It needed to finish someday, and it lastly did on April 12, 2023. After a outstanding run of 16 consecutive postseason appearances, the Pittsburgh Penguins had been eradicated from the postseason after the New York Islanders clinched the Eastern Conference’s remaining playoff seed by advantage of their 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins’ streak was the longest of the 4 main North American males’s sports activities leagues.
Pittsburgh managed its playoff destiny as lately as this previous Saturday following a 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. But a 5-2 loss to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night time put the Penguins again on the surface of the playoff image. Now, after they face the Blue Jackets Thursday night time in Columbus, it’ll mark the earliest ending to a Penguins season since 2005-06, Sidney Crosby’s first season within the NHL.
Subpar goaltending and questionable strikes by the entrance workplace had been the 2 primary contributors to the tip of the Penguins’ streak. The group’s new possession group, Fenway Sports Group, has come beneath criticism following the latest strikes of basic supervisor Ron Hextall. The possession group has additionally, oddly, distanced itself from Mario Lemieux, a former Penguins co-owner and the best participant in franchise historical past.
The Penguins’ demise can’t be blamed on the group’s growing older but nonetheless efficient core of Crosby (35 years outdated), Evgeni Malkin (36) and Kris Letang (35). Crosby’s 91 factors this season represents his highest whole since 2019. Malkin, who signed an extension with the membership final offseason, has scored 83 factors this season, his highest whole since 2018. When each gamers take the ice in Columbus, they may have performed in every of Pittsburgh’s 82 video games this season.
Letang, who like Malkin signed an extension final offseason, was recognized with a stroke (the second of his profession) again in November. Despite his analysis and a private tragedy, Letang was nonetheless the group’s prime defensemen whereas enjoying in 63 video games.
The trio has an enduring influence on Pittsburgh and the NHL. The three, who’ve shared the longest partnership of any trio in NHL historical past, every performed key roles on the Penguins’ 2009, 2016 and 2017 championship groups. Letang is thought to be among the best defensemen of his period. Malkin, a former Smythe and Hart Trophy winner, is destined for the Hall of Fame. Crosby, a two-time Hart and Smythe Hart Trophy recipient, is on the Mount Rushmore of hockey legends, together with Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr.
The begin of the Penguin’s historic playoff streak ended with a fast first-round playoff loss to the extra seasoned Ottawa Senators. The following season, the Penguins shocked many by advancing to the Stanley Cup Final, the place they fell to the immensely gifted Detroit Red Wings in six video games. Pittsburgh evened the rating the next 12 months by beating the Red Wings in Detroit in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Pittsburgh then didn’t reside as much as expectations for the subsequent half-dozen years. Crosby suffered career-threatening concussions throughout that span, and it appeared that the Penguins’ as soon as buddying dynasty would finish with only one cup. But the Penguins, buoyed by new coach Mike Sullivan and a gifted younger supporting solid, introduced life again into the franchise whereas guaranteeing a greater legacy for Pittsburgh’s “Big Three.”
The 2016-17 Penguins grew to become the primary group because the 1997-98 Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons. In the method, Malkin and Crosby surpassed the Penguins’ different legendary duo of Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr’s tally of two Stanley Cup wins that had been gained in 1991-92. The Penguins’ 5 Stanley Cup wins since 1991 are greater than some other franchise over that span.
Another key member of the Penguins’ most up-to-date championship groups was goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who principally stood on his head whereas making saves in the course of the remaining two video games of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final. Fleury’s departure in 2018 through the enlargement draft was in some ways the start of the tip for the Penguins, who’ve only one playoff sequence win to their credit score since successful the franchise’s fifth cup.
In a twist of irony, the Islanders ending the Penguins’ playoff run is becoming. Three many years in the past, the Islanders ended the Penguins’ quest for a three-peat within the convention semi-finals. Now, 30 years later, the identical franchise has mercifully ended one of many best runs in fashionable sports activities historical past.
