Penguins This ‘n’ ‘At

A quickie mish-mash as our Penguins are set to begin the western portion of their road trip.

Following this evening’s game with the Kings, the Pens visit the Ducks on Thursday night before departing SoCal to take on the Kraken in Seattle on Saturday. Then we jet to the Bay Area for a contest with the Sharks a week from tonight before wrapping up the road trip against Utah next Wednesday.

If we’re able to garner even six points out of a possible 10, I think I’ll be a successful trip.

Can I Get Mulligan?

While the Pens have been stuck in reverse in 2025 (2-4-3, 7 points), most of our competition for a wild card spot have been heating up, with games in hand to boot.

Here are the records of our chief competitors in the New Year. The Senators and Blue Jackets currently hold the wild-card spots.

Team	Record Since 1/1	Lead Over Pens	Games in Hand
OTT	5-3-2, 12 pts	6 pts	2
CBJ	6-2-0, 12 pts	5 pts	2
MTL	6-2-1, 13 pts	4 pts	2
BOS	2-4-2, 6 pts	4 pts	1
NYR	6-1-3, 15 pts	2 pts	2
PHI	4-3-2, 10 pts	2 pts	1
DET	6-3-0, 12 pts	—	2

 

Talk about a hard, cold dose of reality! Needless to say, barring an abrupt and unlikely turnaround, our chances of qualifying for the postseason aren’t looking too hot.

Chicken or the Egg?

In evaluating a goalie’s results, it can be difficult to parse where a netminder’s individual performance begins and the defense being played in front of him ends.

According to an article by Jonathan Bombulie on the Tribune Review, Moneypuck.com has done just that. They’ve analyzed the shots faced by each of our goalies and estimated how many goals the average NHL netminder would’ve given up versus how many were actually allowed.

In Tristan Jarry’s case, the average goalie would’ve yielded 59 goals. Jarry allowed 69.

Alex Nedeljkovic is underwater as well, allowing 65 goals compared to 60 by an average goalie.

Our only netminder with his head above the waves? Rookie Joel Blomqvist, who’s allowed 28 goals versus 31 expected.

For the full monte, I encourage you to read Jonathan’s excellent article.