The Penguins’ path in 2026-27 may be decided by the same place a lot of seasons quietly are: the minutes when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not on the ice.
That’s where the most revealing numbers live. In 2025-26, Pittsburgh outscored its opponents at 5v5 with both Crosby and Malkin off the ice for the first time since 2021-22. And that season also happened to be the first time the Penguins made the playoffs since 2022.
A split of the team’s 5v5 net goals, broken down by Crosby on the ice, Malkin on the ice, both together and neither out there, helps show why that matters. It also gives a clearer view of how the third and fourth lines are holding up, since Crosby and Malkin have typically spent most of their careers driving separate lines.
Over the last four seasons, Crosby has averaged a +6.25 goal differential per year, while Malkin has averaged +4.25. There’s been the odd outlier - 2024-25 was the rough one - but the broad picture is unchanged. Those two usually do what they’re supposed to do: push the game in Pittsburgh’s direction at even strength, then turn the pressure up even more once the power play gets involved.
But hockey doesn’t stop with the stars. The support groups have to carry weight too, and often they’re doing it with tougher defensive assignments and more starts in their own zone.
The pattern in Pittsburgh is hard to ignore: in the three seasons when the bottom-six outscored opponents - 2021, 2022 and 2026 - the Penguins made the playoffs. In the three years they were outscored without 87 or 71 on the ice - 2023 through 2025 - they missed the postseason every time.
That makes the role players more important than ever, especially with Crosby now 39 and Malkin having just turned 40. The details may be different now - Malkin may not even be a center, and he may not be the main focal point of his line anymore - but the message hasn’t changed. Pittsburgh can’t afford to get buried when the depth forwards are on the ice.
The jump last season came from a mix of clutch performances. The Penguins went from a brutal -18.3 goals without Crosby and Malkin to a plus-3.
That number may not sound huge on its own, but given the starting point, it was a meaningful swing. It also mattered because those lines are often asked to prevent damage more than pile up offense.
The goals-against rate per 60 dropped from 2.67 in 2024-25 to 2.55 in 2025-26.
Pittsburgh’s fourth line kept turning over because of injuries, but it was effective all year with Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari, Connor Dewar and Elmer Soderblom rotating through it. The other non-87/71 group often featured Ben Kindel, Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau and Tommy Novak, and all of them delivered career-best quality seasons, with Novak falling just three points short of that standard.
Now the spotlight shifts again. Acciari has to be replaced, though that shouldn’t be a major obstacle given his uneven seasons and limited skill.
The bigger loss is Mantha’s 33 goals, and the Penguins will be hoping newcomers Andrey Kuzmenko and Nick Robertson can bring enough finishing touch and skill to soften that blow. Kindel is another name to watch, with the chance to take a step forward in his second season if he isn’t centering Malkin.
If someone wanted to know how 2026-27 went without looking at the standings, those 5v5 splits would probably tell the story. The recent numbers all point the same way: for the Penguins to get where they want to go, every line has to pull its weight.
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