Tim Benz: Penguins' season-long inability to finish may have just finished the season — and the playoff streak

Before Tuesday night’s regular season home finale, the Pittsburgh Penguins gave away floppy bucket hats to the fans.

Perfect for the beach.

Hopefully the Penguins promotional staff saved some of those for the players because it looks like some early vacations are on the way.

After suffering an utterly inexcusable 5-2 loss to the hideous Chicago Blackhawks, the Penguins have put themselves on the brink of missing the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2006.

The Pens are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 90 points. If the Islanders win, or even get an overtime- or shootout-loser point against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, the Penguins will be eliminated from postseason competition regardless of their game’s outcome because the Islanders hold the tiebreaker advantage via regulation wins, 35-31.

The Penguins loss coupled with a loss by the Buffalo Sabres clinched one of the wild-card spots for the idle Florida Panthers. So it’s down to the Pens and Isles for the other one. Entering the game, all the Penguins needed to do to earn that spot was beat the Blackhawks at home and the equally terrible Columbus Blue Jackets on the road Thursday.

Both teams entered play Tuesday with 56 points, the lowest total in the league. The Blue Jackets haven’t had a win in regulation since Feb. 28. The Blackhawks had lost 11 of 12.

Both teams appeared to be trying to outdo one another on a loss-for-loss basis to get themselves into the best possible draft position in hopes of winning the sweepstakes to select uber prospect Connor Bedard.

That’s until the Blackhawks skated into PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night, of course. They ended up winning while the Blue Jackets fell 4-3 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers.

More sports

• Penguins' playoff hopes dim following ugly loss to Blackhawks
• Ji Hwan Bae hits 3-run home run in bottom of 9th to lift Pirates to walk-off win over Astros
• Cornerback Marquis Williams accepts challenge of maintaining Pitt defense's high standards

After the defeat, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan insisted the Penguins didn’t lose because of a lack of focus against such a bad opponent.

“We have been in this mindset for a while now. We have been in the playoffs here for three or four weeks, trying to solidify a playoff spot,” Sullivan said.

Indeed. It did feel like a playoff game at PPG Paints Arena. At least most of the ones we’ve seen since 2018 anyway.

That was the last year the Pens actually won a playoff round. Tuesday night’s contest pretty much followed the same script as most of the Pens defeats in the first round since then.

The goalie in the other net was better, and the Penguins star scorers didn’t cash in enough chances.

The Pens outshot Chicago 40-27. They also had 26 additional attempts blocked by the Blackhawks and drew five power plays. But Chicago goalie Petr Mrázek still made 38 saves. Tristan Jarry only managed 25 for the Pens.

“Some of (the pucks) that were laying around the net that we didn’t find a way to put in, it’s hard to explain those ones. Most times those go in, and they didn’t,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said after the loss.

That’s a tune the Penguins have sung far too often this year. The whole “we just ran into a hot goalie, the puck just didn’t go in” routine grew tiresome in 2023. As of the end of their game Tuesday, the Penguins ranked fifth in the NHL with 34.3 shots on goal per game. Yet they are 16th in goals scored per game at 32.0. Their team shooting percentage of 9.4% is 25th in the NHL.

That’s not good enough for a team that’s alleged to be as talented offensively as the Penguins are.

“It’s on all of us,” winger Jake Guentzel said. “We have to bear down when we get our chances. Goalies stop the pucks, but a lot of it is on us. It’s our job. We get paid to (score). We have to work on that.”

But let’s not get bogged down by numbers. Forget the stats. What matters here is that the Penguins were given a gift by the Islanders on Monday night when New York lost a similar type of game to a non-playoff team in the Washington Capitals. That defeat ceded control of the last playoff spot to the Penguins.

The Islanders served up the wild card to the Penguins on a silver platter, and the Penguins dropped it. Against an awful team. On fan appreciation night no less.

The fans showed their appreciation by booing the Penguins off the ice. And rightfully so.

Now odds are they won’t have a chance to cheer for them again until next October.

On the latest podcast, Tim Benz and Blue Jackets play-by-play man Bob McElligott discuss the odd circumstances surrounding Thursday’s season finale between the Penguins and Blue Jackets.

Listen: Tim Benz and Bob McElligott talk Penguins’ season finale