What has worked and what hasn't for the Penguins this season?

With 42 games played this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have plenty of work ahead of them.

To be precise, they have 40 games ahead of them.

The obvious goal is a playoff spot after seeing a 16-year postseason streak end last spring. Coming into Thursday’s games, the Penguins (21-15-6, 48 points) were one point out of the second and final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. They were part of a pack of seven teams with between 51 and 47 points in the standings.

Just past the midway point of 2023-24 season, the Penguins remain a work in progress. What have they done well? What can they do better?

Here’s a look:

What’s worked

Divisional play

When he took over as president of hockey operations in June, Kyle Dubas identified a better record against Metropolitan Division rivals as an immediate area of focus.

So far, the Penguins are only 6-4-3 in division games this season. That is hardly a reason to celebrate. But considering they were 10-10-6 in division games last season, there has been some incremental improvement.

“Definitely been a little bit of progress, because I think we were horrible last year,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said earlier this month. “So it’s definitely (important to) win some games in the division and try to make up some ground or have those quote-unquote four-point games. Win those and keep winning those when they are presented to us, I think, is huge.”

Goaltending

When Alex Nedeljkovic was signed as an unrestricted free agent, he wasn’t just added to the mix to be an upgrade over previous backup goaltender Casey DeSmith.

Nedeljkovic, once selected to the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 2020-21, was acquired to challenge incumbent starter Tristan Jarry for playing time.

That approach was intended to push Jarry to play better while also sparing him some wear and tear. So far, those designs have worked as hoped as the Penguins have allowed only 112 goals, the third fewest in the NHL.

As for Jarry, he is healthy. No such thing could be said after Jan. 2 last season when various injuries hobbled him in the final months of the season.

“They’re bringing out the best in each other, and we feel like we have 1 and 1A,” coach Mike Sullivan said Jan. 10. “They’ve both played extremely well and have been deserving of being in the net. It makes for a difficult coaching decision every night, but that’s a good challenge to have.”

What needs work

Power play

With a conversion rate of 13.7%, the Penguins power play is operating at a clip well below even the most modest of expectations for a group that harbors a handful of future Hockey Hall of Famers.

Even the underwhelming 2022-23 squad operated at a room-temperature pace of 21.7%.

How does it get better?

“It always comes down to execution, getting ourselves a chance and not turning it over,” Crosby said Sunday. “That’s a big key. For the most part, our entries have been pretty good. It’s a matter of making sure we handle a team’s pressure. Just try to work the other team’s (penalty kill) with the skill that we have. We’ll make plays from there.”

Overtime

The Penguins won their first overtime game of the season in marvelous fashion when Bryan Rust scored to give his team a 4-3 road victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 9.

Since then, they’ve dropped five consecutive games that have been determined in overtime.

(They are 2-1 in games determined in shootouts.)

“We’ve had moments when we’ve been good,” Sullivan said after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 11. “We’ve had moments when we haven’t been. Overtime, it’s a difficult situation, I think, to assess because when there’s a scoring chance, there tends to be a ripple effect. Or a domino effect. We get a three-on-one (rush) and they end up with a breakaway goal. If we score on the three-on-one, then how do we assess our overtime? We’re pretty happy, we like it. That’s why I think overtime is a difficult circumstance or situation to assess.

“There’s an element of chance that’s associated with it that is hard to predict.”