Searching for the turning point in Penguins' topsy-turvy season

During the depths of the team’s early season despair, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist had one firm belief he never wavered from.

“One shift’s going to turn the season around for us,” he said Nov. 16 while the Penguins were in the midst of losing nine of 10 games.

Less than two months later, the Penguins have officially put their season back on the tracks. Heading into a Sunday night matchup with Chicago, they’ve won eight in a row and are tied with Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead.

One question remains, however: When was that shift that turned things around?

“I don’t know exactly which game it was,” Hornqvist said after practice Saturday.

Let’s offer Hornqvist some suggestions.

Nov. 21, Penguins 5, Dallas 1

Before: 7-8-4. After: 16-4-2.

After blowing a 4-1 lead and losing 5-4 in overtime to Buffalo two days prior, the Penguins get Sidney Crosby back from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. He has a goal and two assists in a decisive Penguins win.

Hornqvist likes this option.

“He took over the game,” Hornqvist said. “Since Sid’s been (back), he’s been our best player, probably the best player in the league. That’s what happens sometimes when you get injured. You get away from the game a little bit. You miss it and you want to go out there and work hard for the guys next to you and turn this around. Since Sid’s been back, I think we’ve been a better team. I think that was probably the moment.”

Dec. 4: Penguins 6, Colorado 3

Before: 10-10-5. After: 13-2-1.

Two days after suffering an infuriating 4-2 loss to a struggling Flyers team, the Penguins trade Daniel Sprong for Marcus Pettersson. One day after that, they rally for a 6-3 win over a good Avalanche team when Hornqvist scores three times in 2 minutes, 47 seconds in the third period.

Hornqvist couldn’t in good conscience come out and declare his own natural hat trick to be the turning point of the season, but it’s not a moment his teammates will soon forget.

“That was such a swing in momentum,” Crosby said. “To string together three goals like that, we weren’t necessarily great at home going into that game too. That’s a big boost. Late in the game like that when you’re able to turn things around pretty quickly, you can build off of that.”

Dec. 19: Penguins 2, Washington 1

Before: 15-12-6. After: 8-0-0.

The Penguins are coming off a home loss to Anaheim when Pascal Dupuis says on Quebec television that coach Mike Sullivan’s message isn’t getting through to star players Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. Tom Wilson drops Jamie Oleksiak in a first-period fight. With emotions running high, the Penguins respond with a gritty 2-1 win.

They’ve allowed a total of nine goals in eight games since.

“All of those games, they keep stacking on top of each other,” defenseman Olli Maatta said. “It’s building up confidence, and that’s a huge part of it.”

In general, Penguins players don’t seem to think there was one moment that turned the season around. They consider it more of a gradual improvement.

Defenseman Jack Johnson, for instance, said he thinks Hornqvist talking about how one play would change everything was a bit of a public relations ploy.

“He doesn’t need to calm us down. Usually it’s the media that needs to be calmed down,” Johnson said. “It’s an experienced group of guys that kept their heads about them and didn’t let negative energy set in.”

Hornqvist, though, is sticking to his guns. All it took was one moment to provide the spark, he said, even if he’s not sure exactly which moment it was.

“Sometimes you just need one shift, one hit, one goal,” he said, “and then the season turns around in a hurry.”

Follow the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.