The standings are chest-squeezingly tight. Time is running out. Injuries are stacking up. Parts of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ game – particularly the part about giving up too many goals – have waned.

So what sort of response does the team expect of itself as a spot in the playoffs is growing more precarious with just 11 games left?

Well, it’s not exactly John Belushi imploring his besties to not give up – “Was it over when Germany bombed Pearl Harbor?”

But the Penguins have gotten out of jams before this season, and they seem ready to spit in the eye of pressure during this stretch run.

“I feel like the team, backs against the wall, we’re going to come out and play hard,” Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon said after practice Wednesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “We’ve just got to stick to our identity here and hopefully have some success in the games coming up.”

Those games coming up are quite the gauntlet, beginning Thursday at Ottawa. The Senators are one of six teams clustered within four points in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference wildcard spots.

Ottawa holds the second and last wildcard position in the East and is just one point behind the Penguins, who fell a spot to third in the Metro after Tuesday’s 6-2 loss at home against Colorado, on the heels of a 5-1 loss to Carolina, also at home.

Over their past four games, the Penguins have given up 21 goals. And injuries are popping up. Forwards Evgeni Malkin and Blake Lizotte already were injured, and now forward Anthony Mantha could miss a game or more.

The Penguins have not lost as many as three straight games since their one big eight-game season swoon in December when they went 0-4-4. In fact, they have not dropped three in a row at any other point.

They also have not lost the understated swagger that has carried them to something well beyond widespread offseason expectations that they would not sniff the playoffs and sit out the postseason for a fourth straight spring.

“I think it’s just the belief in this group,” Penguins winger Justin Brazeau said. “I don’t think anybody looks at those last two games and is panicking or anything like that. We know we’ve got to get back on track, and we have a big chance in Ottawa.”

It’s not as if the schedule lightens up after Thursday. Two of the top NHL teams, Dallas and Tampa Bay, and two clubs in the same clump of Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls as the Penguins, the New York Islanders and Detroit, make up the following four games.

Penguins rookie head coach Dan Muse has learned enough about his players to trust that the resilience they have built will carry them through.

“It’s just what we’ve seen throughout the entire year. When things get hard or if we don’t like a game or a stretch or a couple of games, they’ve shown the response,” he said. “So I have no reason to think (they will handle things) otherwise based on what I’ve seen out of this group the entire year.”

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