2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins season

The 2011–12 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise’s 45th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Penguins, lead by head coach Dan Bylsma, would start the season without captain center Sidney Crosby. The team still managed a 51-25-6 record, an East-best 29 home wins, and their 108 points second-best in the Eastern Conference. In February, the team began the league's longest season winning streak and also saw the return of Crosby after missing more than 40 games with concussion like symptoms, before they saw the streak end in March at 11 games. Center Evgeni Malkin was able to play in 75 games despite difficulties associated with recent knee surgery and recorded his greatest goal tally in a season (50) 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 four-seed Penguins would see their playoff run end to the same team which halted their regular season winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers, losing the first three games before perishing in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

On April 27, Malkin was one of three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, marking his third-career nomination for the award.

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
Win Loss  Win playoff series

Skaters
After games on April 7, 2012

After games on April 22, 2012

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

‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with 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 semifinals – 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.