The Penguins’ biggest problem right now isn’t just that they can’t keep the puck out of their own net. It’s that the one area that was supposed to be a strength has turned into a liability.
Special teams are dragging them down.
A year ago, Pittsburgh finished the 2025-26 season in the top seven in both power play and penalty kill success rate. That was a major reason the team could survive its flaws. This season, the numbers have slipped badly: the power play sits 21st, while the penalty kill is down to 16th and trending the wrong way.
Sunday night in Anaheim was the latest example of how costly that has become. Down a goal early in the second period, the Penguins were handed a huge chance to flip the game with a minute-and-a-half of 5-on-3 time, including a four-minute double-minor for high-sticking on the second Anaheim penalty.
Instead of cashing in, they barely created anything. The power play, which has been one of the two worst units in the NHL at generating shots and scoring chances, came away empty.
Then it got worse. Pittsburgh took a penalty immediately after the failed advantage, then gave up a power-play goal that pushed the game to 2-0. From there, it felt over.
It looked a lot like the sequence that helped sink them against Vegas in another regulation loss.
The Penguins did score twice on 6-on-4 chances with the goalie pulled, but that only made the whole thing more frustrating. By then the game was already out of reach, and the power play still needed the extra-man chaos of a pulled goalie just to look functional.
The top unit, in particular, has become hard to watch. It’s stagnant.
It’s predictable. It stops moving the moment a team applies even a little pressure.
That makes it especially aggravating because this was supposed to be a good power play, and it still should be. Instead, it’s a mess.
The penalty kill hasn’t escaped blame, either. That group has been sliding for a couple of weeks and gave up three goals Sunday.
Pittsburgh can still create offense at 5-on-5. That part of the team is not the issue. But when a club can’t defend, can’t kill penalties consistently, and can’t trust its power play, the result is exactly what the Penguins are dealing with now.
The next stop on the schedule is Wednesday night in San Jose, where Pittsburgh finishes its California road trip against Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks. San Jose has talent, but it hasn’t turned into wins yet. The Sharks are 7-11-1, have won only two games in regulation, and rank near the bottom of the league in expected goal share at 5-on-5, sitting 29th at MoneyPuck and 32nd at Natural Stat Trick.
Their depth beyond Celebrini has been rough. When he’s off the ice at 5-on-5, the Sharks have been outscored 28-12 and have barely looked like an NHL team.
They made major offseason moves on defense by adding Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba, but that has not gone well. The one thing keeping them from being even worse is strong goaltending from Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic, who have combined for a plus-7.9 goals saved above expected.
That makes Wednesday look like a game the Penguins should win. It also makes it one they need to win.
After that, Pittsburgh returns home Saturday night to face the Ottawa Senators, and that one is no easy follow-up. Even without Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa has been excellent. The Senators have done much of this without defenseman Jake Sanderson and forward William Eklund, two of their key offseason pieces.
So the week ahead is straightforward: beat San Jose, get four points out of six on the road trip, then try to steal one against Ottawa. That would put the Penguins at the 20-game mark with eight wins, which isn’t ideal but would at least count as some progress.
If they come out of this stretch with only six wins and drop two of three against a soft part of the schedule, it will only add to the sense that this season is sliding toward a high draft pick rather than a playoff push. It may already be headed there. This week could make that even clearer.
In Other News...
Penguins Already Face An Uncomfortable Trade Deadline Reality
Early in the 2026-27 season, the Penguins have already found themselves in an uncomfortable spot as the standings start to sort out across the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh is part of a broader group of teams, along with the Flyers and Maple Leafs, that have stumbled out of the gate, and that has pushed the trade deadline conversation up the calendar. On Daily Faceoff LIVE, analysts began sketching out which clubs could eventually drift into seller territory if the results do not improve.
For the Penguins, the chatter is especially awkward because it comes before the season has even fully settled in. Columbus also came up in the discussion, but Pittsburgh is the one drawing the kind of attention that usually comes with deadline speculation, not October uncertainty. If the early slide continues, the Penguins could find themselves in a familiar but unwanted position, with rival teams watching closely to see which direction the front office chooses to take. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Trade Deadline Tension Now Centers On Their Aging Core
The Penguins trade deadline conversation is starting to sound less like a simple sell-off and more like a delicate negotiation with the roster they already have. Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman reported that the team is weighing whether to move some veteran players in an effort to add youth, a direction that puts the spotlight on an aging core and the reality that not every contract is easy to move.
Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell and Evgeni Malkin are among the names in the mix, and each comes with some form of trade or no-movement protection that could shape what Pittsburgh can actually do. For the Penguins, the next stretch will matter as much as the deadline itself, because their performance and the players willingness to go along with any move may end up deciding how far the front office can push this reset. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Rough Night In Anaheim Brings Immediate Lineup Fallout
A rough night in Anaheim left the Penguins with more than just a lopsided result to sort through. The performance drew plenty of scrutiny on its own, but the immediate fallout also included a roster tweak as the team dealt with another injury concern and turned to its depth for help.
Ville Koivunen is day-to-day, and Pittsburgh responded by recalling Rutger McGroarty on Sunday after he played back-to-back games for Wilkes-Barre and then traveled to Los Angeles. For a team trying to steady itself after an uneven showing, the timing of the move underscores how quickly the Penguins may need to adjust as they look for a better answer in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]