'March Of The Penguins' Wasn't Perfect, But It Was More Than Enough To Prove This Team Isn't Going Away

“Well, I suppose we’ll see what they’re made of during that brutal stretch in March.”

Anyone who has been following the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2025-26 season knows that – prior to the trade deadline – the team was exceeding all outside expectations ordained for them before October commenced.

“This team will be tanking for McKenna,” they said over the summer.

“Well, this surely isn’t sustainable,” they said, after the Penguins began the season 8-2-2 in the month of October.

“See, this team was bound to fall apart after that PDO bender,” they said, during an eight-game losing streak in December that saw the Penguins plummet in the standings.

“This team isn’t too bad when it’s actually healthy – which is never,” they said, after a 12-3-3 stretch to start the calendar year of 2026 ahead of the Olympic break.

Then, finally, came March: The month that was supposed to expose this team’s weaknesses and cause an implosion that would likely pull them out of playoff contention. The home stretch that included the NHL’s toughest strength of schedule. The gauntlet that was a near-death sentence for a Pittsburgh team missing its two biggest stars while forced to play 17 games in 31 days.

As it turns out, the ‘March of the Penguins’ wasn’t nearly as doom and gloom as many thought it would be. In fact, it was the exact opposite – and the Penguins actually find themselves in a better spot than they did at the start of their hardest month of the season, as they are now second in the Metropolitan Division and six points clear of the playoff cutoff line – whereas, on Feb. 28, they were only four points clear of the Washington Capitals, the first team out of the playoff picture.

If anything, the month of March showed us who these Penguins are at their core: They’re a team that fights for every inch and every point – and they’re not going away anytime soon.

“We play with everyone,” forward Egor Chinakhov said. “And when we play the right way, and when we play our game, we can win. That’s it.”

Takeaways: Penguins Secure Huge Two Points Against Red Wings In Another Dominant Effort

Takeaways: Penguins Secure Huge Two Points Against Red Wings In Another Dominant Effort The Pittsburgh Penguins continued the momentum gained from Monday’s 8-3 win over the New York Islanders to win yet another standings-crucial matchup – this time, against the Detroit Red Wings

The Penguins ended up finishing March with a 8-6-3 record, and while that doesn’t stand out a ton on paper, there is a lot more to it than just the record itself. Captain Sidney Crosby played in only seven games, while Evgeni Malkin played in just eight. And, on top of that, the Penguins played without both of them for six and a half games (Crosby was pulled early in the second period on Mar. 26 against the Ottawa Senators, a 4-3 shootout win).

And in those games? They went 3-2-2, earning eight of 14 possible points. And that takes an “all-hands-on-deck” effort as well as cohesion and simplicity from line-to-line, pairing-to-pairing.

“I think we just work in tandem really well,” defenseman Ryan Shea said when asked about what makes this team different than previous Penguins’ teams. “The forwards and the ‘D,’ they’re supporting each other, everyone’s getting back. The effort is incredible right now from our forwards. It’s making it easy on our ‘D’ to get gaps, and when that happens and we’re clean on breakouts, we have the skill to play with anyone in this league.

“And you’re seeing it right now. Guys [have been] stepping up when guys are out, but now, we’re kind of getting back to fully healthy. But, yeah, our team – it’s in a good spot, but, obviously, we’ve got a couple games left, and we’ve got to keep going.”

Takeaways: Penguins Stomp Islanders In Dominant Effort For Biggest Win Of The Season The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a dominant, statement victory over the division rival New York Islanders in a game that very well may end up deciding their season.

With Crosby and Malkin back, that sure should make things a bit easier for the Penguins, and they appear to be responding to that. They just won the two most critical games of their entire season so far against the New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings – on back-to-back days, nonetheless – by a combined score of 13-4, with Crosby returning against the Isles and Malkin returning against Detroit.

But this was all after Erik Karlsson’s nine goals and 24 points in the prior 15 March games – earning him the NHL’s Second Star of the Month – carried the team through the toughest stretch of their season before the return of 87 and 71. Then there’s Rickard Rakell, who put up 10 goals and 19 points in 17 March games – largely playing first-line center, a role pretty much completely foreign to him.

And there’s also Anthony Mantha, who sealed the first 30-goal season of his NHL career at age 32 against Detroit and scored nine goals in March. And Bryan Rust, who led the way with eight goals and 20 points in 16 games during the month. Don’t forget about Chinakhov, too, who has been thriving since his arrival in Pittsburgh and had six tallies and 15 points in March.

Noticing a trend? The Penguins have had success all season long, in large part, because of their scoring depth, and although the aforementioned players largely carried the team production-wise through March, they got contributions from everyone in those final two games in March – which tends to happen when your best players return to the lineup and you’re able to distribute talent.

And make no mistake: This is a talented roster on the offensive side of the puck. The Penguins have a league-high 12 players with 10 or more goals and a league-high nine players with 15 or more goals, and it’s possible that they could have three 30-goal scorers as well as seven 20-goal scorers, depending on how things go in these final seven games for certain players.

Offensive talent aside, March had its ruptures for the Penguins, too. They gave up four or more goals in 10 of 17 games and three or more goals in 13 of them. Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs have both been a bit inconsistent lately and have found themselves on the wrong side of .900 for save percentages. Both aspects improved in the final two games of the month, but – of course – if the Penguins plan to make the playoffs and make any sort of noise in them, they will need more consistency on those fronts.

Erik Karlsson Named NHL’s Second Star Of The Month Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was named the NHL’s Second Star of March.

But, ultimately, the Penguins surviving the “brutal stretch” in March and coming out the other end of it better than they came into it is a massive success, and it speaks volumes about the character and belief in that locker room.

“It tells you that we come out big in big moments,” Skinner said after Tuesday’s statement 5-1 win over the Red Wings to close out the month of March. “We’re a resilient group. If things don’t go our way [or] things do go our way, we just kind of stick to our game plan.

“That’s what’s so incredible about this group. The maturity obviously starts with the leadership [and] goes down to every single guy in how we play a simple, strong game. It’s very fun to play in, and it’s very fun to watch.”

So, believe it or not, these Penguins are here to stay – and they’re ready to keep winning and play some meaningful games late into the spring.

“Our confidence is that high,” Shea said. “And when we’re doing that, we’re a dangerous team.”

NHL Rebuild Review: What Kyle Dubas Has Done For The Penguins Is Incredible Kyle Dubas left the Toronto Maple Leafs and took on a complex challenge with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Over the past three years, he’s restocked the prospect pool and succeeded with reclamation projects. Check out this deep dive for more.

Bookmark THN – Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!

Read the full article here