It is taking the Pittsburgh Penguins a lot of minutes to win games lately. But the good news is that they are winning. In back to back games against the Flyers and the Devils, as well on Monday night versus the Detroit Red Wings, the Penguins needed overtime to win. The Penguins needed not only overtime, but the shootout to beat each of those teams and keep up a pace that no one thought possible when both Sid and Geno went down with injuries.

Beating the Red Wings 5-4, the Flyers 2-1 and the Devils 1-0 is going a long way to keeping the Penguins not only in fourth place in the East, but in the hunt, barely, for the top slot in the Atlantic. While Brent Johnson and the Pens blew a 4-0 lead in Detroit requiring the win in the shoot out, it was Marc-Andre Fleury that kept the Penguins in the Flyers and Devils games. Fleury made 19 saves on a paltry 20 shots against Philly and 21 saves plus three more in the shoot out against New Jersey who, after a hot streak to try and make the playoffs, seem to be fading fast.

The problem though is that while the Penguins are winning, they are putting a lot of extra minutes on their bodies. Especially when you consider that these latest three overtime games are part of a disturbing trend where the Penguins just cannot seem to win in regulation. Face it, there are no shootouts in the playoffs and overtimes will go on as long as it takes to get a winner. The Penguins will not be able to rely on shutting down opponents and holding on and waiting for a chance to win it one on one in the shootout once the drive for Lord Stanley’s Cup begins in earnest in a couple weeks.

On the flip side however, the Penguins are proving that they can play with, and win, even the elite teams in the league while their own stars are hurt. That makes the Penguins dangerous as is. Perhaps the most dangerous team in the East and a team that only gets more dangerous when Sidney Crosby, now skating and practicing without ill effects, returns to the line-up. The Penguins are playing playoff hockey already and they are winning doing it.

The only real concern is how much the extra miles on their legs will catch up with them come the official start of the playoffs.

There is no denying it; the Penguins have problems. Despite loads of talent, the forwards are not playing up to snuff (Malkin has been downright horrid), the defense since the return of Brooks Orpik and Michalek has been porous and Marc-Andre Fleury, despite his earlier troubles being related to the problems on the rest of the team, has been getting worse in net. The team had been just 1-4-1 in their last six heading into Pheonix. And after Fleury looked like he had forgotten everything there is to know about playing between the pipes the Coyotes mounted a 2-0 lead over the Penguins on just five shots.

Fleury, not looking like he had a clue in net, was pulled in favor of Brent Johnson who backstopped the Penguins the rest of the way. Pittsburgh came back with two goals in the second, one of which was score by Malkin (4) to tie the game in the second. Pheonix went back on top 3-2 and then with the period winding down the anemic Penguins power play finally found the net as Kunitz (3) netted the game tying goal.

The third period wound away, then overtime passed. It wasn’t until the final shooter of the shootout that the Penguins sealed the deal. And that final shooter was not Crosby or Malkin but rookie Mark Letestu. Puck in net. Pens win 4-3 in the shoot out.

Now the Penguins (7-7-1) have a few days off before returning home to host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, November 10th at 7:00PM. I don’t know what they will do with that time off. But hopefully they will realize, finally, how bad they are as a team right now and take no solace that they escaped Pheonix with a win.

The Penguins ended an important road trip a perfect 5-0 by defeating the Washington Capitals in a shootout Sunday 4-3. The win keeps the Penguins in the 8th and final playoff spot in the East. The Penguins were lead Sunday by newly acquired Bill Guerin who had three points (1G, 2A) and also got tallies from Crosby (25) and Gonchar (3) during the sixty physical minutes of regulation.

The Pens dominated through the first forty minutes of play carrying a 3-1 lead into the final period but break downs early in the third lead to Washington evening the score on two goals in the first 1:18 of the frame. Both teams traded scoring chances for the rest of the game and eventually wound up in the shootout. Fleury was perfect stopping all three shots he faced including Alexander Ovechkin while Sidney Crosby beat Jose Theodore for the win.

Pittsburgh is now 35-26-6 on the season with 76 points and they needed each of the wins they earned on this road trip to climb into and cling to the final playoff spot. Pittsburgh is surging with a record of 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and are returning home to host the Florida Panthers in yet another must win game for position in the post season.