Like most of you, I’m sure, it was hard for me at times this season to be overly optimistic about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2020-21 season. The combination of injuries, below-average goals, shallow defensive play and the lack of results on the ice made it look like we were at the beginning of a very challenging season, where even reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs would be a struggle. The team not only played poorly at times, it was also boring. During the first quarter of the season, there were few good points to take away from anything.
It’s amazing how quickly all of this can change, because we’re sitting today, things are starting to look very interesting. Furthermore, I would go so far as to say that there are many reasons for optimism.
After the Penguins’ 3-2 win in overtime against Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, they are back in the top four of the Eastern Division (by total points and percentage points) and are only one point behind the Capitals for the second place. They are also just three points from Boston for first place. When you think about how the team looked at different times this season, this is absolutely impressive.
They clearly did not play their best hockey in the first 10 games.
The goal and defense were different (and at the same time) atrocious.
The scoring depth was intermittent.
They dealt with some significant injuries.
Getting an advantage seemed impossible at times and they spent most of the season losing on the scoreboard, rarely winning games in regulation.
They also played what is probably the most difficult part of their schedule while all of this was going on.
For all these reasons, they stayed in the playoff race and are now sitting in a very good position while they still have all their games against the Buffalo Sabers and New Jersey Devils (probably the two weakest teams in the division) ahead of them.
Now, all of a sudden, they have won five of the last six games, maintained some advantages, won a few games in regulation and are receiving significant contributions from players from whom they need to receive contributions.
Tristan Jarry has a save percentage of 0.932 on this stretch. There are six different players who have at least five points in those games, including Evgeni Malkin (very significant) and Kris Letang (even more significant). John Marino and Mike Matheson were much better, with flashes of brilliance from the latter. The buzzsaw line has been, well, buzzing since the return of Zach Aston-Reese, with the pair Blueger-Aston-Reese beating the teams by a 5-0 margin in the 5-to-5 game (with possession numbers of ball) in the past six games.
All of this together helped them not only to score many points, but also to gain some significant ground in the standings by defeating the capitals and islanders in the direct confrontation, with three of those victories actually taking place in the regulations.
Jason Zucker’s injury on Tuesday night is potentially significant, and this will create a major absence among the top six that will need to be addressed in some way. But there is also good news on that front, with Brian Dumoulin and Jared McCann approaching his return.
There are still many unknowns and wildcards that will determine what the Penguins are capable of doing this season, but for the first time this year I am really optimistic that this team is not entirely finished as a competitor or a team that is able to go in a race deep in the playoffs. They still need Jarry to play at a reasonably high level and the defense to stay solid, but as that unit gets healthier and players like Matheson and Cody Ceci continue to get more comfortable and Letang and Marino discover that their game is too reason to be optimistic about this.
It is not a perfect team at all. Some flaws still exist. But outside of Boston, which team in this division has no flaws? Even Boston is not invincible on the ice and has its fair share of question marks (the defense is not good, and the depth of the score is again a problem). At the moment, the Penguins are starting to distance themselves from the Rangers, Devils and Sabers and are finding themselves in a five-team race for the four playoff spots in the division. For the first time this season, I’m really starting to like their chances of catching one of these spots.