With nine games remaining in the regular season, the Penguins have a real shot at winning the East Division, or at least earning home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs by being the second seed.
Entering Saturday's game against the Devils, the Penguins are a point behind the Capitals for first place. They're tied for second place with the Islanders, but the Penguins have the tie-breaker as a result of having two more regulation wins. All three teams have played 47 games.
"I think that's huge," John Marino said after Friday's practice of the prospect of winning the division. "Talking with some of the guys who have been in this position before, home ice is obviously a big advantage and we want to do everything we can in order to get that."
One of those guys who have been in the position before is Kris Letang, and he spoke of the value that would come with the Penguins putting themselves in that position to start the playoffs.
"That's the biggest point for me, to be able to start the series in your building and set the tone right from the two games," Letang said of the idea of winning the division. "And as far as having a banner in the rafters, it's always cool to see those, and that you were a part of those teams."
While the prospect of winning the division or at least home-ice advantage for the first round is on the minds of the players, Mike Sullivan is still stressing the importance of not looking too far ahead and taking things one game at a time.
"We have to stay in the moment," Sullivan said. "We talk about this daily with our guys, making sure that the focus is on the task at hand. Nobody is getting ahead of themselves in our locker room. ... Our first priority is to make the playoffs, and the best way to do that is to just focus on the game in front of you. That's where the focus is, it's a very short-sighted focus. Our coaching staff is adamant about that approach. ... Would we like to finish as high as we can? Sure, because it puts you in the best possible position to be successful for the ultimate goal. But right now, our priority first and foremost is to win that game right in front of us because we think that's the best approach that puts us in the best possible position for that ultimate team goal, which is to try to win the Stanley Cup."
That starts with today's final game of the three-game series with the Devils.
"We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," Tristan Jarry said. "We have New Jersey (Saturday), and that's our mindset, to play that game and try to get points there. Points this time of year are big, and we're just trying to play our hardest every game."
"We know what's on the line (Saturday)," Letang added. "They're two really important points."
"We know what we need to do and how tight the race is right now, and how important every game is going to be," Marino said. "Whether it's one or two points, you need everything you can get. We have some big games coming up, but we have a big game (Saturday) we have to take care of first."