For as often as the Pittsburgh Penguins have made life difficult for themselves this season, they earned more breathing room than they were given Monday night.

Unfortunately for them, thanks to two first-period disallowed goals on weak goalie interference interpretations, the Pens were forced to sweat out another result.

Unlike Saturday night against the Boston Bruins, though, this one went in their favor.

And unlike Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings, they didn’t barf up a lead that would require overtime heroics to get a win.

No, this time, the Penguins were able to secure a victory after sustaining a multi-goal edge, beating the Nashville Predators 4-2 in the final home game of the season.

Although, in typical Penguins fashion, there were a few tense moments.

A 2-0 lead for the Pens heading into the second period really should’ve been at least 3-0 if not for a pair of chintzy goaltender interference calls that erased first period scores from Kris Letang and Michael Bunting. Sidney Crosby got the first one back on the same power play that initially yielded the Bunting marker.

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 16, 2024

That 2-0 advantage eventually was whittled down to 2-1 after Nashville’s Gustav Nyquist scored. Reilly Smith and Filip Forsberg then swapped goals before the end of 40 minutes, so the Penguins went to the second intermission up 3-2.

For a change, however, the Penguins’ lead was secure enough to hold without overtime drama. That was a crucial departure, as playing better with the lead allowed the club to keep its playoff hopes alive through 81 games played.

“We stayed mentally resilient despite them clawing their way back to 3-2,” forward Lars Eller said. “We tried to keep the heat on them in the third and played aggressive. What we did well in the first, we kept playing that game. We weren’t afraid of losing. We wanted to get that next goal. And we did. That was encouraging.”

Ever since the calendar turned to March, the Penguins have let multi-goal leads to Calgary, Colorado and Columbus slip through their fingers and result in losses. They also lost in Toronto 3-2 despite scoring the first goal and gave a point to the playoff-rival Red Wings by fumbling a 5-3 advantage that eventually wound up as a 6-5 overtime win.

That’s to say nothing of a 4-1 blown lead against Tampa Bay that, somehow, resulted in a 5-4 regulation win.

Thursday, though, with the knowledge that a loss in regulation would have ended their season, the Penguins managed to tighten up and play the right way often enough over the last 20 minutes to not only hold their lead but extend it on an Emil Bemstrom goal.

Pettersson to Karlsson to Bemstrom to the back of the net! The Swedes connect and give the Penguins the 4-2 lead over the Predators. pic.twitter.com/1IepsXndL6

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 16, 2024

“What I liked was our response after they scored,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We didn’t get on our heels. We didn’t let it affect our mindset. We just kept playing. We had that ‘next shift’ attitude.”

Perhaps the reality of their situation also came into play for the Penguins at the start of the game. They insulated goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic after he had been pulled Saturday. He only had to face five shots over the first 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the Pens launched 20 at Preds goalie Juuse Saros.

“I thought we had a great start, a really good first period,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “We played with a lot of energy early on. Dictated the pace. We didn’t give them too much. And I thought the specialty units made a big difference.”

The efforts of the Penguins skaters was appreciated by Nedeljkovic, who stopped 28 of 30 shots after allowing 15 goals over his previous four starts, to go along with a less-than-impressive .854 save percentage.

“They were excellent. They shut them down,” Nedeljkovic said of his defensemen and forwards. “We made it difficult for them all night. We made it a point in pregame, talking about tightening it down defensively. Be a little better in our own end. It showed tonight.”

Basically, the Penguins game Monday was like sneaking in a Major League Baseball game with thunder rumbling in the distance and heat-lightning on the horizon, but not a raindrop until the final out is recorded.

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All the tell-tale signs of trouble were there:

• Wobbly lead

• Bad breaks from officials

• Counterpunching from the opposition

The clouds never burst, and the Penguins stayed afloat for one more game.

A lot still needs to happen for the Pens to make the playoffs. On Tuesday, both the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings have to lose (in either regulation or overtime), and the Penguins have to win against the New York Islanders on Wednesday. Or those two teams have to lose in regulation while the Pens earn at least one point against the Islanders.

That’s a lot of moving parts. The Pens have rarely gotten all their parts to move in sync over the first 80 games of the year. At least in Game 81, that happened to keep a pulse beating.

Now other forces need to be at work beyond how they handle their own business in Game 82 if the once proud Penguins are to return to the playoffs after missing out a year ago.

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