The Pittsburgh Penguins will miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year.

But unlike the previous two campaigns, their fate as it related to the postseason was not formally determined in the nearly final days of regular season play.

There has been no such intrigue throughout most of the 2024-25 season as it was apparent very early – perhaps as soon as the season opener, if not prior – that this was not a post-season-worthy outfit.

On Sunday their flickering playoff hopes were officially extinguished by a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago’s United Center.

This futility has prompted management to begin turning to a future that is embodied, to some degree, by the likes of promising rookie forwards Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty.

“Certainly for most of my tenure here – the first seven years – the team has been very competitive,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said at PPG Paints Arena on March 31. “Has had its fair amount of successes and won a couple of championships. We’ve also had our failures. That’s the game. … Where we’re at right now, it’s a little bit of a different challenge. It’s a challenge that we’re all trying to embrace here in trying to put this team back into a position where it can contend.

“As a coaching staff, it’s our job to do our best to continue to maintain a certain standard, a certain level of accountability in what it means to be a Penguin and what the expectations are when we come in every day.”

Sullivan was curt when asked about being formally eliminated from postseason contention after Sunday’s game.

“Obviously, we’re not where we want to be,” Sullivan said to reporters in Chicago via audio provided by the team’s media relations staff. “We all understand that.”

Following a scoreless first period, Blackhawks rookie forward Frank Nazar broke the ice with his ninth goal of the season during a short-handed sequence at 18:55 of the second period.

After Penguins forward Sidney Crosby misplayed a puck in the right corner of the offensive zone, Nazar jabbed it off the near half-wall past Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson into the neutral zone. Surging past Karlsson, Nazar generated a two-on-one rush against Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and fed the puck to Blackhawks forward Tuevo Teravainen. Gaining the Penguins’ blue line, Teravainen drew in Letang and fed the puck back to Nazar who had a free route to the net on a micro breakaway. Upon his approach on the crease, Nazar went backhand to forehand and lifted a wrister by goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic’s blocker. Teravainen had the only assist.

Blackhawks forward Ilya Mikheyev’s 19th goal came at 9:40 of the third period.

In Chicago’s zone, Crosby forced a pass to the left circle that was easily intercepted by Blackhawks rookie defenseman Sam Rinzel who flipped the puck to the neutral zone. Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard settled the puck and read Mikheyev’s intentions like a novel before zipping a pass toward the visiting bench, allowing Mikheyev to gain the Penguins’ blue line with momentum. Surging past Penguins defenseman Conor Timmins, Mikheyev attacked the net and ripped a wrister by Nedeljkovic’s right skate. Assists belonged to Bedard and Rinzel.

The Penguins got on the scoreboard at 14:36 of the third frame when forward Rickard Rakell registered his team-leading 34th goal during a power-play opportunity.

Initiating a precision passing sequence, Koivunen moved the puck from Chicago’s right circle to the right of the cage for Rust who one-touched a pass to between the hashmarks where Rakell leaned down and fired a one-timer that glanced off of goaltender Spencer Knight’s right hip and into the cage. Rust and Koivunen collected assists.

Mikheyev euthanized any aspirations of a comeback by scoring again on an empty net at 19:02 of the final period off assists from forwards Nick Foligno and Joe Veleno.

Nedeljkovic made 28 saves on 30 shots as his record fell to 13-15-5.

“We knew it was going to take a lot of things to go right,” Nedeljkovic said to reporters in Chicago regarding the team’s postseason hopes. “Ultimately, if we didn’t win, you know there really wasn’t a shot.

Notes:

• Penguins forward Noel Acciari recorded one blocked shot and pushed his season total to 100. In the process, he set a new single-season high for Penguins forwards, surpassing a mark previously established by Nick Bonino (99 in 2016-17).

(The NHL did not begin tabulating blocked shots until the 2005-06 season.)

• Penguins forward Philip Tomasino was scratched due to an undisclosed injury.

• In addition to Tomasino, the Penguins scratched forwards Boko Imama (bicep) and Tommy Novak (undisclosed injury) as well as defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok (health).

• With Tomasino absent, forward Joona Koppanen took his place in the lineup after being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. One day prior, Koppanen was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a paper transaction.

• In three career games against the Penguins, Bedard has three assists.

• Rinzel’s assist was the first of his career. A first-round pick (No. 25 overall) in 2022, Rinzel played his high school hockey with Chaska in Minnesota. His coach during his senior season was former Penguins forward Matt Cooke.