From the outside looking in, there appears to be plenty of evidence in favor of panicking about the Pittsburgh Penguins and playoff prospects.

After beginning the season 4-0-1, the Penguins lost seven straight games from Oct. 24 to Nov. 5 — tying the franchise’s worst losing streak since Sidney Crosby’s rookie season in 2005-06.

From there, the Penguins rebounded in impressive fashion, going 15-3-3 from Nov. 9 through Dec. 22, which included win streaks of five and seven.

But just as it looked as if the Penguins were finding their rhythm, the team suffered another five-game slump starting in late December that continued into the New Year.

Dating to Dec. 27, the Penguins are 5-7-4.

With a 24-16-9 record and 57 points, they sit eighth in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the Metropolitan Division, clinging to the second wild-card spot.

Penguins players have tried to stay even-keeled through the ups and downs.

“We know we’re in a dogfight,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “We’ve talked about the importance of bringing the urgency every night, with our division so tight, to get us into a playoff spot. At the same time, you’ve also got to keep a good mood in the locker room. You can’t always be nagging at each other.”

Given the presence of multiple future Hall of Famers in the Penguins locker room, not to mention the veteran-heavy composition of the roster, coach Mike Sullivan shouldn’t have to worry about his players getting down in the dumps as a result of poor performances or stretches of play. But he still faces challenges.

“I think as a coaching staff, you always keep a pulse on your team regardless of the situation,” Sullivan said. “You’re trying to influence the group mindset as best as you can to set the team up for success. I think that’s part of coaching. … As a coaching staff, we’re always trying to get a sense of where the mindset is at so that we can try to influence it the best way we can.”

Aside from mindset, on-ice items Sullivan and his staff will need to attend to post-All-Star Weekend center around defense and goaltending.

Netminder Casey DeSmith is on pace for a number of statistical career worsts, including goals-against average (3.35) and save percentage (.901).

With Tristan Jarry’s ongoing injury woes, DeSmith has shouldered more of the load but is 7-10-4.

However, the defensive struggles go beyond him, as evidenced during a 6-4 home loss to lowly San Jose (15-25-11, 13th place in the Western Conference) on Jan. 28.

Such a game had even the Penguins’ captain at somewhat of a loss to directly pinpoint what has been going wrong of late.

“It’s different,” Crosby said after the loss. “Some nights, maybe we’re forcing things. Other nights, we’re making mental mistakes. It’s not consistently the same thing. But all those add up and end up in the back of our net. We’ve got to solve it.”

The good news for the Penguins is despite ongoing struggles and multiple slumps, they remain in striking distance of multiple Eastern Conference teams in the playoff hunt: Washington (60 points) and the New York Rangers (62 points) in particular.

But suffice to say, the walls are closing in as the Penguins seek a 17th consecutive playoff berth.

“We need to be better,” Sullivan said. “The expectations are higher. We’ve got to do a better job, in my mind, of being harder to play against. We generate offense consistently, and we score goals consistently. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping (the puck) out of our net.”

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