The Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night, after Flyers defenseman Cam York scored Game 6’s only goal 17:32 into the first overtime.
The Penguins’ elimination continued a woeful trend for the organization. Pittsburgh has not won a playoff series since 2018 when they were bounced out of the postseason by the Washington Capitals.
After years of losing to the Penguins in the postseason, Evgeny Kuznetsov exorcised the Capitals’ demons and sent them to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin Era with an overtime-winner in Game 6. Kuznetsov poked the puck away from Sidney Crosby before taking a pass from Ovechkin and scoring on Penguins goaltender Matt Murray.
TJ Oshie also won a fight against Kris Letang earlier in the series, which also seems relevant to mention as well (h/t @Kravitz76).
Since then, the Penguins have not won a playoff series in the last eight seasons and have not qualified for the postseason in four of those years.
Penguins: No playoff series wins since Caps’ loss
| Season | 1st Round | 2nd Round | EC Final | SC Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | Won 4-2 (PHI) | Lost 4-2 (WSH) | X | X |
| 2018-19 | Lost 4-0 (NYI) | X | X | X |
| 2019-20* | X | X | X | X |
| 2020-21 | Lost 4-2 (NYI) | X | X | X |
| 2021-22 | Lost 4-3 (NYR) | X | X | X |
| 2022-23 | X | X | X | X |
| 2023-24 | X | X | X | X |
| 2024-25 | X | X | X | X |
| 2025-26 | Lost 4-2 (PHI) | X | X | X |
* In 2019-20, the Penguins lost in the qualifying round of the NHL’s Bubble Playoffs, 3-1, to the Montreal Canadiens.
In general, the city of Pittsburgh, as a sports town, has suffered in recent history.
The last time a major Pittsburgh sports team advanced in the playoffs, aside from the Penguins, was during the NFL’s 2016 postseason, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Wild Card and AFC Divisional games. The Pittsburgh Pirates have not advanced in the postseason since the 2013 NL Wild Card Game, when they defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-2.
According to @JRown32, Pittsburgh has gone over 3,000 days without a major professional sports team advancing in the postseason.
What a shame.
