3 takeaways: Despite loss to Toronto, Penguins' penalty-kill is perfect for 7th straight game

Three takeaways from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-1 loss to Toronto Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.

Strong PK

Entering Saturday evening’s game against the Maple Leafs, the Penguins’ penalty-kill unit was tied for 10th-best in the NHL with at 80.6%, not a bad spot to be in considering the team’s struggles in that area to begin the season.

A month or so ago, the Penguins were near the bottom of the league in penalty-kill percentage.

But a strong November and the presence of Teddy Blueger, who only made his season debut back on the 15th against the Maple Leafs after missing the first month of the season, has elevated the Penguins’ penalty-kill to its current increased level of effectiveness.

While Saturday’s result was a loss at the hands of the Maple Leafs, the Penguins were 3 of 3 on the penalty-kill, stretching their streak to seven games in which they have blanked the opposition’s power-play.

During that span, the team has killed 17 straight penalties. For the month of November, the Penguins have allowed four goals on 39 opposing power-plays, good for a penalty-kill rate of 89.7%.

Familiar antagonists

When Toronto’s Jason Spezza retired this past spring, putting a bow on a playing career of nearly two decades, it marked the departure from the ice of an all-time great “Penguins killer.”

In 51 career games against Pittsburgh, Spezza recorded 53 points. Unfortunately for the Penguins, one of Toronto’s young stars is picking up right where Spezza left off.

With a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win in Pittsburgh, Mitchell Marner has points in each of his team’s three games against the Penguins, as he scored a goal in the Maple Leafs’ 5-2 win back on Nov. 15 and notched an assist in a 4-2 Penguins winNov. 11.

The 25-year-old Marner, playing in his seventh professional season after being selected fourth overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Draft, has played 17 career games against the Penguins. He has posted 17 points (three goals, 14 assists).

Marner’s play against the Penguins of late has been a microcosm of the red-hot tear he’s been on: Saturday continued his point streak to 16 straight games.

Maple Leafs winger William Nylander has also been a pest through the teams’ three meetings this season, of which Saturday was the last.

Nylander scored in the second period of Saturday’s game, putting Toronto up 3-0 over the Penguins. He also scored goals in the games between the Penguins and Maple Leafs earlier this month.

Capitalizing at home

When the calendar flips from November to December in a few days, the Penguins will have played just eight games at home.

In other words, 14 of the team’s 22 games thus far have been played on the road. However, that trend soon will shift as Saturday begins a five-game homestand for the Penguins, who will go on to play seven of their next eight games in Pittsburgh.

Though Toronto managed to snap the Penguins’ five-game win streak, coach Mike Sullivan is hopeful the extended time playing on home ice will present his team with a chance to snatch up as many points as possible, helping recoup from the ugly seven-game losing streak that stretched into early November.

“I think it’s important for us to establish ourselves as a stingy team at home,” Sullivan said. “We want to be a team that utilizes home-ice advantage to the best of our ability. We’ve got a great fan base here, we’ve got great support — we always have — and I know our guys really enjoy playing in front of the home crowd.

“We’ve got a stretch here where we’ve got a bunch of them coming up … certainly, it’s an opportunity for us that we’re going to try to maximize.”