The Penguins will take their longest home-ice winning streak in more than two months into their game against the New York Rangers tonight at Mellon Arena, and that has to be encouraging for them.

Or troubling.

Or, perhaps, both.

They have won three games in a row here, and picking up six of a possible six points isn't bad.

At the same time, their inability to string together more than two consecutive victories at home -- that's a smudge, not a streak -- is part of the reason they haven't been able to overtake New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division. (Of course, going 0-4 against the Devils might have something to do with that, too.)

All told, the Penguins are 18-10-1 at Mellon Arena, which is not appreciably better than their 18-12-1 record on the road.

"Our [home] record is modest, at best," coach Dan Bylsma said Thursday.

That reflects, at least in part, their failure to get on a significant roll on home ice. They won five in a row Nov. 14-Dec. 3, but the current winning streak is one of just two others to reach three games.

Detailing their rather ordinary record at home is the easy part; explaining it is far more challenging.

"Obviously, we would address it if we knew [the reasons]," winger Pascal Dupuis said.

Whatever the cause, the Penguins could start to re-establish Mellon Arena as an unpleasant place to visit with strong play in the days leading up to the Olympic break, which begins Monday.

Their final three games before the break are being played here, with their 3-1 victory Wednesday against the New York Islanders the first of those. Beat the Rangers tonight and the Nashville Predators Sunday afternoon, and the Penguins not only will have matched their longest home-ice surge of the season, but might start to plant the idea among prospective playoff opponents that a visit here could be quite unpleasant.

"We want it to be a place where people don't really want to come in to play," forward Mike Rupp said. "When you play against teams that are dominant at home and you're going into a series, you have it in the back of your head, like, 'Geez, we have to steal one.'

"We want teams to think that way, like, 'We have to steal one out of Pittsburgh.' We don't want them to think they can win one. We want them to think they have to steal it. If you're playing strong at home, you can get in the heads of other teams like that."

Any opponent that has been paying attention presumably realizes that the Penguins have no reservations about going on the road. Not just because they are six games over .500 there this season, but because they clinched all four rounds during the 2009 playoffs in hostile arenas.

"We've seen that if we do lose at home, it's not the end of the world," center Jordan Staal said.

A case could be made that the Penguins' confidence about being able to win away games might detract from the urgency to dominate at Mellon Arena.

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"I don't think we focus on whether we're at home or on the road," defenseman Jay McKee said.0

Venues certainly didn't matter during the early weeks of the season, when the Penguins won nine of their first 10 games -- the only loss, to the Phoenix Coyotes, came at Mellon Arena -- and not only built a cushion that allowed them to survive some slumps as the season progressed, but demonstrated the level at which this group can perform.

"We started off on a tear, and that showed me what this team can do when everybody's going," McKee said.

In part, because of that start, the Penguins have a very real chance to be in first place at the Olympic break if they can beat the Rangers and Predators. The Devils, who lead the Penguins by one point and have a game in hand, will play Nashville in New Jersey tonight, then visit the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday.

If the Penguins finish ahead of the Devils at the end of the regular season, the Penguins would be assured of no worse than the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff field.

"We'd love to have home ice," Rupp said. "That's what we're playing for. You obviously want to finish as high as you can."

That is why the Penguins dare not underestimate the importance of the games this weekend.

"These are big games, and big points, going into the break," Bylsma said. "How we finish here will set us up for the last 20 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.