2011–12 Pittsburgh Penguins season

The 2011–12 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise's forty-fifth season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Penguins, which was led by head coach Dan Bylsma and started the season without captain center Sidney Crosby, still managed a 51–25–6 record, an East-best 29 home wins, and 108-point average, which was second-best in the Eastern Conference.

Background
In February, the team began the league's longest season winning streak and also saw the return of Crosby after missing more than forty games with concussion-like symptoms, before it saw its streak end in March at eleven games.

Center Evgeni Malkin was able to play in seventy-five games despite difficulties associated with recent knee surgery and recorded his greatest goal tally in a season (fifty) on the way to winning his second Art Ross Trophy. Marc-Andre Fleury tied a franchise record for goalie wins (226) in a victory against the Atlantic division winning-New York Rangers.

The fourth-seed Penguins saw its playoff run end when it lost to the same team that halted its regular-season winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers, losing the first three games before its final loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.

On April 27, Malkin was named as one of three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, marking his third-career nomination for the award. On June 20 Malkin finished first in votes for the Hart Trophy, earning his first career MVP award.

Game log
Excluding 9 shootout-winning goals, the Penguins scored 273 goals overall, the most in the League.


 * - style="text-align:center;"
 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = OT/SO Loss

Detailed records
Final

Stanley Cup playoffs
The Pittsburgh Penguins qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, but lost in six games to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Playoff log

 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = Playoff series win      Bold = Game Winning Goal
 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = Playoff series win      Bold = Game Winning Goal

Player statistics

 * Skaters

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Penguins. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.
 * Goaltenders

‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.

Team awards
Awarded on April 5, 2012

Transactions
The Penguins have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season:

Draft picks
The Penguins' selected five players at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.


 * Draft notes
 * The Penguins' third-round pick went to the Phoenix Coyotes as the result of a trade on June 7, 2011, that sent Ilya Bryzgalov to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Matt Clackson, future considerations and this conditional pick. The condition – Philadelphia signs Bryzgalov before the start of the third round of the draft – was converted on June 23, 2011. Philadelphia previously acquired the pick as the result of a trade on June 25, 2010 that sent Dan Hamhuis to Pittsburgh in exchange for this pick.
 * The Penguins' fourth-round pick went to the Edmonton Oilers as the result of a trade on January 17, 2009, that sent Mathieu Garon to Pittsburgh in exchange for Dany Sabourin, Ryan Stone and this pick.
 * The Penguins' seventh-round pick went to the Ottawa Senators as the result of a February 24, 2011, trade that sent Alexei Kovalev to the Penguins in exchange for this pick, the specific pick being conditional at the time of the trade. The condition – Pittsburgh does not advance to the 2011 Eastern Conference Semi-finals – was converted on April 27, 2011.
 * The San Jose Sharks' seventh-round pick went to the Penguins as the result of a trade on June 26, 2010, that sent a seventh-round pick in 2010 to San Jose in exchange for this pick.