Even skeptics of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ plan to keep its aging core together for 2022-23 could rely on one angle for optimism heading into the season.

If you looked at the Eastern Conference in 2021, there was a 16-point gap between the last playoff spot (the Washington Capitals with 100 points) and the ninth-place team in the playoff chase (the New York Islanders with 84 points). The Penguins were comfortably tucked into the third Metropolitan Division postseason slot with 103 points.

If any of last year’s Eastern Conference playoff teams regress, would they really tumble out of the top eight? And even if they did nosedive, was there any team looming from the second cut of the conference that would be good enough to make up that sizable amount of ground?

Unfortunately for the Penguins, the answers to those questions so far are “yes” and “yes.”

Come to think of it, you could say “unfortunately” for the Capitals too, as they prepare to host the Penguins on Wednesday night.

Right now, the Penguins — losers of seven games in a row — have just 10 points, 14th out of 16 teams in the East. The Caps aren’t much better at 14 points. Neither are the New York Rangers at 15 points.

It’s early in the season, but all three of those teams are currently out of playoff positioning, with the likes of the New Jersey Devils (18 points), Detroit Red Wings (16) and Islanders (16) currently in a playoff slot.

So maybe the gap between the “haves and have-nots” isn’t as big as we thought in the East. Especially in the case of Washington and the Pens, maybe they’ve fallen off more than we want to admit.

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At the start of the season, the Pens and Caps were the two oldest teams in the NHL. The Penguins average age was 29.9. Washington’s was 29.6.

With guys like Alex Ovechkin (37), T.J. Oshie (35), Lars Eller (33) and John Carlson (32) remaining on the roster, the Caps are obviously still inclined to hold on to a large group of their star players from the 2018 Cup team, as the Pens are to hold on to the guys that won Cups in 2016 and 2017.

But the results have been similarly poor. Washington hasn’t endured a seven-game slide as the Pens have. But Monday’s 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday just snapped a funk that saw the Caps drop four in a row and five of six.

At least Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov provided a “turn back the clock” kind of moment along the way.

Just an all-world setup from Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8). pic.twitter.com/aqOlNPjDcb

— NHL (@NHL) November 8, 2022

With age comes injury. Via the Associated Press, Washington played Monday’s game without Carlson, Oshie, Dmitry Orlov, Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Connor Brown, Carl Hagelin and Beck Malenstyn. That’s $40 million in salary cap hits out of the lineup because of injury.

Veterans Jeff Carter and Jason Zucker have already missed time this year for the Penguins. So have younger players Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentzel.

Also, like the Penguins, prior to Monday night’s win, the normally skilled Caps were having scoring issues. They only tallied 10 goals in that six-game stretch. The Pens are only averaging 2.29 goals per game during their losing streak. Projected over the course of this season, that would be pacing at the second-lowest rate in the league.

Then there’s the topic of blowing leads. The Penguins propensity for doing so has been well-chronicled. Meanwhile, in all four of their defeats during their losing streak, the Capitals had a lead at one point in the game.

One player who is heating up, though, is Ovechkin. After being held without a goal in five of his first six games, Ovechkin has now scored in three in a row and five of six. He’s up to eight goals and 13 points on the season. And the Caps’ power play just scored four times in five tries against the Oilers.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, that is not exactly what the Penguins want to hear if they are looking at their longtime rivals from Washington as a team that may be struggling as much as they are.

In this week’s hockey podcast, Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network joins me to discuss the team’s recent issues and Wednesday’s game in Washington.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer talk Penguins hockey

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