A common writing tip is to avoid using the exclamation point too much. You know, save it for truly exclamatory moments.
If you use it all the time, how can anyone tell which statements are really standing out?
That goes for any type of writing: news, sports, advertising, books, fiction, etc.
Of course, I ignore that advice nowadays and probably use exclamation points way too much in this space on a daily basis!
Um, I mean, on a daily basis.
I’m running into a similar dilemma covering the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins. They keep winning these exclamation point games. But, at some point, I’ve got to stop hitting the exclamation point key!
Oops, there I go again.
However, Thursday night’s 4-3 shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators really generated an exclamation point type of response, didn’t it?
The Penguins came back from a deficit twice, blew a third-period lead, survived an O.K. Corral-style 3-on-3 overtime, then got a rare win in a shootout to escape Ottawa with two points.
Coach Dan Muse’s club did all that without Evgeni Malkin for the entire game, and without Sidney Crosby for most of it. Crosby left the contest in Canada late in the first period with the injury, took one shift after intermission and went back to the dressing room. He was unable to return for the rest of the night.
“It means a lot,” winger Rickard Rakell said via the Penguins website. “It was a lot of emotions. This game felt like it was really tight from the start. It was a battle out there. A great effort from everybody throughout the lineup. A great game. Yeah, this was huge for us.”
Aside from the tension-packed game-flow itself, the victory looms large because the two points vaulted Pittsburgh back into second place in the Metropolitan Division with 88 on the season. Simultaneously, the Columbus Blue Jackets (87 points) were losing 2-1 in Montreal, and the New York Islanders (87 points) were winning 2-1 over Dallas.
Furthermore, Ottawa had won nine of its last 11 games and is now just a point back of the Islanders for the final wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference.
“A huge win for us. I think everybody knows the situation that the East has become — where we are,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “Every game feels like a must-win. You win, you’re in. You lose one, you’re out. For us, that’s it. That’s a big win. Hopefully, we can find some things from this game, and even the previous game against Colorado (a 6-2 loss) that we can build on again.”
Had the Pens lost that game in regulation, they’d be stuck with 86 points and out of a playoff spot instead of being ensconced in second place in their division in automatic qualifying position.
Yeah. So that victory was gigantic!
That time I did mean to use the exclamation point, because that’s the sense Ben Kindel gave viewers when scored the shootout winner.
18-YEAR-OLD BEN KINDEL WITH THE SHOOTOUT WINNER FOR PITTSBURGH! ????⚫ pic.twitter.com/CtsWGuq8An
— NHL (@NHL) March 27, 2026
“The standings are getting a little tight. It’s coming down to the wire. Every point we can get is massive,” Kindel said.
Then again, I also meant it when I wanted to put an exclamation point at the end of every sentence when the Penguins finally won a shootout for the first time since Dec. 21 by nipping Winnipeg, 5-4, at home last weekend.
I wanted to do it before that when they stole a point in a wild game at Carolina on March 18. Or when they blitzed the NHL’s best 7-2 in Colorado on March 16. Or when they came back from two goals down on March 14 against Utah. Or when they grabbed both points from playoff-contending Boston in a 5-4 overtime win March 8.
All of these victories resonate. Every one of them feels like the one that we are going to remember if the Penguins finally clinch a playoff spot for the first time in three years. We all want to write the script before the final chapter and lay claim to the “I knew this was when it was gonna happen” moment long before it actually occurs.
But that’s sorta the point.
With the loser-point system in place and a lot of these teams playing each other between now and the end of the NHL season April 16, no one is going anywhere. If fans of the Penguins and the media that cover them want to treat every victory between now and then like the win of the year, that’s fine by me. Enjoy the moment.
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Unfortunately, the Penguins can’t. The emotional tank is going to be empty before Easter (April 5). That’s not even considering the implications of how long Crosby and Malkin may be out.
There are still 10 more exclamation points to go before the Penguins’ season is over. The team’s next four games are against Dallas, the Islanders, Detroit and Tampa Bay. Three of those teams are in a playoff spot. Detroit is just three points back.
The fate of the Penguins will probably be written when they play three games in four days against likely non-playoff teams in Washington and St. Louis between April 11 and 14.
For as impactful as these moments have been in March, they’ll all be blurred together until the playoff bracket truly takes shape.
I can keep hitting the shift 1 key as often as you want to underscore the importance of each win or loss between now and the end of the season. For you and me, that’s all well and good.
In an effort to avoid being emotionally gassed before things are decided, though, Muse’s players will be better served ending each night with a simple period at the end of the game until a playoff spot is clinched.