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Q: What is ailing the Pens? I'm sure you get many similar e-mails from Q&A readers, but every time I think they are about to start a new, extended winning streak, they lose. Why do they seem some how unable or unwilling to play near the same level of intensity that they had during the first two months of the season? They should still be a strong team, despite the absence of Chris Kunitz or Max Talbot. I can't imagine why a Cup champion could lose to a lower-seeded team like Montreal as they did Saturday, 5-3, when every point counts now for playoff positioning. Isn't it late enough in the season, despite the Olympic break, that the Pens should be playing at a higher level? I hate to seem like yet another pessimist that writes you, but without a healthy team, a vastly improved power play and Evgeni Malkin, or moves to add to the team's defense or wing at the trade deadline I can't see this team, as they are now, beating Washington, Ottawa, and even perhaps New Jersey, come playoff time.

John Lorenzini, Philadelphia

MOLINARI: Whew. That's a lot of ground to cover, so let's start at the top.

There's no single, simple explanation for the Penguins' lack of consistency the past few months, but sub-par execution, especially defensively, has a lot to do with it. Defensive lapses can be erased by stellar goaltending, but Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't been at the top of his game all that often, either.

When a team has been to consecutive Stanley Cup finals, as the Penguins have, it isn't realistic to expect it to produce its "A" game virtually every night over the course of an 82-game season. Ideally, it would work that way, of course -- it's not as if ticket-buyers get a discount when the home team isn't on its game -- but hockey players have good and bad days at work, just like lawyers and sales people and hockey writers.

There's no way for the Penguins to justify that loss to the Canadiens, whose lineup was liberally sprinkled with minor-league call-ups, and the points they gave away at the Bell Centre conceivably could cost them a division championship, or home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

That said, the true measure of this team's season will come during the postseason, not during the weeks leading up to the Olympic break, in part because their lineup today probably won't be exactly like the one they'll use a month from now. General manager Ray Shero has a history of making moves at the trade deadline, and there's no reason to think that will change in 2010.

As for the teams you listed, yes, each is a legitimate threat to win a best-of-seven series against the Penguins. And don't overlook Buffalo, for that matter. But for as well as those clubs are playing (or have played), you'd probably have a hard time finding one eager to be matched against the Penguins, even if its members are confident it could win four games from them.

Not just because the Penguins have some individual talent that could alter the course of a series, but because coaches and players know better than anyone what it takes to win a championship, and have a degree of respect for a team that has done it, even if it happens to be a bitter rival.

Q: When I first heard of the Ilya Kovalchuk trade, my initial response was, "Oh, crap." Now that I've had time to think about it, yes, he brings them a guaranteed scoring touch, but he doesn't play defense, and New Jersey is all about defense. Do you think this deal could hurt them overall?

Dana King, Laurel, Md.

MOLINARI: That's a perfectly reasonable take, and it's possible that things will work out that way. There are a few things to consider, however.

Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' general manager, is one of the most shrewd personnel men in the business. If he didn't think there was a reasonable chance that Kovalchuk could fit in with the Devils -- or, even worse, be a disruptive presence -- he wouldn't have brought him in. And if Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, whose entire philosophy revolves around defensive responsibility, had any serious concerns about Kovalchuk, you can be sure he would have expressed them to Lamoriello.

It's worth noting that at other points in his career, usually international competitions with the Russian national team, Kovalchuk has shown a willingness to play defense that often wasn't evident during his days with the Atlanta Thrashers. Clearly, the Devils acquired Kovalchuk because of the volatile dimension he can add to their offense, not because he's going to contend for the Selke Trophy, but he won't necessarily be the defensive liability that many believe.

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