Pens play off picture clearer with recent games

With the back to back losses against Ottawa and the Islanders the Penguins play off picture is clearer and shows a more likely path that they will have to take to get to the Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins have been continually nursing injuries and have been treading on water for a few games, their scoring presence has been notable depleted. The previous two games exposed the tiredness of the defence if anything.

The Penguins had some hope that Columbus would beat the Capitals and take two points from them to allow a potential catch but that game went to OT and the Penguins followed it up with two points from four. The Blue Jackets beat the Flyers today to go back above the Penguins on ROW and the Capitals are currently beating the Coyotes in an expected win.

This would leave all three teams with just 8 games left and looking at the schedules and what is needed to overcome the deficit of 3 points should the Capitals win tonight. If, somehow, they don't win then it is all open again due to the games between the top three. Should they win though then it is probably the toughest path that the Penguins could have been given.

Even if the Penguins had come first in the division they would have to play one of the two at some point. They had to go through the toughest route last year though facing the Rangers and then the Capitals. This year, should they get through to the Eastern Conference final, they should have an "easier" opponent due to the weak Atlantic conference.

The key for the Penguins in the final stretch should be to get key players back and at least try and get home ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Take it from there.