Power play’s familiar look not necessarily good thing
After getting four months to assess all that went wrong for their power play this season, the Penguins hoped to get it all sorted out before the games began.
But throughout their postseason training camp, there was a lot of shuffling and not much that suggested the unit was about to surge. That notion was reinforced Tuesday in the 3-2 overtime loss against the Philadelphia Flyers in their lone exhibition in Toronto, the Eastern Conference’s playoff hub.
The Penguins went 0 for 3 against the Flyers and generated only four shots with a man in the box. Their only dangerous opportunity came in transition. When they tried to set up inside the zone, they usually didn’t hang onto the puck for long.
“My impression of the power play is we need to be a whole lot better,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve got a ways to go to get it firing on all cylinders.”
Sullivan believes the Penguins
need to simplify their game, move the puck more quickly and put pucks on the net when they see open shooting lanes.
All that was a common refrain for him as the unit was merely mediocre this season.
The coach said the Penguins spent time working on the power play Wednesday and “utilized a different look.” He thought it was a productive practice.
“I think it will improve,” he said. “I know these guys are proud guys. They want it to be successful. … We’ll get it moving in the right direction.”
Here are six suggestions for how the Penguins can do that with Game 1 of their qualifying-round series against the Montreal Canadiens looming Saturday.
• Get Mario some skates. Mario Lemieux was a maestro on the left half-wall during his legendary career, and the Penguins have shuffled players in and out of that spot all year. Sure, he’s 54. But you don’t think he can’t still quarterback a competent power play?
• Reintegrate Bryan Rust. OK, OK. That first one wasn’t a serious suggestion. The point is that the Penguins do not have a perfect option to set up shop in the left circle.
Jared McCann was used there most often during the postseason camp. We saw the ineffective two-defenseman setup sporadically.
Against the Flyers, it looked like it was Jake Guentzel who was supposed to be in the left circle, though the top unit struggled so much getting set up that one can’t say that with certainty.
One player who saw limited time there — and that should change — is Rust.
Rust is neither a fearsome shooter nor a deft playmaker. And if penalty-killers come after him hard, how he handles that pressure could be a worry. But this season he played with more poise and is one guy who is willing to take the puck to the net.
His power-play statistics say he should have a role.
Not only did nine of Rust’s 27 goals this season come on the power play, but the Penguins’ shot attempts also spiked, and they scored 10.8 goals per 60 minutes of power-play time with Rust on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick. That ranked first among all Penguins players who logged at least 60 minutes of power-play time.
• Let Kris Letang run the point. It can feel like a rollercoaster ride whenever Letang is the one manning the point. The 33-year-old defenseman often drives the fan base — and occasionally his coach — crazy with his cavalier style. But the reward still outweighs the risk.
Part of the rationale of using Justin Schultz, which we saw Tuesday, is that Schultz plays a simple, straightforward game that leads to more shots.
Yeah, about that … the Penguins this season actually had significantly more shot attempts, high-danger scoring chances and goals per 60 minutes with Letang on the ice for the power play.
Now, maybe a little bit of that should be chalked up to Schultz spending more time on the second unit. But the difference is striking.
And when you look on Natural Stat Trick at the high-danger chances going the other way with Letang out there versus Schultz’s minutes, it’s basically the same.
So the Penguins should just stick with Letang and buckle up. There will be some scary moments. But he is still a zone-entry threat, and his ability to walk the blue line and get pucks through traffic helps the Penguins once they set up.
• Make Jake the swing guy. Guentzel scored 60 goals in a season and a half before a shoulder injury shut him down. On many NHL teams, he’d be a powerplay fulcrum.
But with the Penguins, his skill set is redundant with two guys who are great at what they do.
The winger is at his best when hovering in the slot or lurking at the backdoor. He is smart and tough with a well-rounded skill set. The problem is that’s the preferred role for a generational talent in Sidney Crosby. Guentzel’s next best spot is at the net front, but few NHLers make goalies crazier than Patric Hornqvist.
There is, however, no questioning that Guentzel is one of the Penguins’ top-five weapons, so he must remain involved. Perhaps, the compromise is splitting Guentzel’s time equally among the left circle, the net front and the second unit. It would allow Sullivan and the Penguins to give opponents a few different looks without cratering their chemistry.
• Stick with those six. Since camp started July 13, the Penguins have used nine players on their top unit. Obviously, that wasn’t the plan. Both Crosby and Hornqvist missed about half of camp. Still, that’s a lot of shuffling. A lack of continuity, as we saw during their injury-riddled regular season, mucks everything up.
The Penguins need to settle on a couple of combinations and let them gel.
• Now just let them play. Sullivan was totally justified this season in trying to get his players to move their feet more on the power play. The top unit for the Penguins, despite their remarkable success in recent years, got stagnant sometimes, and the coach recognized it would be an issue without Phil Kessel in the left circle to create more balance.
But due to all those injuries, which took away both top talent and continuity, the Penguins have been unable to find a comfort level with the new approach. Sure, there were moments where it clicked, but the consistency was not there.
It’s clear after watching the Penguins in postseason camp and the exhibition against the Flyers that the top unit is thinking too much instead of acting on their instincts and letting their abundance of skill overwhelm opponents.
With time running out before the playoffs start, Sullivan might want to loosen the reins a bit and, at least in the short term, let his thoroughbreds roam free.