The Pittsburgh Penguins will close the book on their regular season later this evening when they face the St. Louis Blues in game No. 82, a finale that now serves as the bridge to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:30 PM ET, with the game set to air on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and.
For Pittsburgh, the news line is already written. The Penguins have clinched a playoff berth, and more games will be added to their schedule once postseason play begins. That is why this matchup matters tonight: it is the last turn before the games that count in a different way start arriving on the calendar.
The team that got here did so through a season of constant adjustment. Kyle Dubas made moves over the summer, during the season and at the draft that helped build the Penguins into a playoff team, and the result is a roster that has earned another shot. This weekend also showed how they have gotten there, with several regulars missing from the lineup during a back-to-back with the Washington Capitals while depth players got back into the mix.
That weekend carried its own weight. Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin met in an NHL game, a reminder of how much star power still frames this franchise’s season even as the focus shifts to what comes next. The Penguins opened the 2025-26 season at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers, and they have now reached the final stop of the regular season with a postseason berth secured.
The tension around Pittsburgh is not about whether it will play in the playoffs. It is about who waits on the other side. The playoff opponent is still unknown, and the Philadelphia Flyers are two points away from locking down the final playoff spot. If they get there, a Battle of Pennsylvania meeting in the first round could be guaranteed, turning a routine postseason bracket into a rivalry series with immediate edge.
Even with the Penguins’ spot locked in, the rest of the Eastern picture still has some sorting to do, and that is part of what gives tonight’s finale its relevance. The club can move from one regular-season obligation to the next phase only after this game ends, while the league’s award race also sharpens elsewhere with Nikita Kucherov well positioned to win his first Hart Trophy, Zach Werenski in line for his first Norris Trophy, and Matthew Schaefer expected to waltz away with the Calder Trophy. Elsewhere, Anton Forsberg was named the NHL First Star of the Week, Linus Ullmark the Second Star of the Week, and Dylan Larkin rounded out the trio of honorees.
The Penguins are headed back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and tonight’s finale is the last ordinary night they will have before the schedule becomes more serious, more crowded and far less forgiving.