Penguins look to soak up points before another wave of playoff-worthy competition

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan says newly acquired winger Rickard Rakell is expected to be available for Tuesday night’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

That’s good because the Penguins need to get two points while they’re available. That goes for Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, too.

Because both of those upcoming opponents, while playing decently of late, are not in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. That’s a luxury the Penguins won’t have very often when it comes to their list of foes over the next three weeks.

If at all.

Once the Pens get through Columbus at home Tuesday and the Sabres on the road Wednesday, they find themselves entering a brutal stretch of nine games. Eight of them, between March 25 and April 10, are against teams currently in a playoff position.

The lone exception will be a home game Sunday against the struggling Detroit Red Wings. They have just 57 points and have lost seven of their past eight games, currently sitting in fifth place of the Atlantic Division.

“The last few games, we’ve really gotten back to the way we like to play and to the level we are capable of playing as a group,” general manager Rox Hextall said Monday after the trade to acquire Rickell from the Anaheim Ducks.

That better be true, because aside from the Red Wings contest, in the other eight games of that nine-game slog, the Penguins play two against the New York Rangers (March 25 at away, March 29 at home) and against the Colorado Avalanche (April 2 away, April 5 at home). Plus they’ve got showdowns against the Minnesota Wild (away, March 31), the Washington Capitals (April 9 at home) and the Nashville Predators (April 10 at home).

The Avalanche have 95 points to lead the NHL. The Rangers’ 85 points tie them with the Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington occupies the second wild card slot in the East with 80 points. The Wild and Predators are currently tied for second in the Central Division with 78 points apiece.

So potentially gobbling up three or four more points after nabbing two from the Central Division cellar-dwelling Arizona Coyotes on Sunday would be a nice, efficient run for the Penguins in advance of that gauntlet.

But it won’t be as easy as the standings suggest.

While the Blue Jackets have just 67 points (fifth in the Metro), they have won four of five, just like the Penguins. Three of those victories came against teams currently in a playoff position within the Western Conference — the St. Louis Blues (5-4), Vegas Golden Knights (6-4) and Minnesota (3-2 in a shootout).

Buffalo is in a similar situation. With only 52 points, the Sabres are sixth in the Atlantic. But they are also enjoying a stretch of play where they have won four times in five tries. Coach Don Granato’s team is doing so by allowing very few goals. In those four wins, the Sabres have yielded just six goals, beating the likes of Vegas, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames along the way.

Again, three clubs currently holding playoff seeds.

It’s not like the Penguins aren’t battle-tested. They are. Mike Sullivan’s team just concluded a stretch that saw 10 showdowns against potential playoff-bound clubs between Feb. 17 and March 17.

So whatever favor the schedule makers may have done for the Penguins early in the season, they are paying back now.

“We really like this team. I know there are a few teams that have a chance of doing something special. But we feel our chances today are better than they were yesterday,” Hextall said after Rakell’s trade announcement.

Rakell better fit in and fit in quickly. Because he’s about to get a heaping mouthful of what the Penguins have been dealing with for a month. And he’s being looked upon as a key contributor who could help the Penguins surf their way through another asteroid field before entering the playoff orbit.