The Pittsburgh Penguins are a lot like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, assuming of course that Jekyll has some sick dangle and Hyde likes to curl up in a ball along the corner boards while the other team skates circles around him. One night, the Penguins look like the team they were supposed to be, the team everyone else in the NHL thought they'd be at the outset of the 2015-16 league year - uber-talented and able to score from any area, almost at will. Another night, they're a hapless bunch who can't even find their way past a group like the Calgary Flames, a squad are already deep into preparations for next season.
With names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury, fans in Pittsburgh are right to expect a better, more consistent product from their beloved team.
But here's the thing - the Penguins aren't just looking likely for a playoff spot at this point, they've got the talent to make a serious postseason run. That's probably not going to come as a surprise to anyone, but when you take into account the fact that the Pens' victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday pushed them past the Detroit Red Wings and into the top wild card spot in the East, and that whatever team lands the top wild card spot is going to avoid playing a first-round postseason series against the Washington Capitals, then the immediate future in the Steel City looks a little brighter.
"It was the response that we were looking for," Mike Sullivan, the Pens' second head coach of the season, said. "We believe in our leadership group, and we knew they would play the right way. I thought we played hard. I thought it was a solid team effort. I think we got solid contributions through the lineup."
Of course, the fact that the Pens dropped that game to the Flames just before demolishing the Devils speaks volumes about the capability of Sullivan's group, strong "response" from the Calgary debacle or no. They are Jekyll and Hyde, only their Hyde isn't a menacing hulk with the ability to rip opponents limb from limb. He's an ineffectual, awkward, uncertain mess who looks very much like he's not sure which end of the ice is which.
The Penguins have managed their 34-23-8 record thanks largely to their talent level at the top of the roster. That fact has never been questioned in Pittsburgh. Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang, Fleury and Co. comprises an elite group of players who pace the Penguins team on a nightly basis. But as is proven every NHL postseason, it takes four strong lines to win a Cup.
And if Pittsburgh is going to right recent wrongs and finally nab the second Stanley Cup of Crosby's career, it's going to mean strong play not just from the captain and his cohorts, but from guys like Matt Cullen and Carl Hagelin, or Nick Bonino, Tom Kuhnhackl and Bryan Rust, who combined for two goals on Sunday. Because really, everyone knows the Pens will win more often than not when Crosby is potting 10-plus goals, as they did during a 10-win in 16-games stretch after losing eight of 12 games to open Sullivan's tenure.
But consistent postseason success doesn't come from one guy or three guys, it comes from a team all rolling in the same direction at the right time. The Pens, flawed though they may be, could be that team this season.