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One critical issue is starting to sabotage the Penguins' playoff bid
Photo credit: Jan 17, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Charlie Coyle (3) celebrates his shoot out goal with defenseman Erik Gudbranson (44) and Brendan Gaunce (16) and left wing Zach Aston-Reese after scoring on Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs (37) in a shoot out at PPG Paints Arena. Columbus won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images
Pittsburgh Penguins shootout losses and Dan Muse now threaten a playoff push.
Dave Molinari put it bluntly, the Eastern race is tight enough that somebody will miss by a point or two, and Pittsburgh's shootout record is flirting with disaster.
The numbers are ugly.
The Penguins are 1-7 in shootouts, with just one shootout win and seven shootout losses on the season.
That's not just a trivia stat, it's seven «extra points» left on the table.
In a league where wild-card spots routinely come down to tiebreakers, that's the kind of leak that quietly sinks you.
The standings show why this keeps coming up.
Pittsburgh is 22-14-11 for 55 points, wedged into the Metropolitan Division pack right behind the New York Islanders at 57.
And the shootout pain keeps repeating itself.
StatMuse logs the most recent one as Saturday's 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, another night where the Penguins played long enough to earn something, then couldn't close.
This is where I circle back to coaching, not because a coach takes the shots, but because the team's late-game habits are the real separator.
If you keep settling for overtime instead of finishing in regulation, you're basically volunteering for your weakest event.
Pittsburgh Penguins can't keep living in shootouts
As a fan, it's maddening because you can feel the point slipping away the shootout begins.
Shootouts are part skill, part routine, and part confidence, and Pittsburgh looks like a team searching for all three at once.
Even when the entries are clean, the attempts too often feel like hope instead of a plan.
The frustrating thing is the roster has enough talent to be better than this.
Sidney Crosby still drives play, Evgeni Malkin still scares defenders, and yet the skills competition has turned into a yearly trap door.
If the Penguins want to keep their playoff bid intact, the milestone is simple.
Start turning these games into regulation wins, because relying on shootouts has already cost them too much.
Also read on HockeyUnplugged :
Arturs Silovs breaks his silence after yet another Penguins shootout loss
Arturs Silovs breaks his silence after yet another Penguins shootout loss
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 18|111 ANSWERS One critical issue is starting to sabotage the Penguins' playoff bid Will the Pittsburgh Penguins' 1-7 shootout record cost them a playoff spot? | ||
| Yes it will | 39 | 35.1 % |
| No chance | 7 | 6.3 % |
| Depends standings | 48 | 43.2 % |
| Fix it soon | 17 | 15.3 % |
| List of polls | ||