Ron Hextall takes a lot more than just the final score into consideration when assessing how his team performs.
Even so, his evaluation of their play through the first three weeks of this season is a lot like the Penguins' 3-3-2 record.
"A lot of it has been really good," Hextall said Tuesday. "And some of it hasn't been so good."
Much of the latter has come during the three-game losing streak the Penguins will take into their meeting with the Flyers Thursday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
Hextall was pleased with much of what he witnessed during a 4-0 loss to the Flames last Thursday, when Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom finished with 45 saves, but that game was sandwiched by lackluster showings against the Lightning in a 5-1 defeat and the Devils in a 4-2 loss.
"The Calgary game, I thought we played really well," Hextall said. "We did everything except score. Their goaltender played well. We have to find ways to score, but we played a pretty good game, in all three zones.
"The Jersey game, I did not like, and the Tampa game, I thought we were poor, so two of our last three games, we haven't been very good. When you lose three games in a row, you're never happy, but you do have to look at the way your team played. Two of those three games, we got what we deserved."
Predictably enough, given the up-and-down nature of the Penguins' season to date, Hextall said that "our consistency is the one thing I'd like to see (be) a little bit better."
The Penguins, of course, have not had their lineup of choice intact for any of the first eight games, and won't anytime soon since Evgeni Malkin doesn't appear to be particularly close to returning from offseason knee surgery.
Their first-line forwards -- Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust -- already have combined to miss 14 man-games (seven by Crosby) and Kris Letang, the cornerstone of their defense corps, spent the past four in the COVID-19 protocol.
Letang exited the protocol Monday and skated for the second consecutive day Tuesday, but Hextall said he doesn't have a sense of when Letang will be back in the lineup.
The Penguins did get a couple of key guys back for the Devils game, when Crosby returned after recovering from wrist surgery and Jeff Carter got out of the COVID-19 protocol, but defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel entered the protocol Sunday.
Although the season is less than a month old, the Penguins have just 11 forwards and defensemen who have dressed for every game.
One who has is right winger Kasperi Kapanen, who has yet to score this season. Neither he nor Guentzel, who has one goal in seven games, has produced to expectations, although Hextall seems hopeful that both will rebound.
"There's more there, from both guys," he said. "They know that, and we know that. (Kapanen) had a really good preseason and I think we all kind of expected him to keep going, and it hasn't been the same. Sometimes, with guys who need to produce, once they get a couple of goals -- even if they get a lucky one off a leg or something -- things tend to start to roll, so hopefully in the near future here, they'll score a goal or two and get rolling for us, because we certainly need them."
While those two have underachieved, Hextall noted that others have performed at -- or above -- the level anticipated going into the season.
"(Evan Rodrigues) has done a real good job in an elevated position for us," he said. "Danton Heinen has been pretty good and (Jason Zucker) started scoring some goals here, so that's obviously good to see. I think John Marino, over the course of this season, has been better. Marcus Pettersson has been better. There are some good signs.
"It will certainly be nice to get some guys back here, to get Sid and Jeff back for a couple of games and, hopefully, get (Letang) back. And hopefully, see a little bit more of a semblance of what we have (in terms of personnel).
"With five top guys out of your lineup, it's hard to try to figure out exactly what you have, but it has given other players a chance to step up and show us what they're capable of doing. What they need to continue to do is continue to step up with Sid and Jeff back in the lineup, and when (Letang) gets back. That's what could make us a really good team."
One guy who might be contributing more than many envisioned at this stage of his career is Drew O'Connor, a second-year pro who has moved up and down the lineup and worked at both center and on the wing. And acquitted himself admirably at both.
"We kind of thought going in(to the season) that we had one spot open for someone to grab, and Drew certainly grabbed it," Hextall said. "He's done a really good job. He's certainly a much better player than he was a year ago. I think part of that -- from talking to him, getting to know him a little bit, talking to the coaches -- is that he feels like he belongs this year. I think that last year, there was a sense that he wasn't exactly sure where he fit. I think he feels like he belongs this year. He's done a real good job for us and is probably a little bit of a surprise."
Hextall did not directly respond to a question about whether he feels any urgency to make a trade or other personnel move, but seemed to imply that generally solid showings by members of the team's supporting cast make aggressively seeking outside help unnecessary at this point.
"We've seen that we have pretty good depth," he said. "If you look at the upside, when you say that you have five guys out of the lineup, what do you learn? I learned that we have pretty good depth. Dom Simon and (Sam Lafferty), Danton Heinen and Brian Boyle, (O'Connor, Zach) Aston-Reese, (Teddy) Blueger, (Brock) McGinn, our depth has been really good.
"Even on the blue line, Chad and Mark Friedman have done a good job for us, and P.O (Joseph) is up now, so we'll see. We saw Juuso (Riikola) the other day. The one thing they've proven to us is that our depth is good, and that's obviously a good sign."
