CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Remember when some people were worried that the Penguins wouldn't make the playoffs?
It was only a few weeks ago that the Penguins were bouncing in and out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Now, with just five games remaining in their regular season, they are just one point behind the Capitals for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
"We want it, right?" Jared McCann said following the Tuesday afternoon practice at the Lemieux Sports Complex. "We're hungry for it, and we’ve got to focus on taking it one game at a time here."
Obviously, the Lightning, with an absurd 122 points, have already locked up the No. 1 seed in the East and the Presidents’ Trophy.
The Penguins have to pass the Islanders (who also have 95 points) and Capitals (96 points) to win the division, and the Penguins have the easiest schedule of the three to close out the regular season. Of the Penguins' five remaining games, only one -- against the Red Wings -- is on the road. The Islanders have two home games left and four on the road, while the Capitals have three home games left and three on the road.
The Penguins have just two more games against teams that would be considered a "quality" team, a team that has more points than games played. Five of the Islanders' six remaining games are against quality teams, and all six of the Capitals' remaining games are against quality teams.
"It's been a crazy up-and-down year," said Jake Guentzel of the division race. "We're right there, right now. A couple key matchups around the division coming up this week, and we've got to take care of our own business."
"It's been pretty tight all year long," Sidney Crosby said. "The fact that we have a chance is great. We've got to continue to play the same way, but we've given ourselves a chance. So that's all you can really ask for."
While the Penguins are off tonight, the Capitals host the Hurricanes, and the Islanders are visiting the Blue Jackets. Both are pretty big games for the playoff picture. In addition to the Capitals and Islanders in the division title hunt, the Hurricanes are in the top wild card spot in the East, trailing the Penguins by four points. The Blue Jackets are on the outside of the playoff picture, two points behind the Canadiens for the final wild card spot.
Crosby says he probably won't sit down and watch the full games, but he'll definitely be keeping tabs.
"I'll probably follow the score, check in a little bit," he said. "This time of year I think everyone is kind of doing the same thing, keeping a close eye on everything."
• Tuesday's practice was exclusively a skills practice with drills led by skills coach Ty Hennes. No lines, no special teams, just drills. There was a lot of stickhandling work, like in these drills:
It's pretty rare to have a practice devoted exclusively to these kinds of drills, especially this time of year. But it was a good way to keep things light when these guys played a game just last night, and perhaps break up the monotony of the usual schedule.
"This late in the year, you're used to the same type of stuff," said Crosby. "To switch it up a bit, I think is great, and we'll get back to the regular-type stuff on Thursday."
"Today, we thought was a real good day to do that, have that sort of a practice," Mike Sullivan said. "I think it's a fresh look for our players; I think they have fun, they enjoy it. We've been through a stretch where we've played a lot of hockey in a short period of time. It was more of an active recovery for our group, but it was also very productive in the sense that it gave all of our guys an opportunity to work on game-specific skills that we can all get better at. We feel as though we accomplished a lot today."
• With everyone broken into separate groups for drills, Mike Chiasson, a goaltending coach for the Lemieux Complex, was on hand as a third goaltender.
• Kris Letang is "status quo," per Sullivan. Chad Ruhwedel and Evgeni Malkin skated in the morning with Hennes prior to practice and are progressing. Olli Maatta was a full participant in practice, and will most likely be a game-time decision on Friday, according to Sullivan.
"I felt good out there," Maatta said. "I can come back soon, but, you know, with these things you don't want to rush it. You make sure when you come back you're 100-percent, so there's no risk of re-injury."
• Tomorrow is an off day for the Penguins. They'll practice again on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
TAYLOR'S VIEW
A Penguins-Capitals meeting in the playoffs is inevitable, right? I'll take a shot and say the Capitals still take the division, but the Penguins finish as the higher seed over the Islanders and meet in the first round. The Penguins-Capitals matchup can happen in the second round.