McCann put on first unit of power play
But he might be just a stand-in for Hornqvist
Mike Sullivan has had four months to ponder possible reasons why his power play never hit a groove, putting the Penguins smack in the middle of the pack.
So, coach, what did you come up with?
“It’s hard to identify any one particular thing,” he said Wednesday. “The one thing injuries forced us to do was use a lot of people, so it was hard to establish a level of consistency.
“But, having said that, we feel like we have capable people.”
Which five players Sullivan would turn to first was a topic with much intrigue over the past few weeks among media and the fan base. We finally got that answer Wednesday, when the Penguins practiced special teams for the first time since training camp started Monday.
But that should come with an asterisk.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang were three of the five working on the top unit, although Justin Schultz did sub in for Letang for a little bit at the point.
Jake Guentzel, a 40-goal scorer back on the ice after major shoulder surgery, was predictably another, hovering along with Crosby outside the blue paint.
But the final player in the quintet Wednesday was a surprise: Jared McCann.
Now, that could have just been because Patric Hornqvist sat out a third consecutive practice after he and other players potentially had secondary exposure to a person with COVID-19.
Hornqvist will at least have a part-time role on the top unit. But it was interesting McCann got the nod over Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker in the left circle.
McCann did not score in any of the 22 games before the season was suspended March 12 due to the pandemic. But like Alex Galchenyuk, who saw time in the left circle early in the season before he was traded, McCann can snap a pretty filthy wrist shot.
Sullivan has a couple of weeks to tinker before the Penguins start playing games. He probably will.
This season, they had four stretches of at least four games without a power-play goal and, at one point, nearly had the longest slump in franchise history.
Sullivan said he thinks the time away will help the power play get going.
Beyond a mental reset, it gave players a lot of time to dissect video over WebEx.
Sullivan said, “It gave us an opportunity in a different forum to allow them to put their coach’s hat on a little bit and problem solve, rather than the coaches giving them suggestions or answers, if you will, on how to improve and get better.”
He didn’t go into specifics on what they came up with, but he expressed confidence that the power play will be “a difference-maker for us moving forward.”
No Calder for Marino
The NHL Wednesday announced the finalists for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s top rookie. Defenseman John Marino was not among them.
Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar were the three rookies selected via voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
The Calder will likely go to Hughes or Makar, who put up impressive point totals while playing significant minutes for playoff teams.
They had 53 and 50 points, respectively. Kubalik, a winger, had 46 points, but 30 of them were goals.
“Obviously, they’re incredible players and well-deserving of the award for sure, each and every single one of them,” Marino, 23, said.
“You don’t really worry about it much. We have training camp here and playoffs to worry about.”
Marino scored six goals with 20 assists in 56 games, and among NHL rookies his plus-17 rating ranked second to only New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox.
Dangling the dogs
Tristan Jarry spent much of the pandemic pause at his 60-acre barley farm outside Edmonton. He was joined there by his girlfriend and two English mastiffs.
“As goalies, we didn’t really have anybody to shoot on us,” he said. “So I was just kind of playing catch with my girlfriend at home and playing with my dogs.”
He did say he was able to work on his stickhandling — one of his biggest strengths as a goalie — by dangling around his two gigantic dogs, Diesel and Kitty.
“I actually bought a hockey net at home and I was just playing a lot of street hockey with my goalie stick,” he said.
“That was something that I did almost every day, just take the dogs downstairs and play street hockey with them.”
As for the goalie situation here in Pittsburgh and his role for the playoffs, Jarry said Sullivan and the coaching staff have not yet discussed that with him.
‘I’d like to stay here’
In part due to a pair of stints on injured reserve, 2019-20 was a down season for Schultz, who had a teamworst minus-13 rating and just three goals and 12 points in 46 games.
But the pending free agent believes his health is back at 100% and hopes to prove his value to the Penguins and other teams in the upcoming postseason.
“It’s a great opportunity for me,” the blue-liner said.
“We’ve got a great chance here to win a Stanley Cup. That’s the main priority.
“And [it’s a chance to] play well for myself. Obviously, I’d like to stay here. So go out and win the Stanley Cup.”