The Penguins’ leap from 80 points to 98 points wasn’t built everywhere at once. It started with the games that matter most: the ones inside the division.
After finishing 2024-25 in seventh place in the division and 13th in the Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh climbed to second in the division and seventh in the conference one year later. The biggest swing came against Metropolitan Division opponents, where the Penguins went from 9-13-4 to 13-4-9.
That’s a dramatic shift in the standings math, especially because so many of those games were pushed beyond regulation. Two of the regulation losses came late against the Capitals after Pittsburgh had already clinched a playoff berth and was icing less-than-competitive lineups.
That division work tells the whole story. Pittsburgh’s point pace against Metro teams jumped from 69 over the full season in 2024-25 to 110 in 2025-26.
Win the division games, and the playoff picture changes fast. Miss on them, and you’re staring at the draft lottery.
The Penguins also improved against the Western Conference. Their record moved from 15-15-2 to 15-9-8, and even though the win total stayed the same, the extra points piled up because they kept dragging games to overtime instead of taking regulation losses. That shift took their point pace from 82 to 97, a reminder that the “loser point” can swing a season just as much as another win.
Against the Atlantic Division, Pittsburgh was solid but not dominant at 12-11-1. Toronto gave them fits all year, even though the Maple Leafs had a rough season otherwise.
Florida, on the other hand, didn’t get the better of the Penguins; Pittsburgh went 3-0-0 against the Panthers. The Penguins also went 3-0-0 against Detroit, while Montreal flipped the script from the previous season, with Pittsburgh going 1-2-0 after sweeping the Canadiens in 2024-25.
Ottawa and Boston continued to be troublesome matchups.
The games against Carolina and Vegas showed both the ceiling and the frustration. Pittsburgh finished 2-2-2 against the two Stanley Cup Final teams, with four losses in six meetings.
But the wins were eye-catching: a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes on December 30th and a 5-0 win over Vegas on March 1st. The regulation losses, 5-1 to Carolina and 6-2 to Vegas, both in March, were rougher.
The two overtime losses to Carolina were tight, back-and-forth games in which Pittsburgh fought back from third-period deficits just to grab a point.
Looking ahead, the division remains the key. The NHL is adding two more games, and both will be against division opponents, leaving one-third of the 84-game schedule - 28 games - against rivals. Pittsburgh’s 2025-26 season made the point plain: handle the Metro, and the postseason path opens up.
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Penguins Rebuild Timeline Suddenly Feels Like A Bigger Dubas Test
Kyle Dubas has spent much of Pittsburghs rebuild trying to manage two timelines at once, keeping the veteran core competitive while also trying to build a younger group that can eventually carry the Penguins forward. The problem is that the middle ground is thin. The organization has prospects and recent draft picks on the way, but not nearly enough players who are already in that crucial stage where they should be pushing for NHL jobs and proving they can stick.
That gap puts even more pressure on the next wave of young Penguins to show real progress soon, especially the players who are supposed to move from promising to dependable over the next couple of seasons. It also makes the coming drafts and development decisions feel more important than usual, because Dubas is not just looking for talent. He is trying to find the right timing, and Pittsburgh still has to answer how many of these young pieces can actually arrive before the rebuild starts to lose patience. [Read more 🡒]