UPRIGHT POSITION
The injuries and illnesses easily could have derailed the first half of the season for the Penguins, but they have persevered.
Sure, the Penguins would rather be in first place in the Eastern Conference, instead of sitting two points behind Tampa Bay. And of course they would prefer to be atop the Metropolitan Division, rather than hanging a point behind the New York Islanders. But after all the adversity the Penguins experienced in the first half of their season — everything from powerplay slumps to an outbreak of mumps — they reasonably seem satisfied with their 25-10-6 record and how it positions them for the 41 games to come. “I think we’ve done pretty well,” winger Steve Downie said. “Obviously, we have a lot more work to do — we have to get a lot better — but we’ve had some rough patches with injuries, and I thought the guys responded well.” The Penguins closed out the first half with a 2-1 overtime victory Saturday in Montreal, one of their strongest performances in recent weeks. They are just 3-4-2 in their past nine games, including a 0-3-1 skid that is their worst stretch of 2014-15. “The last 10 games probably aren’t the best 10 we’ve played
in a segment in a long time,” left winger Chris Kunitz said. The offense, usually one of their greatest strengths, has sputtered of late, scoring more than two goals just once in the past seven games. That’s due, at least in part, to a lack of production by the power play, which has two goals in its past 23 tries and ranks seventh in the league. With few contributions from the power play since early November, the average output has slipped to 2.93 goals per game, 10thbest in the league before Sunday. The impact of injuries and illness on the offense can’t be overlooked, because productive forwards such as Pascal Dupuis, Patric Hornqvist, Beau Bennett, Blake Comeau and Kunitz are among the players who have missed eight or more games so far this season. But even though the Penguins aren’t scoring as much as expected, they also are giving up fewer goals than almost anyone anticipated. They have allowed just 2.32 per game, the fourth- lowest average in the NHL. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury deserves a lot of the credit for that, but the structure introduced by first-year coach Mike Johnston and his staff has played a part, too. “We have to be pleased with how we’ve played defensively, as a group, and with our goaltending,” defenseman Paul Martin said. “You have to take pride in your goals-against and the [number of] opportunities that you give up, and I think we’ve done a pretty decent job.” The Penguins are hoping Sidney Crosby’s game-winner Saturday at Bell Centre in Montreal will jump-start the power play, which converted 37.5 percent of its chances through the first 13 games. While a sputtering power play might be the most conspicuous problem at this point, just about every aspect of their game can — and probably must — be upgraded over the next few months. “By no means are we playing our best hockey,” Kunitz said. “We’re still working toward that.” Getting a little healthier would help; the Penguins already have lost 182 mangames to injury and illness, and Evgeni Malkin, Nick Spaling and Rob Scuderi are the only guys to dress for the first 41 games. Regardless of who is in the lineup on a given night, however, the Penguins can use their strong first half to lay the foundation for a long playoff run this spring. “We just have to keep building our game,” Downie said. “We have to be perfect because once the playoffs come, you have to be perfect, or you’re not going to win.”