Everyone thought they were toast, but they are still the bread. Three straight years of missing the playoffs. One win during a ten-game stretch in December. Several of the most unbelievable third period collapses you have ever seen during that stretch. Preseason expectations as low as they were the year before Crosby arrived. A rookie head coach who everyone thought didn’t have the look of a leading man. Crosby trade talk percolating out of every single Canadians mouth, every single chance they had. Evgeni Malkin trade talk also spewing, like venom from a snake, was thrown into the ether as well. Justin Brazeau was to be a fringe NHLer. Ben Kindel was the worst pick in 2025 entry draft, a complete reach. Will Horcoff was scoffed at as well. Wes Clark and Kyle Dubas lost their fastballs. Tristan Jarry was the worst goalie contract in the league. This team was going to trade off Rakell, Rust, and Karlsson before the season started. The now old owners didn’t care about the team. Basically, everyone was wondering Why not move the team to Kansis City, so Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have something to do once he’s retired?

Anyone and everyone who said, or thought, any of the above is a downright idiot. Sure, the expectations were understandable, yet the team always had the makings of a good offensive team. Sidney Crosby is still a top 10 player in this league (saw someone suggest Jason Robertson is better than him recently, what a clinically insane human). The new coach may not have the “look,” but he has the voice of a leader and the work ethic only rivaled by his captain. Evgeni Malkin doesn’t want to retire and he’s playing to prove he deserves another year. Tristan Jarry was traded for plus assets. Ben Kindel is the second-best player in his draft class so far. Will Horcoff very well may be a top five player from the class as well. Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha were two of the best free agent signings from the summer, they didn’t break the bank either. Parker Wotherspoon, another cheap free agent signing, is a top-pair defensemen. The team has new ownership that cares deeply about hockey and plodded with the commissioner for months to ensure they could reasonably fund the organization. Yes, they had an atrocious stretch in December, but every team will have a bad stretch of games. How have they responded? Three straight wins out of the holiday break…

The culture of winning is so deeply engrained into the mind, body, and essence of Sidney Crosby that he would never allow things to go off the rails. When you step into that locker room you can feel the winning nature oozing out from his 30-year-old jockstrap. This isn’t Edmonton where the supposed best player in hockey can’t win a damn thing. This isn’t Washington where they can only win when the Penguins were running on literal fumes after back-to-back cup runs. This isn’t Buffalo, or Toronto, where losing is in the very fabric of their DNA. This is Pittsburgh, and in Pittsburgh we win. Even when we lose, we lose better than your team. We lose and we end up with generational talents. Four of the greatest players, and one of the greatest goaltenders, came from losing. Everything the Pittsburgh Penguins have done since Mario Lemieux was drafted has been better than anything anyone else has done. We don’t require nine year rebuilds like Detroit, who the Penguins brazenly beat last night. In our darkest years, the light still shines. Even if we fail to make the playoffs this season, we will outdraft everyone else, again. Try kicking us while we are down, we will flash our Stanley Cup rings right in your loser franchises face. As you look at those rings, you will have a dark thought knowing we will have a 6th before you even sniff your franchises next chance. Keep hating, keep making rumors, and please keep downplaying the success of this squad because Sidney Crosby loves to prove all you haters wrong every single chance he gets.

As for the game last night, the refs were absolutely atrocious. What a piss poor, amateur hour, performance from the stripes. The Penguins were being called for every little infraction while the Red Wings were acting like Stefon Diggs when his chef overcooks his steak (allegedly), and nothing was being done. The Penguins overcame having to kill eight separate penalties. They even held their composure enough to win in overtime after one of the more idiotic delay of game penalties by Jack St. Ivany late in the third. This is resilient bunch led by one of the most serial winners you have ever seen. People thought the Red Wings were a scheduled loss. Yet, the Ted Bundy of winning Sidney Crosby, had other plans. Crosby scored two first period goals, despite three minutes of ice time due to all the penalties and set up the game winner off Kris Letang’s stick (who became the 12th defensemen ever to play in 1200 games last night). The Penguins have 53 million in cap space next year and a whole slew of picks. So don’t let it be a surprise to you when the kings of the league are sitting firmly in their throne for years to come. Try to stop them all you want but they are inevitable and their rise back to the top may be happening a year earlier than anyone expected.