The Pittsburgh Penguins have reached the five-game mark of the 2025-26 regular season over the last week, having had their west-coast road trip. Many expected the team to struggle and be a middle-of-the-road to bottom-of-the-road team this season, but they have looked solid to start the season. They currently sit at a 4-2-0 record and have had a handful of contributing factors in their success. On the flip side, there have been a few things that have shown through that could be cause for concern as the season progresses.
1 Up: Goaltending Holding Up Early On
Heading into the season, two areas of concern for the Penguins were their team defense and goaltending. There was no cut-and-dry answer at the goaltender position after Tristan Jarry had an up-and-down season last season, and the acquisition of Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks added more questions than answers at the time. But with the injury to Joel Blomqvist early on in the preseason, it became clear that Jarry and Silovs would be the two goaltenders to at least start the season.
Outside of one or two games, both net minders have held their own and looked solid. Both hold a 2-1-0 record, with Silovs recording a shutout in his Penguins debut on Oct. 5 against the New York Rangers, and with both having a save percentage over .900, the play from the crease has been a welcome surprise in the first handful of games. Is it sustainable for a full 82-game season? Time will only tell, but so far, the position has been solid enough to help the Penguins stay in games and hold down a lead when called upon.
1 Down: Penalty Kill Struggling
The Penguins’ penalty kill last season struggled to crack the top half of the NHL ranks, sitting at 18th with a 77.8% rate, and the hope was that the unit could improve this season. But that has not necessarily been the case, as they have again struggled out of the gates, sitting 16th-best (78.9). They have only allowed four power play goals against this season, but will still need to tighten things up when they are shorthanded.
2 Up: Making the Most Out of Limited Shots
As of today (Oct. 20), the Penguins have only averaged 26 shots a game, but have been able to take advantage of the chances they have been getting. They have averaged three goals a game and have seen the wealth being spread across the board. Whether it has been the play of free agent signee Justin Brazeau (team-leading four goals) or younger players like Benjamin Kindel and Harrison Brunicke getting in on the action, the Penguins have been able to capitalize when they get into a position to score. If they can up the numbers in the shot department as the season progresses, the offensive output should continue to follow suit.
2 Down: Veterans Having Off Nights
As expected with an aging group of players, there are going to be off nights occasionally. This has happened to a couple of the Penguins’ longest tenured players, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang. While it may not be much of a concern for Crosby to have a night off, seeing that he will certainly bounce back with a strong performance on any given night, the play that Letang has displayed at times is a cause for concern. He has not looked great defensively for a few games and is going to be a player who is going to need to step his game up to help keep the Penguins on track and rolling if they want to have sustained success the rest of the season.
3 Up: The Kids Are Alright
Heading into the season, the belief was that general manager (GM) Kyle Dubas and new head coach Dan Muse would infuse a bit of youth into the lineup. Not many believed that one of the organization’s first-round picks from the 2025 Draft would be amongst that, but Kindel changed that with his play throughout camp and preseason. He is just one of a few young players that the Penguins have in the lineup who have made an impact on a nightly basis. Along with him are the aforementioned Silovs, Filip Hallander, and defenseman Harrison Brunicke. Ville Koivunen did make the roster for opening night, but was sent down when Bryan Rust was activated, and partially due to Koivunen’s play not being where it really should be.
Kindel has been a mainstay outside of one game (as with Brunicke) and has looked strong in his third-line role through the first six games. He is getting closer to his nine-game “trial” with the Penguins and is going to make it hard on management to send him back to the junior ranks, where he would be back with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. He has done everything the right way at the NHL level and is a spark plug in the middle of the Penguins’ lineup. With both Brunicke and Silovs, there were hopes that they could make an impact while being dressed, and they have done just that. Brunicke looks fundamentally sound at both ends of the ice and has brought some stability to the backend of the ice.
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For Silovs, who is a bit on the older end of the young players on the roster, the biggest question was whether he could carry the momentum he had from a Calder Cup run in the American Hockey League last season into this season. Outside of a few goals that he would probably like back, he has done just that and has helped solidify the goaltending position so far.
3 Down: Power Play Not Up and Going Quite Yet
As the penalty kill has not been running full-go yet this season, the power play is more of the same. It is not that the Penguins have been awful on the man-advantage, having a 21.4% success rate, but they have not gotten enough chances on the power play to this point. They have only had 14 chances (25th in the league) while on the man advantage. Being able to draw more penalties and get themselves in a better position to let players like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson go to work while a man-up will further help the offensive numbers go up.
Plenty of Positives So Far
With a 4-2 record to start the regular season, there is not a whole lot to complain about as a Penguins fan. But shoring up a few things that are holding them back as the season progresses could help lead them to being one of the league’s surprise teams and having an outside chance of getting back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where anything can happen.
