Take the half-dozen guys who sat out the Penguins' most recent game because of medical issues, toss in a few ushers, vendors and parking lot attendants, and you might have the makings of a playoff contender.

Those injuries are the most obvious explanation for the four-game losing streak the Penguins will take into their game against Boston tonight at 7:38 at Mellon Arena, because no team could lose the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot, Sergei Gonchar, Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik without feeling it.

A lot.

The Penguins, though, have tried to take those injuries in stride, shrugging them off as an unfortunate reality of the game.

"Obviously, we've had injuries," defenseman Alex Goligoski said.

"That's the bad luck part, but we haven't been playing very well lately, so it's easy to not feel sorry for yourselves when you know you're not playing well."

Getting Malkin back tonight should give the Penguins' psyches a boost, but even when their lineup was at its most diluted in their 4-1 loss to New Jersey Thursday, they insisted that they never allowed that adversity to affect their attitudes.

"We have the best job in the world," left winger Matt Cooke said. "How could you sit here and feel sorry for yourself?"

While Boston doesn't have the Penguins' volume of injuries, the Bruins have been playing without a couple of high-impact forwards.

Rugged left winger Milan Lucic has been sidelined since breaking his right index finger Oct. 16 and center Marc Savard has been limited to seven appearances because of a broken left foot.

Lucic, though, participated in Boston's morning skate Thursday and could return next week, while Savard is scheduled to discard a walking boot next week.

Marc-Andre Fleury's teammates have scored just one goal in the past three games -- that's the total, not their average -- and that does not leave much margin for error for any goaltender.

Fleury, though, said he and his teammates enter every game confident that they will generate enough offense to win. But, even when the Penguins are not scoring, he does not put additional pressure on himself to shut out the opposition.

"During the game, I don't think too much about [his teammates' offensive problems]," Fleury said.

"I still want to stop them all, so there isn't any difference."

Left winger Chris Kunitz sat out the Penguins' practice at Mellon Arena yesterday because of what coach Dan Bylsma characterized as "a nagging injury."

He is, however, scheduled to be in uniform tonight.

"He's in the same condition he was for the last little bit," Bylsma said, "so we're going forward with where he's at."

The Penguins' power play is 0 for 26 in the past seven games, but Boston's hasn't been much better.

The Bruins have failed to score a man-advantage goal in eight of their past nine games.

The lone exception: Their game against the Penguins Tuesday, when Boston was 2 for 3 with the extra man.

The Bruins' penalty-killing has been outstanding, however, allowing just one goal in 32 shorthanded situations over the past 11 games.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.