On March 12, things looked about as bad as they could for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’d lost their seventh game out of eight in a 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of the very bad Ottawa Senators. They were a week removed from trading Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes. If not for the Columbus Blue Jackets, they’d have been in last place in the Metropolitan Division, but even then the nine point difference between the two teams was just a little more than what separated the Penguins from a playoff spot. Their odds of making the playoffs drew increasingly and tantalizingly close to zero percent. It was looking more and more like Pittsburgh was destined not to make the postseason but rather to have their first top ten draft pick in a very long time.
However, a funny thing has happened since that day: none of the four rivals fighting with the Penguins to grab either the #3 seed in the Metropolitan Division or the second Eastern Conference Wild Card seed have stepped up and distinguished themselves as deserving either of those two spots in the postseason. In fact, of those five teams – Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, and the Islanders being the others – Pittsburgh has taken the most standings points since March 13. The Penguins (14 points) and Capitals (13) have been neck-and-neck, and then the rest have seemingly been tripping over everything along the way: the Red Wings have 10 points, the Islanders have 9, and the Flyers have mustered only 7. It’s all adding up to a conclusion to the regular season that wouldn’t have seemed possible just a few weeks ago. With help from their suddenly bumbling peers, Pittsburgh, which had seemed adrift and broken in the wake of the trade deadline, are still very much in the playoff race.
Let’s have a look at the standings and discuss the last seven or so games on the regular season slate for these teams and the other notables in the Eastern Conference.
| Conference rank | Team | Position | Points | Games remaining | Last 10 games |
| 1 | NY Rangers | Metropolitan #1 | 104 | 7 | 7-3-0 |
| 2 | Boston | Atlantic #1 | 103 | 6 | 6-4-0 |
| 3 | Carolina | Metropolitan #2 | 101 | 7 | 8-1-1 |
| 4 | Florida | Atlantic #2 | 99 | 6 | 2-7-1 |
| 5 | Toronto | Atlantic #3 | 95 | 8 | 6-3-1 |
| 6 | Tampa Bay | Atlantic #4 (WC1) | 89 | 8 | 8-1-1 |
| 7 | Philadelphia | Metropolitan #3 | 83 | 6 | 2-5-3 |
| 8 | Washington | Metropolitan #4 (WC2) | 82 | 8 | 6-3-1 |
| 9 | Detroit | Atlantic #5 | 82 | 7 | 4-4-2 |
| 10 | NY Islanders | Metropolitan #5 | 81 | 7 | 4-5-1 |
| 11 | Pittsburgh | Metropolitan #6 | 79 | 7 | 5-3-2 |
| 12 | Buffalo | Atlantic #6 | 77 | 6 | 5-5-0 |
| 13 | New Jersey | Metropolitan #7 | 76 | 7 | 5-5-0 |
Right now, I’m not worried about who the Penguins would face in the first round, but remember that the best team in the Eastern Conference plays the second Wild Card while the second-best team in the conference plays the first Wild Card, and the #2 and #3 seeds in each division play one another. Given the circumstances, the first Wild Card will likely go to whoever is fourth in the Atlantic Division, while the second Wild Card would probably go to the #4 team in the Metro Division (although Detroit is still in the mix on that spot). Therefore Pittsburgh’s best hopes for a playoff spot are either the second Wild Card spot (and a first round date with the Rangers, Boston, or Carolina) or the #3 seed in the Metropolitan Division (and again, either Carolina or the Rangers as a first round foe).
I also have a graphic here from Talkathon.com showing the remaining schedule and its strength for the sixteen Eastern Conference teams.
So, let’s get to the heart of the matter: there are plenty of consequential games left for everyone in the playoff race, but I would argue that Pittsburgh has a tougher path ahead than Buffalo thanks to that extra game in hand. After tonight’s massive game against the Washington Capitals, the Penguins get four in a row against the Atlantic Division: Saturday hosting Tampa Bay, Monday in Toronto, then a couple days off to rest before starting a three-game homestand starting with Detroit next Thursday and Boston next Saturday. Pittsburgh’s home finale will be against Nashville the following Monday before ending the regular season on Long Island that Wednesday. In the meantime, their rivals all have at least one game against teams which are actually or effectively out of the playoffs, so the battle for the Penguins to make the playoffs is going to be all that much tougher.
If nothing else, at least there is a reason to watch Pittsburgh for the next couple of weeks, as they look to get back to the playoffs and maybe shock the League in the process. There’s more hope now than there has been of late, and that alone is worth celebrating. They are not done, and they do have hope, they just need to fight.
WE’RE COMIN FOR YA!