A recent two-week road trip offered the Pittsburgh Penguins a chance to stockpile points and reverse a 1-3-3 start to 2025.

Instead, the club managed six of a possible 14 points, going 3-4 from Jan. 17-29.

After Wednesday’s overtime win against the Utah Hockey Club, the Penguins closed January with a 4-7-3 record.

They did manage to begin and end the lengthy seven-game road trip — the club’s longest stretch away from home since 1997 — on a positive note.

On Wednesday night, Sidney Crosby capped the trip with an overtime goal, making the Penguins victorious in their inaugural visit to Salt Lake City.

Just under two weeks earlier, the Penguins kicked things off with a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 17. That game featured an individual performance to remember from goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who not only recorded 40 saves but became the first netminder in NHL history to record an assist and score a goal in the same contest.

In Game 3 of the road trip Jan. 20, the Penguins secured one of their more impressive wins of the season, defeating the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1.

One notable area of strength for the Penguins on their road swing was power-play success, as they went 5 of 17 (29.4%), which is better than their season average.

For the season, the Penguins rank sixth in the league with a 26.0% success rate.

Lackluster results

After their win over the Kings, the Penguins dropped three straight winnable contests against weaker Western Conference foes, failing to show much life in any of them.

The Penguins lost to the Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks while getting outscored 11-3.

Losing to the Sharks was a particularly low moment for the Penguins, as San Jose (15-32-6) has the fewest points (36) in the NHL.

In contrast to the boost the Penguins received on the power play, finishing was an issue over the last two weeks, as their shooting percentage of 8.95% ranked 28th in the league during that time.

For the season, they rank 24th (10.15%).

The Penguins (21-24-8) sit in last place in the Metropolitan Division with 50 points and are in 15th place in the Eastern Conference.

Revisiting the Guentzel trade

Many fans still lament the Penguins trading winger Jake Guentzel last March.

Guentzel, through parts of eight seasons in Pittsburgh, was a consistently dangerous scoring threat alongside Crosby.

Beloved in the Penguins locker room and among the fan base, he was one of the few remaining members of the 2017 Stanley Cup champions at the time of his trade.

The return package for Guentzel has been scrutinized since president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas shipped him to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Michael Bunting, prospects Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen and Cruz Lucius, plus what became a second-round draft pick in the 2024 draft.

KDP Studio Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty (No. 2) and Ville Koivunen celebrate a goal with teammates at the home bench during a 9-0 win against the Hershey Bears at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Jan. 29, 2025.  

However, several of those players have been impressive of late, particularly in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

After a four-goal performance Wednesday vs. the Hershey Bears, the 21-year-old Koivunen upped his season totals to 14 goals with 21 assists. He jumped to first place in the AHL in points among rookies.

All 4️⃣ of Ville Koivunen's goals from tonight in 1️⃣ place.@WBSPenguins | #HERvsWBS pic.twitter.com/MOuRXXuQ2s

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) January 30, 2025

He ranks second on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in points behind only Emil Bemstrom (41).

Ponomarev, 22, who’s gotten a taste of NHL action this season with the Penguins, also has looked good.

Often centering a line with fellow prospect Rutger McGroarty on his wing, Ponomarev has 10 goals with 14 assists. Ponomarev recorded a hat trick Wednesday vs. Hershey.

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