Letang having what might be his best season
Shortly after he was hired in December 2015, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was dining at Meat & Potatoes on Penn Avenue when he bumped into Kris Letang. The two talked for nearly 30 minutes about what was wrong with the team and how Letang could find more individual success.
After producing one goal and 14 points before Sullivan was hired, Letang returned from injury the day after Christmas and had 15 goals and 53 points in 46 games the rest of the way, in his coach’s mind becoming “the best defenseman in the game” during the Penguins’ march to the first of back-to-back Stanley Cups wins.
What Letang has done this season may necessitate another dinner date. The two should seriously order a few steaks, sip some wine and debate which year is better: the one Letang is currently enjoying or that run during the second half of Sullivan’s first season.
With two goals Sunday in a 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, Letang jumped into a tie for the NHL lead in goals by a defenseman with Toronto’s Morgan Rielly. Letang also sits one marker shy of his career-high ... with 23 games to play.
“He sure is playing extremely well for us right now,” Sullivan said.
Letang is currently on pace for 21 goals, which would be four more than any defenseman scored last season. In fact, since Letang made his NHL debut early in the 2006-07 season, there have been only 12 instances where an NHL defenseman had 21 or more goals in a single season.
“He’s one of the elite defensemen in the league,” Sullivan said, “there’s no doubt about it.”
The two goals Letang scored Sunday were perfect examples of his work ethic and immense talent.
On the first — even though he got lucky when the puck took a fortuitous bounce off Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk’s skate — what Letang did to precede the actual scoring play was a thing few can do.
Off the faceoff, Letang dangled around Rangers right wing Mats Zuccarello, turned on the jets, showed a powerful burst and kept the puck away from center Mika Zibanejad.
Such an explosion simply wasn’t possible for Letang last season, as he tried to return from serious neck surgery, a procedure that curbed his offseason training. For some players, maybe that’s not a big deal. For Letang, it was.
“Training for me is big,” Letang said at practice last week. “It’s an important part. Guys like to skate in the summer and work on skills. I like to train and get my conditioning. I think that’s what helps me.”
This past summer, Letang was able to train. He was able to push himself to pure exhaustion, something he’s been addicted to doing since middle school, and he’s noticed the differences.
“Definitely,” Letang said. “I’ve felt it throughout the whole season.”
That, of course, has translated into some very good numbers — now 15 goals and 52 points, the fifth 50-pluspoint season of his career. Letang has also seen his plus/minus climb from minus-9 in 2017-18 to plus-11 this season, a 20-point swing.
Look at advanced stats, and it’s the same deal. Letang remains among the league leaders in shot attempts, scoring chances and percentages among defensemen.
He’s having a season that should put him in contention for the Norris Trophy.
“The consistency of his game this year is what jumps out at me that’s pretty impressive,” Sullivan said, adding that Letang thrives in all situations, cares about his teammates and works hard on and off the ice.
“We rely on him every bit as much defensively as we do offensively,” Sullivan said, “and what he’s doing offensively, I think, speaks for itself.”
The second goal Letang — who has at least a point in 67 percent of his games this season (38 of 57) — scored Sunday was pure skill.
After taking a Sidney Crosby pass at the point, Letang swerved around left wing Filip Chytil and fired a hard, rising shot into a tiny window past goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
Again, it was the type of play that, a year ago, probably doesn’t happen.
“I’m back to being myself,” Letang said. “I’m not questioning myself out there. I’m taking what’s given to me. I’m not trying to force anything. Overall I would say the health and the training I had to do to get there helped me a lot.”
Around the boards
Dominik Simon drew into the lineup at fourth-line right wing for Garrett Wilson. Tanner Pearson and Juuso Riikola were healthy scratches. … As Penguins coach, Sullivan has won 14 of 20 games against the Rangers (regular season and playoffs).