Penguins trying to qualify for playoffs in final days of season

As of Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins had yet to secure a playoff berth as they enter the final days of the regular season.

“I feel like for the last two or three weeks here, we’ve been right in it,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said Wednesday in Cranberry. “It’s brought out the best in us. We’re playing good hockey. We believe in our game, and we’ve just got to continue to do the same thing.”

With a 37-30-12 record and 86 points as of Friday, they sit in the second wild-card position of the Eastern Conference.

“I just give the players a lot of credit,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said April 6 at PPG Paints Arena. “Their determination, their persistence, their commitment just to stay with it, I think they’re determined to stay in this fight.”

There have been other years when they battled to claim a postseason spot in the final days of a season.

2022-23 — A 5-2 home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena on April 11, the NHL’s worst team at the time, all but ended the Penguins’ postseason hopes. The following night, the New York Islanders claimed a 4-2 home win against the Montreal Canadiens to eliminate the Penguins officially. Two days later, the Penguins limped to a season-ending 3-2 overtime road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Three days later, Penguins executives Ron Hextall, Brian Burke and Chris Pryor were fired as a result of the team missing the postseason for the first time in 16 years. Kyle Dubas was installed as the president of hockey operations July 1.

2018-19 — The Penguins formally clinched a playoff berth April 5, a day prior to a regular season-ending 4-3 overtime home loss to the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena. Finishing in third place of the Metropolitan Division, the Penguins were swept by the New York Islanders in the first round 4-0. Approximately two months later, forward Phil Kessel and defenseman Olli Maatta were traded away in transactions designed to clear salary cap space, allowing the team to sign forward Brandon Tanev.

2014-15 — In the regular-season finale April 11, the Penguins claimed a 2-0 road win at what then was called First Niagara Center against the Buffalo Sabres, a franchise that was openly tanking in an unsuccessful pursuit of drafting forward Connor McDavid. As the final wild-card seed in the Eastern Conference, the Penguins were defeated in the first round by the Rangers, 4-1. A handful of months later, Kessel was acquired via a blockbuster trade, a maneuver that led to the Penguins claiming the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title in 2016.

1989-90 — A 3-2 overtime loss at home to the Sabres on March 31 at Civic Arena denied the Penguins a spot in the playoffs. In the ensuing months, general manager Craig Patrick hired coach Bob Johnson, drafted future superstar forward Jaromir Jagr and added future Hockey Hall of Fame forwards Joe Mullen and Bryan Trottier. Those transactions helped lay the tracks for the franchise to win its first Stanley Cup championship in 1991.