Full strength and Penguins not found in same sentence

Things never have settled for the Penguins this season. Not yet.

We still have two months to go, and all that matters is how they perform in the playoffs (yes, I’m assuming they’ll still qualify). But, at some point, you’d like to be able to distinguish them from half the other teams in the league, right?

At some point, you’d like to see the winds die down — and that day was not Wednesday.

Not with the news that oft-injured goaltender Matt Murray was being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

Not with the prospect of more lineup shuffling after a 4-0 loss to Carolina.

Not with the need to assimilate two new players as the Penguins headed for a challenging, three-game trip.

Coach Mike Sullivan spoke of wanting to establish “an identity” coming out of the All-Star break, but his team has lost three of five since then and given up 18 goals in the process. That’s not the kind of identity he was talking about.

Roles remain unclear. Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann — additions I really like — just hopped on board. Two hugely important players (Evgeni Malkin, Justin Schultz) remain out, though Schultz’s return appears imminent. Patric Hornqvist hasn’t quite looked like his robust self since returning from his latest concussion. Other players are un-erforming.

Murray remains a conundrum. His body of work since the beginning of last season is somewhat alarming, and yet I don’t vehemently disagree with NBC analyst Keith Jones, who told 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday, “He’s in the top five [among goalies] for me. I base it all on the fact he’s won two Stanley Cups.”

Jones added: “I do think there are injury issues. How lightly he’s put together may contribute to some of the injuries. But I would love to have him starting in goal for me if I were standing behind the bench when the playoffs roll around, and that’s why I grade him as high as I do.”

The Penguins need Murray at his best if they intend to get anywhere.

Meanwhile, this probably isn’t what Sullivan wanted to be saying two weeks clear of the break, but this is what he was saying Wednesday when asked about lineup changes: “All things are on the table. The reality is we’ve had stable defense pairs and fairly stable line combinations for a significant amount of games. We’re 4-6 in the last 10. And so the way I look at it is there’s always that fine line between riding through it or trying to effect a little bit of change or a little bit or urgency or whatever the word is to describe it.

“All I know is this group is capable of more, and our expectation is higher, and we’re going to continue to try to find ways to be proactive to get this team playing at the level we think it’s capable of.”

Chief among the underperformers is Tanner Pearson, a Missing Pearson of late. He has all of 11 shots and one point in his past nine games and was the only player in the lineup who somehow failed to direct a hockey puck toward Carolina’s net Tuesday (that includes blocked shots and missed shots, not just shots on goal). Other than ice time, there’s no record of Pearson

having played.

It sure looks to me as if Malkin and the Penguins miss Carl Hagelin. On his good days, though, Pearson can make a play and finish one and provide a bit of an edge. The Penguins need to see that guy more often.

Pearson, like the dearly departed Derick Brassard, leaves one wondering what, precisely, the Penguins have here, and in that he is emblematic of the team itself. The Penguins don’t dictate enough. They don’t dominate enough. They don’t have a clear identity.

Are they a fast team? A physical team? An offensive juggernaut? They would appear to be all those and none of those, depending on the day.

But here’s the reality: It’s impossible to establish a true personality when key players are missing all the time. Continuity and role definition create an identity. The Penguins have had neither, but then, they have been without a top-four defenseman (Schultz) nearly all season and keep losing the Malkins, Hornqvists and Murrays of the world.

That’s not an excuse. It’s a reality as the Penguins prepare to face three formidable opponents. The Panthers are 4-2 in their past six with victories against Toronto, Nashville, Vegas and San Jose. The Lightning is the best team in the league (and definitely not searching for an identity). The Flyers have won eight in a row.

On the other hand, opportunity knocks on a trip like this. Things could change at any moment. I still believe this team is eminently capable of a long playoff run. I’d love to see how it performs at full strength.

I just wonder if we’ll ever see it in that condition.