Pittsburgh Penguins: Outlook on Their Remaining Schedule and What To Expect

Life is good when you lead the league in games played with less than 15 games remaining on the schedule. Following today's 3-1 win over Buffalo, the Pittsburgh Penguins are blessed to have plenty of idle time. The Penguins only play 3 games in the next 11 calendar days. Two of those games are at the friendly confines of the Consol Energy Center versus Montreal and Edmonton and the other one is a road game against lowly Ottawa. It is reasonable to expect the Penguins, even being decimated with injuries, will take at least 4 of 6 possible points in these 3 games.

The Penguins play half of their last 14 games at Consol, so there really isn't a home advantage. However, the off time coupled with some games against beatable teams should help Pittsburgh. It is a well-known fact that no game is easy in the NHL, but the Penguins have 2 games left against the Florida Panthers who they have dominated in recent history. With Florida fading into yet another dark spring without playoff hockey, the Penguins should be able to take advantage of them. The Penguins also play in a highly anticipated match vs the New York Islanders at the end of March. This will be the first meeting since the huge brawl that took place at the Nassau Coliseum. Will Brent Johnson fight again? We don't know, but one thing we do know is that the Consol Energy Center will be rocking and the Penguins will be looking for some sort of retribution against their division rival.

 The Penguins play several other sub .500 teams in this last month. They have two dates against the red-hot Devils, the season finale at Atlanta, a home tilt against Edmonton, and a duel against the Senators in Kovalev's return to Ottawa. Overall the Penguins play 8 games against sub .500 teams. These are 8 games the Penguins desperately need to get points in and they probably will. The Penguins have fared well against the teams they have to beat. It's teams like the Flyers they have struggled with and they'll be seeing them for the first time in 2011 towards the end of the month. The Penguins also play at Detroit which will be an eventful matchup as it always is. Other games include the Rangers, Lightning, and Canadiens.

It seems like the Penguins schedule is reasonably favorable for them. They can pad their point total with wins over the sub .500 teams and gain ground against Philadelphia in the two matchups against the Flyers. It will be difficult because even sub .500 teams like the Islanders and Devils are hot. But by playing smart hockey and perhaps a return of Sidney Crosby, the Penguins can take the division and the #1 seed. Looking at the Flyers remaining schedule, they have games left against Washington, Boston, Dallas, and the Rangers. Nine of their last 16 are on the road. However, they have 3 games against the struggling Thrashers.

My prediction is that the Penguins take 12 of 16 points against the sub .500 teams and 7 of 12 from the .500+ teams. That would mean they finish with 105 points on the season which is outstanding for a team that has gone through as much as the Penguins have gone through.