Pittsburg ? Nashville coach Barry Trotz doesn’t want to play Pittsburgh in a couple of years. The way these growing-up-fast Penguins are performing, maybe he should amend that to a couple of months.

With their four top players all 22 or younger – including NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby, who is all of 19 – the Penguins anticipated going through a transition season before developing into one of the league’s better teams.

Right now, that learning curve looks more like a straightaway.

After beating Trotz’s NHL-leading Predators 4-1 on Tuesday, the Penguins are 10-0-2 in their last 12 games and are closing in on the top four in the Eastern Conference. Unless there’s an unanticipated breakdown in their final 29 games, the Penguins are well on their way to making the playoffs for the first time since Mario Lemieux’s comeback season in 2001.

“I’d hate to play them two years from now,” Trotz said. “They’re building something very special in Pittsburgh, and the city should be pretty excited.”

No doubt their fans would be more revved up if that building plan included a new arena – the team and the state are negotiating how to pay for a replacement for 45-year-old Mellon Arena, but an agreement has not yet been reached. Failure to reach an accord could cause the team to move to another city. Kansas City, Mo., has been discussed as a possible destination.

But the Penguins’ improvement has been so rapid, and young stars such as Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury are playing so consistently well, it’s easy to overlook their shabby surroundings.

With a 27-17-9 record and 63 points, the Penguins have surpassed the 58 points they had during a fourth consecutive Atlantic Division last-place finish last season. They had no more than 69 points in any of those four seasons.

“We’re happy with the way we’re playing,” Crosby said. “We’re doing a great job of competing right now.”

Pittsburgh's sidney crosby skates toward the bench after scoring in a shootout. The Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4, on Thursday in Philadelphia.

With four players drafted No. 2 or higher since 2003, the Penguins are long since removed from those days a few years back when they were dumping players such as Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka and Alex Kovalev for financial reasons.

Crosby, arguably the league’s best player, has 86 points in 50 games and is on pace to have the most points of any NHL scoring leader since Lemieux’s 161 in 1996. Joe Thornton’s 125 points last season are the most since then.

Just as Jagr complemented Lemieux in the prime of his career, Crosby has plenty of help.

Malkin, the No. 2 pick in 2004 behind Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, has a team-high 26 goals going into Thursday’s game at Philadelphia. Jordan Staal, the 18-year-old brother of Carolina star Eric Staal and the No. 2 pick last year, is one goal away from 20 – and he wasn’t even expected to make the team when training camp began.

“It’s amazing what he’s doing,” teammate Mark Recchi said. “I think he’s gone beyond all expectations.”

The biggest difference in this team from the Penguins who had won only 12 games at this time a year ago is the 22-year-old Fleury, the No. 1 draft pick in 2003.

More mature, confident and in control, he has been the Penguins’ best player during their current hot streak and is on the verge of becoming one of the league’s top goalies. His 2.74 goals-against average is down half a goal a game from last season, and he has all but two of Pittsburgh’s 27 wins.