ST. LOUIS -- Take a cursory glance at the Penguins' 19-7-4 away record, which is the finest in the NHL, and you might conclude that they've come up with an answer for just about everything they've faced on the road this season.
And you'd be correct.
Almost, anyway.
The one thing they apparently can't explain is precisely how they've gone about taking more points out of away games (42) than any other club while constructing the league's top winning percentage on the road (.700).
"We've just been really good on the road, for some reason," Jake Guentzel said. "I can't really give you an answer for that."
Perhaps that's because so many factors have gone into it, including one that modesty would prevent Guentzel from mentioning: He has scored 20 of his 29 goals away from PPG Paints Arena. That's more than all but three other NHL players have managed on the road.
His average of 1.37 points per road game, fifth-most in the league, shouldn't be overlooked, either. Guentzel's center, Sidney Crosby, has come through in some clutch situations, too; five of his 11 away goals have been game-winners.
But while there's a place -- a prominent one, at that -- in hockey for individual excellence, it is, above all else, a team game, and the Penguins' successes on the road in 2021-22 can best be painted by the numbers they have put up collectively.
To wit, after 30 of their 41 road games, they:
• Are allowing an average of 2.33 goals, which ties Boston atop the league rankings.
• Have limited opponents to 29.5 shots per game, fourth-fewest in the league and 4.4 fewer than the Penguins have been recording. (They've outshot the other club in 17 of their 19 away victories.)
• Aren't taking many penalties -- their average of 6:20 is 40 seconds fewer than Washington, which ranks second -- and lead the NHL with a penalty-killing success rate of 87.8. Discipline is the key there, and the Penguins' attention to detail is shown by their total of two bench minors on the road.
• Have given up 50 5-on-5 goals, fewer than all but four clubs.
• Are effective at putting close games out of their opponent's reach; they have 12 empty-net goals, most in the NHL and are 7-0 in games decided by two goals.
• Haven't had to dig out of too many deep holes early in games, since opponents have generated just 18 first-period goals. That ties Dallas for second place in the league rankings. Conversely, the Penguins are 13-2-1 when scoring first and 8-1-1 when ahead at the first intermission.
Of course, none of this is to suggest that the Penguins' play on the road has been without flaws, even though they are poised to break the franchise record of 25 away victories in a season.
For example, their power play, which features one of the league's most imposing collections of talent on the No. 1 unit, is scoring on just 15.9 percent of its chances in away games. Only six teams have fared worse with the man-advantage, and all but one of those (Los Angeles) is certain to sit out the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Winning a shootout wouldn't hurt in a tight race for seeding in the Metropolitan Division, either. The Penguins are 0-2 on the road in those.
Even if they can exorcise some of their shortcomings, maintaining their current pace on the road -- which includes an 8-2-1 mark in their past 11 games -- will be a challenge.
Their game against the Blues Thursday at 8:08 p.m. will pit them against a club that plays the same kind of heavy game the Penguins faced during a 4-1 loss in Nashville Tuesday, and they'll be facing an opponent that has won six of its past seven games in what once figured to be a trip-ending breather Saturday at Arizona.
Still, the Penguins have taken points from home teams that were surging or have quality personnel more than a few times this season. Just as they did when similar clubs ventured into PPG Paints Arena last season, when the Penguins went 22-4-2 there.
"It's kind of the reversal of last year," Evan Rodrigues said. "Last year, we were incredible at home. This year, we seem to be good on the road."
Better, at least to this point, than any other team in the NHL.