Penguins Part of Embarrassing Pittsburgh Sports History

Wednesday's 1-0 Stanley Cup Playoff loss to the Philadelphia Flyers wasn't just another defeat for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yes, the Flyers' win did end the Penguins' season in the first round of the postseason. And yes, it may have ended Pittsburgh's "Big 3" era of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.

The trio played together since 2006-07 season, winning 881 games, four division titles, and three Stanley Cup championships.

But as Josh Rowntree of 93.7 The Fan pointed out, the loss also kept a disappointing streak going that the city of Pittsburgh would like to forget.

"That Penguins loss means that Pittsburgh will go over 3,000 days without a major professional sports team advancing in a postseason. Unthinkable," Rowntree posted on X.

The last win for a Pittsburgh professional sports team came way back on May 3, 2018, when the Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 4 of their second-round playoff matchup. They lost the next two contests and were eliminated in Game 6.

Wednesday night's loss to the Flyers marked 2,914 days since that playoff win.

In that time, the Steelers have made the NFL playoffs five times, losing in the wild-card round every time. The Pirates haven't even sniffed a postseason during that stretch with the team's last playoff appearance coming in 2015.

To Rountree's point, by the time the next Pittsburgh playoff win happens (the Pirates are currently 16-15 and could possibly qualify for the playoffs in October), it will have been well over 3,000 days since the last.

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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 9:54 AM.