Pittsburgh Penguins' Winning Streak Adds to Eastern Conference Gridlock

As of the morning of March 10, seven points separate seven teams tussling for the bottom five Eastern Conference playoff berths.

From the Philadelphia Flyers, in the No. 4 spot with 80 points, down to the Buffalo Sabres, who are still clinging to hope in 10th position with 73, uncertainty and immediacy will rule the next five weeks.

As close to literally right in the middle as possible (only because you can't have 76.5 points) is the National Hockey League's hottest club, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Since "Disco" Dan Bylsma was plucked from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and planted behind the bench in Pittsburgh, the Penguins are an NHL-best 8-1-1 after sweeping a five-game road swing, and return home for nine of their next 10, and 10 of their last 15 overall.

With the positive energy built by the coaching change added to the influx of Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin to the Sidney Crosby line, plus the very favorable season-closing schedule, and the Pens have suddenly gone from falling off the cliff to confident climbers in less than a month.

But while Pittsburgh has markedly improved its postseason chances since Feb. 16, a.k.a. Bylsma's first full day on the job, earning 17 of a possible 20 points in the standings has merely functioned as a prelude to the true playoff push.

As Crosby alluded to following Monday's practice, despite how all the good results as of late, the Penguins still have much to do in order to lock up a return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. 

Assuming that 94 points guarantees the No. 8 spot, Pittsburgh still has to go 9-6 the rest of the way, an attainable finish, but not a shoo-in with 11 games left against teams with at least a reasonable shot at the postseason.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, only six of those 11 "tough" contests are with clubs jammed alongside in the seven-team East pileup—Philadelphia, Carolina, Montreal, Florida, New York, and Buffalo.

Just six "four-point" games means the Flightless Fowl have less control over their positioning in the gridlock than, say, the Rangers, who still have nine "four-pointers" to play.

Furthermore, the Penguins' upcoming nine-out-of-10 home-stand includes only two teams that are completely out of contention, Ottawa and Atlanta. Of course, only seven out of 30 teams fit that distinction, so it's not something that should be considered out of the ordinary.

For the players and coaches, though, the only worry can be the next game, beginning with Tuesday's home tilt against the Panthers, who share the Penguins' total of 76 points, although with one fewer game played.

Imminence equals importance at this time of year especially. The five teams fortunate enough to clinch Eastern Conference playoff seeds Nos. 4-8 will likely be the ones who focused on skating and shooting and let the standings decide themselves.

The Penguins have done just that in the past three weeks, resuscitating a 2008-09 season that was dangerously close to flat-lining.

Whether the patient lives to see the third week of April has yet to be determined.