And, above, all, they were moving their feet.
So what is behind this? Are the Penguins simply running on fumes late in games during a busy stretch of schedule? Are the plethora of injuries finally catching up to them? Are they simply not as well-structured as they appeared to be in October?
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There are no easy answers. Momentum is a very real thing in hockey, and teams ride the highs and lows of it. The best teams are able to snap out of bad momentum swings and stretches and turn it right back around.
But the Penguins - as of late - seem to keep making the same mistakes over and over. At some point, they need to find it within themselves to course-correct before it's too late.
Because, yes, they're still in a playoff position. And, yes, they're still playing some really good hockey against some of the league's best teams. But bad habits and negative patterns are going to catch up to them sooner rather than later if they can't find a away to lock down tight games.
October showed they are capable. This tough stretch of games in December will really show us what the Penguins are made of by the way they respond.
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