CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Over the past six weeks or so, the Penguins have done some truly remarkable stuff.
After some early growing pains incorporating newer faces into significant roles, the penalty kill has come together to rank among the NHL's top seven. The team's embarrassment of offensive riches has become just that: Phil Kessel (65 points), Evgeni Malkin (62) and Sidney Crosby (60) are second, third and ninth in the league scoring race. The power play, thanks to the aforementioned trio has gone from really, really good to potentially historically great.
Most importantly, they've won. A lot, especially at PPG Paints Arena. They are starting to look like a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion that is very much capable of winning a third. Since the start of the new year, they've won 11 of 15 games.
Just about the only thing they haven't done, at least not consistently, is win on the road. Naturally, the Penguins are embarking on a two-game business trip that will take them to Dallas on Friday night and St. Louis on Sunday afternoon.
It will be the last time the Penguins will play outside the Eastern time zone until -- knock on wood -- the Stanley Cup Final this season. Not that they're about to complain about that.
"We've had stretches of our schedule that have been a challenge to this point," Mike Sullivan said after Thursday's practice. "Certainly when you're playing in your same time zone, it helps you to maintain some level of consistency with your sleep habits, eating habits, your living habits. I think that will help us down the stretch, but it's not anything that other teams won't have to deal with. We're no different."
Actually, coach, the Penguins are different than all but a few teams on the road.
The are just 10-15-2 outside of Pittsburgh city limits. Their 22 points are the seventh-fewest among the NHL's 31 members. The six teams behind them -- Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, New York Rangers, Arizona and Montreal -- are all out of current playoff positions and are unlikely to be in there anytime soon. Three of the five teams ahead of them are also out of the playoff picture and the two who are in, Minnesota and Columbus, hold the final wildcard spots in their respective conferences. Not exactly good company to keep.
"I don't think we think too much about that," said Matt Murray. "Just try to execute our game plan and we know that we have a game plan that will give us a chance to win and if we execute, then we can win on any given night."
Still, the Penguins have lost three of their last four on the road, including last Saturday's debacle in Newark when the Devils limited the disinterested Penguins to a season-low 16 shots, many of them off the mark:
That game provided a further reminder that even the defending champs can't take a night off. They have to bring their A game -- speed and shot attempts -- against all opponents.
"Especially in this league, everyone's so close, so good," said Riley Sheahan. "You can't take your foot off the gas. That would be huge for us to stay consistent even when we're not feeling our best to play a game."
On the road, the Penguins' .386 win percentage is 26th and they have been outscored 67-88. Their minus-21 goal differential is also 26th.
At 5-on-5, already a weak link, the Penguins are a much lesser team on the road. Their Corsi For percentage is 50.02 or 3.82 less than at home, according to Corsica. Their shooting percentage at even strength drops from 6.82 to 5.69.
The only thing the Penguins do well on the road is score on the power play as their league-high 23 road man-advantage goals can attest. That group is just too good to fail. But even that is a moot point if it doesn't add up to W's in the standings.
Why have the Penguins struggled on the road so far? Sheahan said he didn't know the answer to that, but has a pretty good idea how can they start winning.
"I think for us, getting back to the basics, trying to get off to a good start, that's important on the road, taking the crowd out of it, and then just going from there and playing our game," Sheahan said.