PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t played playoff-style hockey for most of this season, instead finding themselves with the upper hand more often than not by excelling in high-scoring, chaotic contests.
As the calendar turns from March to April, with the playoffs less than three weeks away, they finally looked like a team ready to thrive in the postseason.
The Penguins played their best defensive game in a month while putting on a clinic against the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-1 triumph at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
They also received good news on the out-of-town scoreboard.
Every team that they’re battling with for either position in the Metropolitan Division or in the wild-card race — the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers and, of course, Red Wings — fell in regulation Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Penguins were never threatened by the feeble-looking Red Wings.
Stuart Skinner stopped 22 of 23 shots and looked sharp from the outset.
Five different Penguins scored goals as Rickard Rakell, Anthony Mantha, Egor Chinakhov, Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari lit the lamp.
“Everybody played hard, played the right way,” Chinakhov said. “Just keep rolling.”
They are rolling.
The Penguins finished March with an 8-6-3 record, and while that might seem pedestrian, consider that 13 of those 17 games came against teams currently in playoff position, while the other four came against teams still in the playoff race.
Then, consider that the Penguins played 10 of those games without captain Sidney Crosby and nine without Evgeni Malkin.
“Our confidence is high,” Ryan Shea said. “When we’re (playing like this), we’re a dangerous team.”
The Penguins were well aware of the out-of-town scoreboard going in their direction. It served as a bonus after the way they played against the Red Wings.
“It’s massive,” Skinner said. “Just a massive 4-point swing for us. Especially against those teams. The East is so tight.”
The Penguins saw their game shift into an entirely different gear halfway through Monday’s road showdown against the Islanders. They scored the final seven goals in that game and picked up where they left off against the Red Wings, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the first period.
Shea credited the Penguins’ veterans with having the team mentally prepared to play 24 hours after an emotional, dominant victory in New York.
“It’s the older guys,” Shea said. “How calm those guys are, even after a big win. You look around, and all the guys are like, ‘The job’s not done. We’ve been here before and we have to move forward.’”
The Penguins let Detroit back into the game in the second period but essentially put the game away on Brazeau’s deflection goal.
In the third period, the Penguins simply bled the clock with precision, something that hasn’t always been a strength. It was in this game.
“We just work in tandem really well,” Shea said, “The forwards and D, we’re supporting each other. The effort is incredible from the forwards right now.”
Egor Chinakhov scored his career-high 18th goal Tuesday. It was his 15th with the Penguins (in 37 games) after he had three in 29 games with the Blue Jackets. (Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
It’s pretty incredible from the whole team at the moment.
“We’re in a good spot,” Shea said. “But we have a couple of games left. We have to keep going.”
Ten postgame observations
• Given what we’ve seen in recent games, I can’t imagine Skinner isn’t the Penguins’ No. 1 goaltender.
They may continue to rotate Skinner and Arturs Silovs, but Skinner has been the better goaltender recently, and he was superb against the Red Wings. He wasn’t challenged a ton, but when he was, the goaltender looked excellent.
“I felt sharp all night,” Skinner said.
He looked it, too. Skinner has a confidence about him right now, not to mention plenty of playoff experience.
Most models now have the Penguins at better than 90 percent to make the playoffs. Things are looking great for them, and I think, assuming they make the postseason, Skinner will be the guy leading them on the ice for Game 1. He was so sound all night against the Red Wings, and his glove hand was especially locked in.
• One team seemed especially interested in playing, and the other one was the Red Wings.
What’s going on in Detroit? The Red Wings should have looked like a desperate hockey team but basically skated as though they thought it was a preseason game. It was a little alarming.
The Penguins, meanwhile, were as professional as could be. I absolutely believe this Penguins team is at its very best when it isn’t cheating for offense, when it’s playing a very simple game and not giving up odd-man rushes.
It wasn’t a perfect performance, and this isn’t a perfect team, but that was a clean showing. It was playoff-style hockey. It was physical. The Penguins looked terrific all night, a thorough domination of Detroit indeed.
• I was a little slow to come around to it, but count me in as a member of the Elmer Soderblom fan club.
In all seriousness, the big man was one of the best players on the ice against the Red Wings. He was dominant in almost every shift.
Soderblom was again physical, something that has become a trademark in his brief time in Pittsburgh. What stood out during this game, though, was his ability to protect the puck. He made a handful of quality plays while shielding the Red Wings and using his long reach to create offense.
I thought it was by far his best game with the Penguins. He might be difficult to remove from the lineup even when and if the Penguins find themselves completely healthy.
• Mantha scored his 30th goal of the season in the first period. Most of his goals are pretty, but this was a dirty goal, as he located the puck during a mad scramble in front of John Gibson and buried it for the milestone goal.
He had plenty of other looks against his old team.
We know he can score the pretty goals, but I love that he got his nose dirty in this game. The 2025-26 Penguins would not be the team it is without him.
• For the second night in a row, Kris Letang was excellent. He played a smart, crisp game. This is the Letang the Penguins need.
His defense partner was pretty good, too.
This was Sam Girard’s best game with the Penguins. He’s finally starting to settle down and look a little more comfortable on Letang’s pairing.
I will hardly pronounce Letang and Girard as being out of the woods. Time will tell, and the Tampa Bay Lightning should be quite a test Thursday.
But I think this duo has made clear progress, which is a huge deal for the Penguins.
• The Penguins are tough. One night after Soderblom had his way with Scott Mayfield in a fight, Connor Dewar had his way with Jacob Bernard-Docker.
With players such as Soderblom, Mantha, Malkin and Brazeau, the Penguins boast a lot of large human beings. They also showcased under-the-radar toughness and physicality from Letang, Parker Wotherspoon, Shea, Connor Clifton, Acciari, Dewar, Rakell and Crosby, who was throwing his body around all night.
• Tommy Novak’s game is not good right now. As the games have gotten tougher and more physical, his performance has slowed. Something to keep an eye on.
• Rust was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. I sense is that whatever he’s dealing with isn’t very serious.
• That’s 20 goals on the season for Rakell, who missed a large chunk of time with a broken hand earlier this season.
Remember when everyone wanted to trade him at the deadline last season? Me, too.
• Up next for the Penguins is a visit to Tampa in what should be a fascinating game.
The Penguins are playing with house money in that one. A loss will hardly cripple their playoff chances.