For 16 straight years, the Penguins advanced to the postseason. When that run ended in 2022, it had been the longest playoff streak among teams in the major North American professional sports leagues.
It’s all Evgeni Malkin had known in his NHL career, as the run began in 2006-07, his rookie campaign. So, the Penguins missing the playoffs the next three seasons was a new type of challenge, and he could feel the melancholy seeping into the room.
“It’s so much better when the team wins. The last three years, we missed playoffs, it’s the worst feeling, you know?” Malkin said.
And with uncertainty surrounding his future, with Malkin in the last year of his current contract, he said he wanted to just play to have fun – and make another run with his teammates of 20 years, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.
“At least if me, Sid, Tanger play together, play one time in playoffs, like, one more time – who knows if win, loss, just play together one more playoffs run – I love this,” Malkin said.
Now, Malkin’s wish is coming true. Pittsburgh’s ‘Big Three’ is back where they belong – competing for a Stanley Cup as part of a season where the Penguins have flipped the script.
“I'm thrilled for them,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said. “I really am. I have just so much respect for these guys. I've always had respect for them as players, and now that I've had an opportunity to be around them, I have even more respect for them as human beings.
“They’re such competitive people. There’s that combination of how competitive they are and how much passion they have for the game. You saw it just in the way that they’ve played this year, too – just that determination to do everything that they can to be able to help bring this team back into the playoffs. You saw that from Day 1.”
Crosby said they didn’t necessarily have nuanced conversations as a trio about what it would take to get here.
“I think with Tanger and Geno, every single night we play, I know that they want to win. It's not something you really have to talk about,” Crosby said. “I think it may have been, we got to get back to the playoffs, or this time when we were out, how much maybe we missed being in it, conversations like that. But as far as the start of the year, I think we just came in pretty open-minded and wanted to have a good start and focused on that.”
And what a luxury it is for the Penguins to have this level of experience and leadership going into the best and hardest time of the year.
Since the trio’s playoff debuts in 2006-07, no team has more playoff wins (103), playoff goals (575) or Stanley Cups (3) than Pittsburgh. Crosby (71G-130A-201PTS) and Malkin (67G-113A-180PTS) rank first and second, respectively, in playoff points in that span as well.
“I mean, from a guy that has played pro playoffs, but obviously not NHL playoffs, you kind of have to lean on them,” defenseman Ryan Shea said. “I know a lot of guys haven't played playoffs, or haven't played playoffs in a while, and you got some of the guys that are the most successful playoff players ever, and have gone all the way and done it.
“So, it's huge. I'm excited to watch them play, but I'm excited to see what they bring, because I think once those guys do it, everything just trickles down and everything. We follow them, and that's why they're our leaders.”
Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner went a step further in his praise for the trio.
“They're legends, Hall of Famers, the GOATs,” Skinner said. “They've done so much in this league. It's seriously impressive how they just keep on going, and they have so much success every single year. It really takes a special person to be able to do that for a long time. And there's no sign of them slowing down.”
