Dan Bylsma has impressed the Penguins with his teaching ability during the eight weeks since he replaced Michel Therrien as coach.

And the 17-3-4 record the Penguins had compiled with him behind the bench going into last night's regular-season finale at Montreal has to impress anyone with even a cursory grasp of mathematics.

The really striking thing, though, is that Bylsma believes players are most receptive to a coach's instructions when they're experiencing adversity.

"Lessons are easier learned when you have a negative result in the game," Bylsma said. "You can win a game and it's tough for players sometimes to understand that there's a different level of puck management or execution or attention to detail [required].

"But when we get in a situation where we did battle, we did get shots at the net but we didn't get results and there's a loss at the end of the game, it's easier to learn that lesson about what we need to do."

That's all perfectly logical. Of course, that concept hasn't really gotten past the theoretical stage during Bylsma's tenure.

Ryan Malone, a key figure in the Penguins' drive to the Stanley Cup final in 2008, doesn't have a place in the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring, but he does have a rooting interest.

A pretty predictable one for a guy who was raised in Western Pennsylvania and spent his first four NHL seasons with his hometown team.

"I'll pull for the [Penguins]," Malone said. "Hopefully, they can get back there and get the job done this time."

While Malone believes Boston, which has earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, is the favorite to reach the final, he feels the race is wide open.

"Anything can happen," he said. "There are so many teams that could turn hot."

That includes the Penguins, especially in the wake of the additions of Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz.

"I love [general manager Ray Shero's] moves," Malone said. "Billy's a great guy, a great competitor and in the room, he'll calm everybody down. And Kunitz obviously was another great pickup. Pittsburgh, hopefully, will be back in there."

Ben Eaves, once a promising center in the Penguins' system, had his playing career cut by a serious knee injury a few years ago, and subsequently joined the coaching staff at his alma mater, Boston College.

He didn't stay there long, though.

And he didn't stay retired.

Eaves just completed his second season playing for Espoo Blues in Finland, and set an SM-Liiga record for points in the postseason by putting up four goals and 20 assists in 13 playoff games. Eaves set that record even though his club lost to Karpat in the semifinals.

Eaves has had injury problems in Finland -- he's appeared in just 32 regular-season games during the past two winters, recording six goals and 19 assists -- but has reinforced his reputation for producing under pressure by piling up 11 goals and 25 assists in 25 playoff games.

Although The Penguins didn't land either of this year's most highly touted college free agents -- forward Tyler Bozak signed with Toronto and the Penguins pulled out of the bidding for Boston University defenseman Matt Gilroy -- they do seem pleased to have added Northeastern goaltender Brad Thiessen.

He was one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top player in college hockey. He compiled a 25-12-4 record, 2.12 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 41 games with the Huskies.

"He's had a tremendous year for himself," general manager Ray Shero said. "He's had a good career there."

He added that signing Thiessen does not necessarily mean the Penguins will relinquish their rights to Alaska-Fairbanks goalie Chad Johnson, who was one of the final 10 players in contention for the Baker.

"We'll see [about Johnson]," Shero said. "We don't have a lot of goaltending depth. [Alexander] Pechurski is still under contract in Russia, so it might be a little time before he comes over."

Shero projects Thiessen to play for the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre next season, but said no decisions have been made.

"We'll see how he does in camp," Shero said. "We'll have Gilles [Meloche, the goaltending coach] make an evaluation of him and go from there."