The Penguins are 1-9 in their past 10 playoff games, so there obviously are three types of games that have caused problems for them during the postseason in recent years:
Home, away and neutral-site. (Remember the Toronto bubble in 2020?)
It's pretty tough to win a best-of-seven series, let alone a Stanley Cup, when that's the case.
Should that trend persist this spring, local authorities aren't going to have to invest much time or effort in mapping out potential parade routes.
But with just seven games remaining in the regular season, the Penguins -- despite fielding a lineup consistently diluted by injuries to key personnel -- appear to be a team that could have some staying power in the 2021 playoffs.
Much can change between now and the opener in Round 1, of course; injuries and slumps can alter any team's trajectory abruptly and dramatically.
But for now, the Penguins look as if they should be able to deploy four effective lines, especially when Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Tanev are healthy. They have the depth up front and on defense to deal with the injuries that invariably happen during the playoffs. And they have shown, as recently as their 1-0 victory against Boston Sunday, that they are capable of playing the type of solid two-way game that success in the playoffs demands.
That's a formidable combination leaning in their favor.
It also means that a few things that didn't matter much during their past few visits to the playoffs could be significant this time.
Home-ice advantage, for example.
That comes with two primary scheduling benefits: Teams get a chance to seize an early upper hand in the series by winning Game 1 and 2 in familiar surroundings and a Game 7, if needed, would be played in their building.
Neither has been as much of a plus for the Penguins as one might suspect.
They have swept the first two games in a series when they had home ice just four times in their past 16 opportunities. The Penguins actually lost Games 1 and 2 on home ice twice during that period.
Even more striking, they are 6-0 in Games 7 on the road, but just 4-7 at home.
Those numbers suggest that the Penguins shouldn't emphasize trying to get home ice. Or maybe even that they should actively try to avoid it.
But this might be the time for them to forget history, because the latest evidence is that there's little reason to believe that doing so will cause them to repeat it.
The Penguins will enter their game against Boston Tuesday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena with a league-best record of 20-3-2 at home, which is the primary reason they are tied for third place in the overall standings going into Monday's games.
The New York Islanders and Carolina are the only other teams with just three regulation losses on home ice.
The Penguins' road record, conversely, is a fairly pedestrian 12-11-1, and improving on that when facing nothing but quality opponents during the playoffs would be a daunting challenge.
Predictably, the disparity in the Penguins' record at PPG Paints Arena versus away games is reflected in a number of other statistics.
They have, for example, scored 90 goals at home, which is second in the league, while allowing just 54, sixth-fewest in the NHL.
On the road, however, they have allowed 80, which is eighth-most in the league, while scoring 76, which places them fifth.
The most striking difference, though, is in their penalty-killing efficiency.
Overall, they rank in the bottom third of the league, at 77.6 percent.
Nonetheless, they have been pretty good while shorthanded at home, with a success rate of 85.9 percent that is better than all but five other clubs.
But in away games, they are killing just 67.7 percent of their opponents' chances with the man-advantage, the league's second-worst figure.
Although most of the Penguins' team stats have improved since March 1, when they began their current 21-6-2 surge, they still have given up at least one power-play goal in six of their past 10 road games.
Given that special-teams play can be decisive in a playoff series, that's a weakness that could prove to be lethal for the Penguins if they can't correct it over the next few weeks.
Or minimize the chances of it costing them a series by earning home-ice advantage for as many rounds as possible.