HBO Max
Last year, HBO Max found itself with a new hit on its hands in the form of The Pitt. The medical drama takes place at a fictional hospital in Pittsburgh, and the NHL team that calls the city home has been on a tear when it plays on the same day a new episode of the show’s second season comes out.
HBO has an incredibly impressive track record when it comes to pumping out critically acclaimed prestige television, and at the start of 2025, it fleshed out its stellar résumé when The Pitt debuted on what was then known as just “Max.”
The spiritual successor to E.R. follows the medical team at the emergency room at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, with each hour-long episode taking place in real-time during a season that spans a chaotic shift. It netted the award for Best Drama at the Emmys and the Golden Globes, and a number of actors (including Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa) received individual honors for their performance.
The second season, which takes place on the Fourth of July, kicked off at the start of January, and it’s become increasingly hard to ignore a trend involving the hockey team that’s based in the city where it takes place.
The Penguins have not lost a game when they play on the same day as an episode of the second season of The Pitt comes out
The first episode of the second season of The Pitt dropped on January 8th, and the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 4-1 overtime win over the Devils that night.
That marked the second time in six consecutive weeks where the team was scheduled to take to the ice on a Thursday (which is when new episodes of The Pitt come out), and as one Penguins fan pointed out on Reddit, they have gone 5-0 when playing on the same day as the release of a fresh installment.
Pittsburgh has added victories over the Flyers, Oilers, Blackhawks, and Sabres while doing so in a fairly dominant fashion, as they’ve outscored their opponents 27-10 in those contests.
If you’re curious, there was not the same kind of magic during the first season; the Penguins played six times when a new episode aired in 2025 and finished with a 3-3 record on those dates.
They’ll have a chance to continue the streak when they return from the Olympic break and face off against the Devils on February 26th, which is the first of six more occasions where they’ll be playing the same day as a new episode before the second season wraps up on April 16th.