The Stanley Cup playoffs remain quite a long shot for the Penguins, even after they extended their win streak to four by beating the Devils, 7-3, here at PPG Paints Arena.

They're now six points out of the final playoff spot behind Rangers, although New York holds two games in hand.

The point total alone isn't insurmountable ... it's the amount of teams between them and that spot -- the Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Red Wings, Bruins and Islanders all sit between the Penguins and Rangers, and all have games in hand. This win was the Penguins' 69th game, while all the teams above them in the wild card race have played between 65 and 67. Also, the Flyers are two points behind the Penguins with two fewer games played.

"It's a stretch," Noel Acciari acknowledged of the playoff hopes. "But anything could happen."

The Penguins continue to insist they will believe they have a shot at the playoffs until they're mathematically eliminated. But even if and when that happens, they'll add, their mindset approaching these games won't change. 

Kyle Dubas spoke after the trade deadline about it being time to shift to the "execution" phase of this retool, utilizing the picks and prospects and cap space they've created and attempting to return to contention as soon as possible. As such, the Penguins are trying to build something here.

"You want to create a winning atmosphere," Ryan Graves said. "You're not going to win the Stanley Cup every year, but you're building toward that. We're creating a culture. There's a culture that's already here, but you're trying to continue it, and you want to continue it through times of the downs, of the ebbs and flows. It's part of your obligation."

The Penguins have managed to do that through these four games. These haven't been easy opponents by any means -- the Wild, Golden Knights, Blues and Devils are all in playoff position or close contention -- and yet they've outscored those opponents, 18-9.

It's also how the wins are coming. The new, younger pieces Dubas has acquired are chipping in. Connor Dewar has three goals in his last two games -- including the Penguins' first goal in this one and the empty-netter that made it 6-3 -- after going goalless in 31 games with Toronto prior to the trade. Conor Timmons chipped in with a goal Thursday against the Blues, added two more assists today and had a plus-7 rating in those two games. Phil Tomasino, who had just an assist through 11 games with Nashville prior to that trade, now has 10 goals and nine assists in 40 games with the Penguins after adding one each Saturday. The mainstays have chipped in throughout, too, with Erik Karlsson adding a goal in this one and Sidney Crosby setting up Rickard Rakell's 31st goal.

"You know, we're having fun," Acciari told me. "We're just kind of like, 'This is our group.' After the trade deadline, we were waiting to see what was happening, and you've still got to play. We found a way to get four in a row, and we're going to try and keep this going."

Different skaters have contributed, but there's been one other constant.

"I think it can't go unnoticed that Jarrs is playing really well," Graves told me, referring to Tristan Jarry, who stopped 24 of 27 shots here. "A hot goalie can really turn a team around. We still give up three tonight, but it changes the way you feel there. It gives you more confidence. So it's good for him. He's made some really timely saves, and it's been good to see him do that."

Jarry now has a .930 save percentage and 2.24 goals-against average in four consecutive starts since being recalled from the AHL, worlds better than his .886 save percentage and 3.31 goals-against average in 22 games before the demotion. If the Penguins are to be better next season, Jarry finishing this one strong would be massive toward that -- either he establishes himself as the No. 1 again, or he makes himself more moveable this summer if the Penguins want any of their young goaltenders to make the jump.

It's probably not reasonable, though, to expect these Penguins to keep winning like this. There's a metric that essentially aims to quantify "puck luck" called PDO, that adds a team's save percentage and shooting percentage -- anything above 1.00 suggests that a team has some luck involved and is getting propped up by an abnormally high save percentage and/or shooting percentage, and anything under 1.00 suggests that a team is unlucky and not getting the bounces in either regard. In either case, teams generally regress to the mean over time. In the Penguins' four-game winning streak, they have a significantly high PDO at 1.145, the highest in the league by a wide margin over that time period. That's mainly getting propped up by an outrageously high shooting percentage of 21.43%, four percentage points higher than the next closest team.

Have the Penguins improved? Absolutely. The process has absolutely improved. They've shown a lot that is encouraging over this stretch. Even so, they are getting by with a fair amount of luck right now in addition to that. And when that luck runs out, that may cut short the already-slim playoff hopes.

Really, the important part right now is just the winning. They're beating good teams. The new players coming in are experiencing some semblance of a winning culture. By virtue of being still somewhat in the playoff race, they can experience what will likely be the most competitive hockey they've played all season. That's all good for next season ... and there's still the slimmest of small chances that it can pay off this year, too.

"Right now, we're just focusing on the next game. End on a good note," Acciari said. "But if we keep these going, who knows what's going to happen?"