The Penguins' Final Hope Comes Against a Hopeless Franchise Tonight

You remember in Star Wars: A New Hope when Princess Leia sends a message to old Ben Kenobi? And, you know, the fate of the entire galaxy is at stake? And even if the transmission gets through, the odds everything works out are still about 3,720 to 1.

There's your picture of the 2024-25 Penguins.

The Pens have lost seven of their last eight and are now embarking on a seven game road trip. The five game homestand was supposed to be a breath of fresh air. They went 1-3-1. The air was full of carbon monoxide.

No show, Buffalo!

I think that's their saying. Maybe I got that wrong, I'm not sure.

The Sabres are a cursed franchise, but because the Penguins aren't allowed to have anything nice after the year 2017, Buffalo comes into tonight's game having won three of four with wins over the Hurricanes, Senators, and Capitals - all good teams.

Maybe it plays to the Penguins' favor that they're playing a losing brand of hockey right now. It might be a changeup the Sabres just aren't ready for.

Blomqvist Bonanza?

As of this morning there hasn't been a goalie named for tonight, but Penguins fans should be intrigued (I won't say excited) at the prospect of Joel Blomqvist starting in net after he was called up yesterday.

The rookie netminder was 3-5-0 in his short stint with Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season, and he was quite good given the circumstances and expectations.

Look at these numbers: .904 SV% with a 3.60 GAA.

That shouldn't be real. A league average save percentage and a goals against average that would rank 31st in the NHL. How is that possible?

Your answer: shot volume.

Our buddy, Joel, faced at least 30 shots in six of his eight games this season. In four of those games, his save percentage was north of .900 including a game where he stopped 46 of 50 shots against Edmonton back on October 25th.

Someone help this man!

The defensive structure at the beginning of the season was abysmal for the Penguins, and it's a large reason why they were losing so many games.

The shot attempt numbers against Pittsburgh early in the year were enough to inflate their season totals to 30th in the NHL in preventing shots. Their defense was straight up bad.

But look now to what the Penguins have done recently. The Kraken had 18 shots, the Lightning had 19, the Senators had 29.

The only game on the homestand where the Penguins faced more than 30 shots in a game was when they were peppered with 43 by the Oilers...and they won that game somehow.

Finally the defense has turned around, but the goaltending didn't show up.

Perhaps Blomqvist is the perfect marriage for a defense that isn't giving up shot volume anymore. Although, the Sabres displayed that they don't need to record shots to score goals (we can't win, can we?).

Now it's your turn to weight in!

Where do you find the state of the Penguins right now? We'd love to hear from you and get your input.

Pens Labyrinth is a FanSided site, where the fans matter most. We're fans, and you're fans, so we want you to join in the conversation!

Be sure to follow our X/Twitter @PensLabyrinthFS and participate in the poll. You can also leave a comment and give us your reasoning.

Do you have any hope for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2025? Why or why not? We'd love to hear from you.

Puck drop tonight against Buffalo is scheduled for 7pm EST.