CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ past few weeks have not only been nightmarish, but there has also been a feeling of inevitability.

Despite those magical first two months, the Penguins entered the season with very low expectations around the NHL. They looked the part over their past 10 games, which have seen them accumulate nine losses and head toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

Will the plummet continue? Or was the team that took the league by storm in October and November the real Penguins?

Sitting quietly at his locker following practice on Saturday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, a contemplative Crosby suggested that counting out the Penguins would be unwise.

“First of all, this break came at a really good time,” Crosby said. “I think last year, we were on a roll entering the break and it didn’t come at a good time. That happens sometimes. But this time, it came at the right time.”

Nobody could question that.

A look at the past 10 games reads like a horror movie. Consider what has happened:

• On Dec. 7, the Penguins played perhaps their finest game of the season, holding Dallas to 19 shots in regulation. However, a late Dallas goal evened the game with less than two minutes remaining, and the Penguins lost in a shootout.

• On Dec. 9, the Penguins endured one of the most bizarre losses in franchise history. They were up 3-2 against Anaheim and were awarded a power play, bringing the faceoff to Anaheim territory, with 18 seconds remaining. Remarkably, they allowed the Ducks to even the game with 0.1 seconds remaining because of a comedy of errors. They lost in a shootout.

• On Dec. 11, the Penguins had to push back the start time of their game against Montreal because many players were stuck behind a traffic accident north of Pittsburgh. They should have just forfeited because they didn’t show up, even when the players arrived in a 4-2 loss that wasn’t as close as the score indicates.

• On Dec. 13, the Penguins led San Jose 5-1 in the third period, and it was 5-2 with six minutes left. In one of the more startling meltdowns in franchise history, they ended up losing in overtime 6-5.

• On Dec. 14, 24 hours later, the Penguins led 3-0 against Utah through two periods. Disaster struck again, as they fell to the Mammoth in overtime, 5-4.

• On Dec. 16, the Penguins watched Connor McDavid skate circles around them in a 6-4 loss on home ice.

• On Dec. 18, we witnessed the worst, most uninspired performance from the Penguins all season in a 4-0 loss in Ottawa.

• On Dec. 20, they still weren’t able to put the puck in the net even though they played better, losing 4-0 again, this time in Montreal.

• On Dec. 21, they found an oasis in the desert as Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s franchise point total and the Penguins, despite being badly outplayed in the third period and in overtime, beat the Canadiens in a shootout.

Mario Lemieux was in the lineup more than 20 years ago when Sidney Crosby notched his first NHL point. They now share the franchise record and eighth place in NHL history with 1,723 career points. #NHLStats: https://t.co/oBUTYuNlFB pic.twitter.com/GcXzdR8lDn

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) December 22, 2025

• On Dec. 23, the Penguins were utterly unable to capitalize on any momentum, literally coughing up the puck on three different occasions that led to goals in a 6-3 loss in Toronto.

It’s been one of the more brutal skids in recent Penguins history, and it doesn’t seem like something the team will easily overcome.

Crosby, though, remains optimistic and prefers to look at the situation with a glass half full.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “But in a bunch of those games, we were up three goals. So, the good news is, we were doing something right. Most teams would take that any day.”

So, what happened?

“Well, the details matter when it comes to winning and losing games in the third period,” Crosby said. “Obviously, we need to be better in those situations. But that’s stuff we can control. The last game, in Toronto, we did a lot of things well. But we just beat ourselves. Again, that’s correctable.”

With games in hand on most of the Eastern Conference, the Penguins are only three points out of a playoff spot coming out of the break.

Of course, given the tightness of the East, they’re also only three points ahead of Columbus for last place in the conference.

It feels like an extremely pivotal time for the Penguins. Get on a roll, and perhaps the confidence from earlier in the season comes back and they give themselves a realistic shot at reaching the postseason.

Should this current play continue, however, and all of that preseason Gavin McKenna buzz and the potential of trading veterans before the trade deadline become talking points.

Crosby is convinced the Penguins of October and November are the real Penguins.

“I am,” he said. “We still are right there. We just have to win some games. There have been a lot of games that we should have won but didn’t.”

Goal prevention has quite clearly been the Penguins’ biggest problem.

During those past 10 games, they’ve allowed 45 goals. Of those 45 goals, 19 came in the third period.

“Obviously we aren’t shutting down games properly and closing games out the way we need to be,” Parker Wotherspoon said. “Everyone in here believes in this team. The break probably came at a really good time for us. We had a good practice today, which is a good first step. I think you’re going to see more life in our game moving forward. We have to be better on both sides of the puck and we especially have to be better defensively. We kept the puck out of our net pretty well early in the season. We have to get back to doing that and we have the people in here who can do that.”

NOTES — The Penguins practiced for about an hour on Saturday before traveling to Chicago, where they will play Sunday night … Blake Lizotte was cleared to absorb contract in practice on Saturday, which means he could potentially play against the Blackhawks … Evgeni Malkin skated on his own before practice but did not take part in the team workout and will not play against Chicago. Dan Muse referred to Malkin as “status quo.” He hasn’t played since Dec. 4 in Tampa, and the Penguins have won just once with him out of the lineup.