‘Have You Seen?!’: What Wins Really Mean for Penguins (+)

CRANBERRY — Four wins in a row. Four somewhat improbable, very different types of wins.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have stacked wins for the first time in several months, and however unlikely, some playoff talk has again crept into the dressing room. In raw totals, the Penguins are six points back of the New York Rangers, who hold the second wild.

New York has one game in hand. The Penguins also trail the first team out of the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, by five points, though Montreal has three games in hand.

From the outside, the Penguins are not a serious playoff contender. Their streak has merely elevated them from next to last to second next to last in the Eastern Conference. Perhaps worse–pending your point of view–the Penguins’ draft slot has “improved” from sixth to eighth overall.

So, Pittsburgh Hockey Now had one question for the players in the locker room.

“Besides two points, what do wins mean right now?”

The question abruptly stopped Kevin Hayes. He looked down. He looked at the TV reporters. He shook his head and looked back at me. In good humor, he admitted, “Wow, you’re getting deep?”

In full disclosure, the answers to the question were a gauge of the players’ mindset. If I had asked, “Can you make the playoffs?” every player would have given me a stock answer about trying and fighting until the NHL standings show it’s no longer possible.

Boring.

So, while we momentarily stumped Hayes, who took a moment to ponder the larger implications of winning and losing and what it all means for his team at this stage of the season, some of the veteran core didn’t need time to think–they knew.

In the end, a picture of a team grappling with reality and chasing the rabbit emerged, but there also enough veterans who understand what it means to build a team. A few wins have acted as a more than medical-grade salve, but also as a building block.

“Have you seen (the standings)?!” Bryan Rust needled for us some fun.

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