Pettersson, Schultz bond fast, forming solid pair on defense
Given the praise the Penguins heaped on Marcus Pettersson this summer, Justin Schultz and he had an idea they’d be partnered together on defense this season.
So, like folks in other industries, they bonded a bit on a golf course.
Pettersson, the young Swede, tagged along with Schultz and Brian Dumoulin on a couple of occasions when they hit the links before training camp. Schultz is very good, perhaps the best golfer on the team. Pettersson is a relative beginner.
“I’m all right,” Pettersson said. “I’m OK. I’m not good, but I’m not bad.”
OK, so what does he typically shoot?
“Somewhere between 85 and 90.”
Oh, you mean nine holes, right?
“No. Eighteen. I shoot around 85.”
Yeah, so “not bad” may be an understatement. The 23-year-old defenseman has proven to be a quick learner at the NHL level, too. Now he is in the process of settling in alongside Schultz in the hopes of forming a lasting partnership.
The two have been together since the second game of the season. There have been ups and downs for sure. But they believe they are starting to click.
That should come as no surprise, certainly not to the Penguins, who felt after last season that Pettersson’s long frame and stayat-home game would mesh well with Schultz, a strong skater who isn’t afraid to jump up on the attack.
“You never know until you actually play with each other,” Pettersson said. “But I think we’ve started off good, and it feels like we are on the same page. I think we can grow more as a pair and we’re going to look to do that.”
Pettersson said “it’s fun” to play with a mobile partner who can rush the puck up the ice and more often than not get back into a defensive position. Schultz, meanwhile, says there aren’t many times Pettersson isn’t in the right spot.
“I don’t think I’ve had a 2on-1 against me while playing with him or an odd-man rush,” he said. “He’s always in position. He always knows where I’m going. When I have the puck, he’s always talking to me. So, he’s super easy to play with.”
After Schultz and Pettersson struggled in their first games together, they have tightened up over the past four. They’ve had a positive or even shot share at 5-on-5 in all four. They’ve allowed an average of three high-danger chances per game. And they both had a plus-5 rating in their two most recent wins.
Pettersson said they talk a lot on the bench and in the meeting room, providing feedback or asking the other what they were thinking on a particular play. When one watches video of their shifts, they point out “small, small things.”
“It’s an ongoing process. You figure out each other’s tendencies and where they’re going to be all the time,” Pettersson said. “I think we’re figuring it out.”
Quiet in a good way
With the Penguins scoring so many goals, perhaps lost in the strong start this season has been the play of goalies Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry.
Murray has been solid, spectacular or somewhere in between in five of his six starts, the exception being a shaky home loss against the Winnipeg Jets last week. He is 4-2-0 with a 2.65 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
Jarry, meanwhile, stopped 27 of 29 shots to win his only start.
“They’ve both been really good. It’s hard to win in this league if you don’t get the timely save. And both of those guys are providing that for us,” coach Mike Sullivan said, adding, “Both of those guys have quietly had really strong starts.”
Thanks, but no thanks
Schultz was asked Thursday if he felt any pangs of jealousy that Juuso Riikola was the one asked to play forward Wednesday with Jared McCann out.
“No. No. I think it’s a lot more difficult than we have it,” he said, chuckling.
Schultz is used to seeing the play unfold from behind, so he said skating on the wing would not come naturally to him. Throw in the forechecking schemes and coverages in the defensive zone he’d have to learn, and it’d be a headache.
So, it’s probably a good thing that the Penguins, who have five forwards dealing with documented injuries, don’t often ask a defenseman to skate up.
“I can’t think of another time. It’s pretty unique to see in the NHL. I thought Juuso did a good job.”