The Pittsburgh Penguins are figuring things out, but is it too little, too late?
After back-to-back wins to start the week and four wins in their last five games, a Pittsburgh Penguins team whose season seemed all but over suddenly has life late in the season. Right now they sit three points back of the Washington Capitals for the final wild card spot and four back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division.
But is it too little, too late for a Penguins team whose struggles all season are the reason they got here in the first place? Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked on Daily Faceoff Live about the Pens chances to make the playoffs at this point of the season.
Frank Seravalli: The Penguins stomped the New Jersey Devils and are kind of right back in the playoff hunt again. I mean, is the door open for Pittsburgh? It’s a legit question to ask. And I said this many times over the last month, this is a disgraced pillow fights because those are at least entertaining. It feels like the teams that get in are going to close out the season on a 4-4-2 run. I mean, just the absolute definition of mid, and that’s not necessarily ideal for drama, but I’m wondering if it’s maybe about to get a little bit spicier.
You could make the argument that, at varying stretches over the last couple weeks, not complete, not the full sort of 60 minutes by any stretch of the imagination, but I know Jon Goyens is coming on soon, he and I were watching the same game against the Colorado Avalanche. The first half of that game we’re wondering where that was all season long for Pittsburgh, then you watch a game like last night that’s kind of interesting like that might have been one of their more complete games of the year.
Like why is it taking to this point to finally play like this. It’s almost like they needed to have their backs absolutely up against the wall and have zero margin for error. What we’re looking at from a pure playoff chance standpoint is not great for the Penguins at 10.2%, but my God it was half that two days ago it was 5%.
Tyler Yaremchuk: So one thing working in the Penguins favor right now is that they’re four points back of the Philadelphia Flyers, they have a game in hand, and they hold the tiebreaker right now over Philly as well with 29 regulation wins while Philly only has 28. One thing working against the Penguins is that they have the toughest strength of schedule from what I looked at. They only play one or two non-playoff teams in their final seven games, and those two non-playoff games are the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders.
So on one hand, maybe that’s a blessing in disguise. Your schedule is a bit tougher, but you can actually jump those teams a little bit easier with two four-point games. But those other five games, they play playoff teams. It’s not going to be easy for the Pens.
Frank Seravalli: I’m going to say that’s exactly what they need. And I know that sounds funny to say, but last year, did the Penguins get dummied by Buddy Robinson with the Chicago Blackhawks and they lost that game, and that’s why they didn’t make it? I mean, be careful what you wish for in an easy schedule and non playoff teams because that’s when you come in and absolutely get slapped around.
Maybe the competition, maybe what’s on the line, although again the math is not working in their favor, but the fact that we’re even having this conversation based on where the Penguins were a week ago is utterly insane.
You can watch the full episode here…