There will be increased importance to each of the last 20 games on the Pittsburgh Penguins schedule.

Games following the trade deadline always have a higher-intensity as teams with playoff hopes look to enhance their position in the standings. In most cases for the last 16 years, the Pittsburgh Penguins were safely entrenched in a playoff spot and looking to work out the kinks in their game. This season, they find themselves in a dog fight.

The reality is that the Eastern Conference is a beast this season and that the Penguins enter play on Monday in the second wild card spot despite having games in hand on the New York Islanders who are currently above them.

If you haven’t noticed, the Penguins haven’t played a ton of Metropolitan Division games when you consider how deep into the season they are. With exactly 20 games left, the Penguins will play 11 games within the Metropolitan Division including six of the next seven.

An even weirder schedule quirk has the Penguins seeing the New York Rangers on Sunday for the first time since December 20th when they beat them 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena. Following that, during the same week, the Penguins will play two games at Madison Square Garden against their playoff foes from last season.

Unless you’re just tuning into the hockey season, those three games likely could determine the Penguins’ playoff positioning assuming they make it.

The Rangers have 79 points to the Penguins’ 71. Without giving the Rangers extra points, the Penguins could creep up on the Rangers and make things interesting in the standings. Currently, Pittsburgh is penciled in to play either Carolina Hurricanes or Boston Bruins in round one if they are to continue to reside in the wild card spot.

However, if they just so happen to take all three games in regulation against the Rangers, the Penguins could be within earshot of moving out of the wild card and being a top-three team in the division and likely getting an easier matchup. Give away too many of those six points, however, and they’ll be continuing to fight just to stay in the playoffs.

11 of the Penguins’ final 20 games will be against teams that currently can’t claim to be in a playoff spot. Their next opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets, are the worst team in the NHL with 46 points. They’ll play the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, and Philadelphia Flyers over the last 20 games and all three of those teams represent bottom-feeder squads this season.

There is a path for the Penguins to really pick up some points as their schedule lightens up the rest of the way. Outside of Ryan Poehling, the Penguins are as healthy as they’ve been all season and don’t have the excuse of missing players that are vital to their lineup.

The current equation adds up to a real opportunity for the Pittsburgh Penguins to win a handful of games and make a push for a non-wild card playoff spot to enhance their chances of drawing a more manageable opponent in round one.

When looking at the schedule, anything less than a playoff spot would be an abject failure.

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