When it comes to their results, the past week had to be a little frustrating for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
They carried the play for large portions of the week, and against some really good teams, but still only managed to come away with three out of a possible eight points in the standings. Given the way they played at times it all seemed like a missed opportunity. Maybe even a little underwhelming.
They played 40 perfect minutes against the Toronto Maple Leafs, only to turn a 3-0 third period lead
into a 4-3 regulation loss.
They played a great 30 minutes against the Washington Capitals and let another 3-0 lead slip away, only to rebound with a strong third period to get the win.
They played a really solid 60 minutes against the New Jersey Devils, but could not beat Jake Allen and ended up losing their third shootout in as many tries.
They had another strong 40 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday before running out of steam on the second half of a back-to-back in the third period, turning a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 loss.
From a process perspective, there was a lot to like. Especially given some of the injuries at forward and how much they still carried play at times. Arturs Silovs was strong in goal outside of the shootout. Sergei Murashov had a strong debut on Sunday. They did a lot of things well, but putting together a full 60 minutes was not one of them.
Now the Penguins have a few days off as they travel to Sweden to play two games against the Nashville Predators on Friday and Sunday.
The Predators are not a particularly good team. They enter the week having lost four games in a row and eight of their past nine, have one of the worst records in the league and are coming off a 2024-25 season where they were also one of the worst teams in the league and easily one of the most disappointing following an offseason spending spree. They play one game on Monday against the New York Rangers before traveling to Sweden to play the Penguins.
As a team, the Predators do not do anything especially well.
They are 30th out of 32 teams in points percentage, 30th in goals per game, 29th in goals against per game, 27th on the power play, 11th on the penalty kill, 16th in expected goal share during 5-on-5 play, 25th in 5-on-5 save percentage and 26th in all-situations save percentage.
Again, it is just not a very good team. Barry Trotz is an excellent NHL head coach, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a general manager and does not really seem to have a set plan or direction for where the franchise should be going.
All of this should be an opportunity for the Penguins to get a few points and make up for their missed opportunities this past week. It is expecting a lot to expect any NHL team to beat another NHL team in consecutive games, but they really need to take advantage of this chance to stack some points in the standings.
For the most part, the Penguins have done that this season.
These next few weeks are also a good opportunity for that beyond the two games against Nashville.
After the two games in Sweden, the Penguins return home for a three-game home stand against the Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken and Buffalo Sabres.
That is five winnable games over the next 16 days, with a lot of days off built in. Those days off could be good for an injured team that has looked tired at times over the past couple of games, and especially on Sunday.
The Penguins are still in an okay position in the standings, but after missing some chances to get more points this week they really need to take advantage of the schedule over this next stretch of games if they intend to stay in the Stanley Cup Playoff race this season.
