Penguins can compete in brutal division

For all the grief they have absorbed, a fair amount deserved, these Penguins are hanging in there. I don’t know how they’re hanging in there, given their abominable special teams (power play — 9.8 percent on the road; penalty kill — off to one of the worst starts in franchise history). But they are.

In fact, since the two season-opening losses in Philadelphia, the Penguins are 126-1. That is a 108-point pace over an 82-game season — and 108 points would have gotten you the 2 seed in the East and the 1 seed in the West two years ago, the last time we saw a normal

hockey season.

But those are just numbers culled from an arbitrary chunk of time. What matters more is what we saw Tuesday against those same Flyers.

Namely, superior goaltending, quality special teams, opportunistic offense and an intense will to win. Those were the main ingredients in the Penguins’ far-from-perfect but well-deserved 5-2 victory. And those will have to be the ingredients moving forward if this team is going to make it through “Survivor: NHL East.”

Five teams, four spots. That’s the deal, and this is the Penguins’ mandate: Break even or a little better against the Bruins, Islanders, Capitals and Flyers and clean up against the rest of the division, notably the New Jersey Devils and wretched Buffalo Sabres.

While other teams have been fattening themselves on the chum that is New Jersey and Buffalo — seven of the Capitals 12 wins, five of the Flyers’ 11 wins and five of the Islanders’ 12 wins have come against those teams — the Penguins have yet to play either.

Half of the Penguins’ final 32 games are against the Devils and Sabres, including stretches of seven of eight and seven of nine. But that won’t matter if they don’t consistently bring it before then, the way they did against the Flyers.

And by that, in part, I mean winning their share of puck battles and getting to the net.

Despite some issues with puck management (hello, Teddy Blueger), the Penguins did plenty of both.

Kasperi Kapanen played an inspired game after a soso month that saw coach Mike Sullivan bench him against the Islanders. Asked about it afterward, Sullivan didn’t mince words. Rarely will you hear him be so critical of a player.

“I was trying to find guys that were bringing it, that were competing hard and were going to give us the best chance to win,” Sullivan said that night.

Them are fightin’ words. Kapanen responded. It’s pretty simple, actually. His incredible speed is useless without some heart behind it. And he needs to finish if he’s going to be among the top six.

He did all of that Tuesday. His breakaway goal completely changed the tenor of the game, but it was Kapanen’s willingness to go to bad places — the corners, the net front — that stood out. He was a maniac on the forecheck.

Evgeni Malkin, too, was in playoff mode, which was desperately needed in Sidney Crosby’s absence. Malkin did not dominate, by any means, but was fully engaged in the dozens of small puck battles that decide games. He played both ends. He could have had three or four points. He was a considerable presence.

As for the net-front, the Penguins have sometimes seemed allergic to it. There have been games where they barely touched the goaltender. That was decidedly not the case against Carter Hart.

Look at the second and third goals. You know you’re competing when one of your players is draped over the goalie’s back, as was the case when Jake Guentzel — who takes an unholy beating — was smashed into a fallen Hart on Kapanen’s second goal.

No fewer than four Penguins fit within a tight camera shot of Hart on that power-play goal. That’s the formula. That’s where goals are scored.

Having said all that, the notoriously slow-starting Penguins probably lose if Tristan Jarry isn’t magnificent early (and pretty darn good in the third period). And you know what? He gets paid to be magnificent. He isn’t just here to “give his team a chance to win.” He’s here to sometimes be the reason they win — and almost never the reason they lose.

The Penguins chose Jarry over a goalie who won two Cups as a rookie. They gave him a new contract. They need him to be outstanding. They need him to be the better goalie most nights.

Jarry has found his game, in a big way. He’s hanging in there.

So are the Penguins.