The Steelers can't stop themselves from losing the same ways year after year after year.

The Pirates don't even care that they're losing, so long as it isn't losing money.

The Penguins ... yeah, don't do that.

Look, it's a tough time on the Pittsburgh sports scene, where the next playoff success this decade will be the first for any of them. And what's worse, much of that has been directly due to mismanagement -- or worse, misplaced priorities -- that run all the way to the top, the type of distress that's deeply seated.

I cover all three. I get it.

I also get this: The hockey team's the only one that isn't in anywhere near the sinking-ship shape that some seem to prefer portraying.

And no, believe me, I'm not saying this amid this setting just because the sport's generational talent, put a bow on this beauty here Wednesday night ...

... although, hey, Sidney Crosby at still-a-point-a-game pace and committed-to-our-city-forever isn't exactly a shortcoming.

What strikes me more than anything about the broader scope, if I'm being maybe more candid than I should be in the current climate, are all the positives.

Give me a chance, all right?

First, let's go over the negatives:

NHL

That's abysmal. As was the 3-4 trip the Penguins somewhat salvaged by overtaking the Utah Hockey Club, 3-2 in overtime, at the Delta Center. There's no other way to characterize claiming zero points from the Ducks, Kraken and Sharks out here, all while scoring three whole goals. They might've deserved better from the first two, but they sure didn't in San Jose.

Thus, those Eastern Conference standings are outright terrifying. Sure, they're only five points behind the Lightning and Blue Jackets at the wild-card periphery. But they've played three or four more games than most of this nine-team pack, which is why their .472 points percentage paints a far more accurate reflection of their reality. 

Or, one might suggest, their challenge.

See, this is where there's a seismic difference between the pulse inside the Penguins' orbit and what's on the outside, as Bryan Rust pointedly reminded me after this one.

"Despite the noise, despite maybe everything that may be talked about and what's going on on the outside, we've got four games until the break," he began, referring to upcoming home games against the Predators and Devils, then road games against the Rangers and Flyers before the NHL's two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. "And if we get six, seven or eight of those points, who knows what the heck's going to happen coming out of that break? Because we feel refreshed, get a little bit of confidence and go. That's just our goal right now. Obviously, we're not in the position we'd like to be in, and we all know that. It's going to be a tall mountain to climb, but we're ready to do it."

Rust's wearing the alternate captain's 'A' on his sweater in Evgeni Malkin's absence.

I then broached this with Kevin Hayes, whose leadership's been emerging by the day:

"Yeah, this didn't go the way we wanted," he began, referring to the trip. "Still, winning this game was huge to kind of springboard us. Every game is huge. It makes it fun as a player. We kind of set ourselves up where every game is important, so it should bring the best out of everyone."

At the morning skate, I asked Mike Sullivan about what the Penguins are facing, and he replied, "These guys care an awful lot. And they're invested. We want to win. When it doesn't go the right way, nobody feels it more than the players themselves and the coaching staff. But that's one of the challenges, making sure you're able to move by those emotions and bring a certain swagger, a certain resilience to your game, that gives us a better chance to win. We can't feel sorry for ourselves because we're in the position we're in. Nobody else feels sorry for us. So, we just gotta make sure we dig in here."

They did dig in here. Their pace was consistent from front to finish.

Afterward, I brought up the same subject again:

"Look," he replied this time, "if we can put a stretch together here before the break, we can climb back into this thing. We’re not out of it. That’s the message. And the way it’s got to happen is we've got to stay in the moment. To look at it holistically, I think, is valuable. This isn’t anything we haven’t seen. We’ve been in this position before, and we were so close last year. We have the ability to do it."

I don't begrudge them that approach. I was on Long Island to see way too many of these same people taking being left out of the playoffs as hard as they did.

It might feel pointless to some fans. I don't begrudge that sentiment, either. It wasn't so long ago that the Penguins had professional sports' longest active streak of making the playoffs at 17 years. Pushing this hard for mere entry didn't used to be a thing.

Emphasizing this: It's nothing but good if they make it. For Sid and his legacy, for Kyle Dubas and what he's striving to build/rebuild, for general morale, for the culture, for the continuity and, never forget, for the season-ticket sales that are the lifeblood of NHL franchises more than those of any other sport.

Now, what if they don't?

Well, it gets more complicated and more uncomfortable, I'm betting, but give me a chance on this, too, yeah?

On the fear that's commonly expressed about some looming 'X Generation' strip-down in the near future: No, that's not even permitted, for crying out loud. The NHL's got a salary cap now, with a ceiling-to-floor range of roughly just $20 million. Rico Fata's not knocking on that door, and he wouldn't have back then, either, but for the team emerging from bankruptcy into the NHL's baseball-like economic mess.

On the concept that it'd be better for the Penguins to lose and improve positioning for the NHL Draft: That flies in the face of overwhelming odds that one or two or even three places could make much difference. History shows they don't. These are 18-year-olds coming from countries and cultures and hockey systems all over the world, and that makes for some of the most daunting scouting in all of sports. Apart from a Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard or even our own Logan Cooley -- who was dangerous all night here, by the way -- this isn't at all like the NFL, where the surefire stars can run 10, even 20 deep.

On improving positioning toward the lottery: For one team to move up? With only a handful of teams in that lottery having a shot at No. 1? Why? That'd be worth extended losing?

Look instead to what's already in play:

That game coincided with this one, albeit way back in the northeastern corner of our commonwealth, where Wilkes-Barre/Scranton embarrassed the two-time defending AHL champion -- and still division-leading -- Hershey Bears by a 9-0 hard count. More relevant by far, Ville Koivunen, who's 21, scored four of those goals, and Vasily Ponomarev, who's 22, scored three and, oh, by the way, both were part of the prospect package in the Jake Guentzel trade.

Both will be in the NHL soon. So will Rutger McGroarty. Maybe Tristan Broz. Maybe Valtteri Puustinen and Sam Poulin will be back. For sure, Owen Pickering and Jack St. Ivany will be back on the blue line. And then there's Sergei Murashov, who might be the most gifted goaltender at any level and who had the 27-save shutout in this game to add to a .950 save percentage through his first four AHL starts.

I'm not pretending the organization's stacked, but it's a far cry from where it was just a couple years back. And if a half-dozen do make it up in the next year and change, that's a NHL roster transfusion unto itself and, by the way, unlike anything we'd have seen in decades.

I'm also not pretending that Dubas' record here has been pristine. But the Guentzel trade appears to be an inspired start down this path and, if he were to move -- here comes that uncomfortable part -- Rickard Rakell at career peak value, and Rakell winds up the singular prize of the trade-deadline market ... he'd be worth far more since he wouldn't be a rental but, rather, an affordable goal-scorer at a $5 million salary through 2028.

I'd cite other names here, as well, but one gets the idea. It doesn't just have to be Marcus Pettersson, a pending unrestricted free agent, who goes.

And more to my point, it doesn't have to be a disaster. If Rakell brings back a return of NHL-close or NHL-ready players as the Guentzel trade did, those newcomers don't have to wait to assimilate. They can be part of a group of young players, combined with the ones already in Wilkes-Barre, who can support Sid and the remaining cast from the first-time-in-Sid's-career standpoint of adding speed, fresh energy and, above all, actual potential to blossom into more.

If the team performs as it hopes and pushes toward the playoffs, keep Rakell and reset toward another move another day. Big whoop.

Save the worries, my fellow Pittsburghers, for those who've earned them. I don't see fixes for the other two teams in town, given the various parameters in both places. I don't see new ownership, new management, new coaches and, in baseball's case, any method shy of a multiple-year shutdown for a new labor contract that'd be fair to markets of all sizes.

The Penguins, as I see it, are on a course to progress within a plan that's as plausible as Sid burying that backhander here.