Even though they almost let it slip away on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins won all four games on their Western Conference road trip and mostly did so in impressive fashion. They beat the Seattle Kraken, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers by multiple goals, with all three games being rather convincing wins, and then had a 3-0 lead on the Vancouver Canucks going into the third period. They needed goalie Stuart Skinner to stand on his head a little bit to secure that win, but the bottom line is he did, they got the two points, and they remain one of the best teams in the NHL since the holiday break with an 11-2-2 record in their first 15 games since then.

What that means for the standings:

• The Penguins are tied for the seventh-best points percentage (.618) in the entire NHL.
• Their goal-differential is tied for the sixth-best in the NHL.
• They are tied for the fourth-best points percentage (.618) in the Eastern Conference.
• They are four points ahead of the New York Islanders for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division in the same number of games played.
• They are on a 101-point pace for the season.
• The current playoff cut-off line in the Eastern Conference is 98 points in the wild-card race and 94 points in the Metropolitan Division.

Overall, they have put themselves in a pretty good spot.

They have a chance to keep it going on this upcoming three-game home stand against the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators.

The home stand begins on Thursday night against Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks. The Penguins won the first meeting this season, 7-3, back on Dec. 28 in Chicago to kickstart this recent strong stretch of play.

While Bedard is a blossoming superstar in the NHL, the Blackhawks as a whole are still not particularly good. They enter the week having won just three of their past nine games, have the sixth-worst record in the NHL and some of the worst 5-on-5 scoring chance and possession metrics in the NHL.

They are 30th in 5-on-5 expected goal share and 28th in expected goals against per 60 minutes. That should be a winnable game.

On Saturday the Penguins host former head coach Mike Sullivan and the Rangers for a celebration of the 2016 Stanley Cup team. Several former players will be in the house, and it should be another chance to collect some points against a Rangers team that is currently, by far, the worst team in the Eastern Conference. They are even worse due to the current injuries to top defenseman Adam Fox and starting goalie Igor Shesterkin. Aside from the injuries, the Rangers simply have a lack of offensive talent that limits their scoring ability and ability to push play during 5-on-5 hockey. It is a poorly constructed team that is currently without two of the players it could least afford to be without. The Penguins and Rangers have split the first two games this season, with the Penguins getting a 3-0 win in New York in the season opener, and the Rangers getting a 6-1 win in Sullivan’s first return back to Pittsburgh as an opposing coach.

Even the Monday against the Senators is a winnable game. Ottawa is probably better than its record indicates and has been ruined by awful goaltending all season, but there is still a chance there for more points.

The two big wild cards this week for the Penguins are going to be the availability of forwards Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin seemed to be in pain at the end of Sunday’s game when he was bumped on the bench in celebration of the win.

Rust, meanwhile, could be facing a potential suspension for a hit to the head late in Sunday’s win against the Canucks.

Any potential absence of either player (or both) would disrupt the line chemistry the Penguins have really started to develop over the past few weeks.

Even so, given the way the Penguins are playing, and given the teams on the schedule this week, it would be a bit of a disappointment to not come out of this week with four points. That should be a realistic expectation and goal.