The .500 mark has been a slippery companion for the Penguins. They have had an even record seven times through 37 games and have slid under or over the mark constantly but never by more than three games in either direction.

At 19-16-2 a week and four games away from the midpoint of the season, they have a chance to climb to four games over .500 for the first time in 2007-08 if they beat the visiting Buffalo Sabres tonight.

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Scouting Report

• Matchup: Penguins vs. Buffalo Sabres, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena.
• TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WXDX-FM (105.9).
• Probable goaltenders: Ty Conklin for Penguins. Ryan Miller for Sabres.
• Penguins: Are 4-4-1 vs. Northeast Division. ... C Sidney Crosby has 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 12 career games vs. Buffalo. ... Tyler Kennedy has gone five games without a point.
• Sabres: Had won six of past seven games and 13 of 18 before playing at New Jersey last night. ... Took five-game road win streak into that game. ... RW Jason Pominville had 2 goals, 10 assists in seven games before last night.
• Hidden stat: Neither team has a sweep in season series since Buffalo went 3-0 in 1989-90.

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As high-water marks go, that would not be oxygen-mask territory.

Perhaps that's why the Penguins have been picked apart all season depending on which aspects of their game seem deficient.

If it's not the power play, it's five-on-five scoring.

If it's not five-on-five scoring, it's getting production beyond the top line.

If it's not that, it's goaltending.

Or it's their subpar record in the Atlantic Division.

Or it's which players are out of the lineup and in the doghouse.

Or, the latest, a second-period collapse that nearly cost them Thursday night against Washington, when they needed overtime for a 4-3 win.

With such a nagging list of what ails the Penguins, could there be a bigger problem, something beyond the Xs and Os?

The players insist there is not.

"No, I think that happens to every team," winger Colby Armstrong said after practice yesterday at Mellon Arena.

The more Internet-savvy Penguins are aware of rumblings about fractures in their locker room over everything from playing time to line combination changes to the handling of the departure of veteran winger Mark Recchi, who was signed off waivers by Atlanta earlier this month.

Trade rumors surface but go unfounded. Veteran wingers Jarkko Ruutu and Gary Roberts have scoffed at a suggestion they have asked to be traded.

"When things are not going well, things come out that are not even true," Ruutu said.

Ruutu, one of the few Penguins in the over-30 age bracket, has been in enough locker rooms to know when there is trouble that translates to the way a team plays.

He senses no drama.

"The guys get along well," he said. "I've never felt any problems, winning or losing. I've never even thought about that."

If the Penguins win tonight, it will make three victories in a row. A nice, fat winning streak might go a long way toward quieting speculation about unrest among the players. Or maybe not.

"There's always going to be something," team captain and leading scorer Sidney Crosby said. "If we win 14 in a row, I'm sure something would be said about our penalty kill or our five-on-five play.

"But the reality of it is, it's going to be the same answer every time -- it's never going to go perfect. That's why sometimes your goalie has to step up or your penalty kill has to be better. That's the nature of the sport."

Asked if the laundry list of glitches for a team that might be expected to be better at this point indicates a problem, Crosby was quick to answer.

"No," he said. "You can always search for reasons, but that's just the way it is sometimes."

Any blemishes in the Penguins' game this season likely are magnified by the 105-point season in 2006-07 and expectations that follow the 47-point improvement over the previous season. Before that bar was set, the Penguins stutter-stepped through a first half of last season similar to this one, always flirting with .500. Through 37 games last season, the Penguins were 16-15-6, their 38 points two fewer than they have now. But they were on the verge of a breakthrough.

Beginning Jan. 13, their 43rd game, they went 14 games without losing in regulation, going 12-0-2, a run that made all the difference in reaching the playoffs.

"It's just about playing 60 minutes," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "I think it's a mental thing. It's just about preparing ourselves for games, not letting up and looking at it like every shift, the game's on the line."

Similar path?

A comparison of where the Penguins are this season after 37 games to last season.

07-08.....Category.....06-07

19.....Wins.....16

16.....Losses.....15

2.....OT ties.....6

40.....Points.....38

?.....Final.....105