Power play now not just for the stars
The Penguins’ power play never lacks for star power, but so far this season it has flashed some of its depth, too.
Entering Saturday night’s game against Florida, the Penguins were tied for second in the NHL with six man-advantage goals on the season. Their 26.1 percent success rate was seventhbest in the league.
Four of those goals came from top-unit players — Kris Letang, Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Sidney Crosby. But Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust also have tallied powerplay goals, and Jake Guentzel’s first-period score against Tampa Bay Thursday night might as well count, too, as it came just four seconds after a Lightning penalty expired.
In addition to Sheary and Rust, Olli Maatta, Scott Wilson and Greg McKegg are all averaging at least 30 seconds of power-play time per game. Justin Schultz is a regular too, flipping back and forth between the first and second unit.
“I think we’re just going out there and we’re having fun with it,” Rust said. “We’re working hard, we’re working together. We’re kind of taking that 5-on-5 mentality and applying it to the power play. Just try and get pucks back, work them around and get pucks to the net.”
That mindset comes partially from Sullivan, who said his mantra to the power-play units is “Let’s not play power play, let’s play hockey.”
“Sometimes there’s a tendency when you have a 5-on4 scenario to exhale and maybe try to slow the game down,” Sullivan said. “Maybe try to play a little more under control or not necessarily play with the level of urgency that’s necessary.
“It’s the level of urgency to make sure you win puck battles, you go to the net, you do the little things that help power plays have success.”
Fresh start for Niemi
Sullivan admitted Saturday that he would probably like to eventually get backup goalie Antti Niemi some action in a game that’s not the second half of a back-toback.
Both of Niemi’s starts this season — in Chicago and in Tampa — have come after a game the night before, with a late night of travel and no morning skate. It showed, too, with the Penguins giving up a combined 78 shots in those two games, both losses.
“I’d ideally like to put Antti in a situation where he’s got an opportunity to have a fresh hockey team in front of him,” Sullivan said. “His two starts to this point have been really difficult games logistically. But he’s aware of that, that’s part of his job. He understands it.”
That could mean a spot start in a game that’s not part of one of the Penguins’ 19 back-to-backs, or Sullivan could opt to give Niemi the first leg in one of them — the next one being next Friday and Saturday against Florida and Tampa Bay — with Matt Murray taking the second game.
Marathon memories
Panthers coach Bob Boughner played 630 NHL games for six different franchises, including the Penguins from 1999-2001.
It’s probably safe to say that two of the things he experienced here are near the top of his list of memories.
First was the five-overtime game, a 2-1 loss to the Flyers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on May 9, 2000.
Boughner played 50:10 that night, logging 66 shifts on defense.
“I remember the whole arena running out of food,” Boughner said. “All the concessions were gone. The players were so hungry at that point, the only thing we could do was call for pizza delivery. We had a pizza delivery guy in our room dropping off pizzas in between periods. There was not a morsel left in the arena that night.”
Boughner, who couldn't recall where the Penguins ordered from that night, said he also remembers the sight of sleeping children in the stands.
“Even the players that were involved in that game, you had the mindset, ‘Someone has to score here. Let’s get this over with.’ ”
Cole mending
Defenseman Ian Cole skated on his own before the Penguins’ morning skate Saturday. He has missed the last two games after taking a slap shot to the face Oct. 7 against Nashville, which cost him some teeth.
“He’s making progress,” Sullivan said. “The next step obviously for him is to join the team, but he hasn’t done that yet. He’s certainly making significant progress.”