The Penguins aren’t the only team in the NHL’s East Division with some major hurdles to overcome if they are to qualify for the playoffs.

The other contenders in the division are flawed as well. Which four of the current top six will end up making the cut is a tough call at this point. But with less than half of the 56 games remaining, every club has a potential bugaboo that could get in its way.

The Buffalo Sabres (16 points) are sunk. And it would take a miracle for the New Jersey Devils (28 points) to climb all the way up to the top four slots.

So let’s look at the other teams within the division in ascending order and determine what could be the Achilles’ heel to prevent them from getting into the postseason, or cause their early exit from it.

New York Rangers (6th place, 32 points): Playing catch up

The Rangers have been pretty good lately, winning three of four. Their 32 points put them just four behind tying Boston’s 36 for fourth place. But they’ve played 31 games already. The Islanders are the only club in the division to have played more.

Winning just four times in their first 14 games of the season may prove to be a hole too deep to escape. They also need to start winning more games at home. The Blueshirts are just 7-6-3 at Madison Square Garden.

Philadelphia Flyers (5th place, 34 points): Goaltending

This was supposed to be the year something besides goaltending killed the Flyers.

But Carter Hart hasn’t taken the step forward anticipated of him with a record of 8-8-3, a .875 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.85. And Brian Elliott is a marginal goalie (7-4-1, .892, 2.88) being asked to do more while Hart figures it out.

Entering play Tuesday night, Philadelphia’s team save percentage of .881 was tied for last in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators. Their 5-on-5 save percentage of .894 is dead last. That’s despite the Flyers ranking only 26th in high-danger scoring chances against while 5-on-5 (68).

Boston Bruins (4th place, 36 points): Goal-scoring depth

The Bruins need more goal scoring beyond their top three of Patrice Bergeron (10 goals/25 points), David Pastrnak (14 goals/26 points) and Brad Marchand (12 goals/34 points). They’ve combined for 36 of the team’s 75 goals.

After that, it ain’t much. Only one other player — Nick Ritchie (8) — has more than five goals. Charlie McAvoy and David Krejci are the only other players with more than 15 points. Krejci has one goal and 15 assists.

The Bruins are 21st in goals per game at 2.68, the worst average of any team currently in a playoff position. Yet their 31.6 shots per game is fourth best in the NHL.

Most of their players just can’t finish right now. Their shooting percentage of 8.5% is 25th in the league.

Pittsburgh Penguins (3rd place, 40 points): Injuries/forward depth

The goaltending has been better of late than it was to start the year. And the blue line has stabilized with all eight of the franchise’s top defensemen skating again after a stretch of injuries at the start of the season.

But with Evgeni Malkin, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Tanev and Jason Zucker all currently injured, the Penguins struggle to ice a team with a forward group worthy of anyone’s top six.

Let alone a top nine or 12. The top line of Sidney Crosby between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust is still very good. Beyond that, the only top-six worthy player able to suit up right now is Kasperi Kapanen.

The Penguins lacked forward depth before the injuries. Now they are paper-thin.

Washington Capitals (2nd place, 44 points): Getting to the power play

I may have said goaltending for them, as I did Philly. Washington is 21st in team save percentage (.901). But Vitek Vanecek has won six of seven. And in five of those wins, he allowed two goals or less.

How will he do in the playoffs? Who knows. That’s a legit question.

But it’s tough to find a potentially fatal flaw right now for the Capitals. They’ve won seven of eight. But I’m going to say getting to the power play. The Washington man-up unit scores at a 25.6% clip. That’s best in the East and sixth in the NHL. But it’s not on the ice enough.

The Caps have only had 78 power-play opportunities. Entering play Tuesday night, only Buffalo had fewer.

Does that mean the Caps aren’t skating enough to draw penalties? They aren’t getting enough calls from the officials? They are up comfortably enough in most games that they don’t need to draw the calls? Maybe it’s a little bit of everything.

But with a power play that good, the Caps would benefit by getting it out there more often. Maybe that goes hand in hand with needing a few more goals from their blue line. John Carlson has seven. Dmitry Orlov has three. He is the only other defenseman with more than two.

Although lots of teams in the East may be asking for that, too.

In Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” hockey podcast, TribLive Penguins beat writer Seth Rorabaugh pointed to age as a potential issue down the stretch for Washington. The Caps entered the 2021 season with the league’s oldest average age of a roster at 29.7 years.

“They are an older team,” Rorabaugh said. “A lot of guys in their thirties. And they didn’t get younger this offseason adding Justin Schultz and Zdeno Chara — good players who have won championships in this league — but they didn’t make the team any younger. Going through this grind (with the compressed schedule) that every team is going through, is it a little harder for one of the older teams in the league?”

The rest of the East better hope so.

New York Islanders (1st place, 46 points): The schedule

As of now, the Islanders don’t have the luxury of playing the Sabres or Devils again until the last week of the season.

Between now and May 3, every game the Islanders play will be against the top six teams in the East Division.

That said, they close with four games against those two clubs. So if the Islanders need points late to qualify for the playoffs or get in a better position for them, there will be points to be had.

The Islanders could also help themselves by narrowing their home-road splits. New York is an excellent 13-1-2 on home ice. But they are 8-7-2 on the road.

In Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” hockey podcast, Seth Rorabaugh gives his opinions on what may be the biggest stumbling block for each East Division team. We look at the depth challenges facing the Penguins. And plunge further into the problems facing the Buffalo Sabres as they come to PPG Paints Arena for games on Wednesday and Thursday.

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