Penguins aim to limit defensive miscues after 0-2-0 start

Even at 0-2-0, the Penguins claim they see plenty of positives to the start of their season.

Particularly on defense.

And sure enough, they have hindered the opposition, which to this point has been limited to a pair of road contests against the Philadelphia Flyers, in terms of shots on net.

The average of 23.5 shots against the Penguins have allowed this season was the fourth-best figure in the NHL before Saturday’s games.

At the same time, the 5.5 goals per game they have allowed was tops in the league before Saturday.

Hence, their winless record.

For them, their main malfunction on defense has been in quality, not quantity, of scoring chances.

“It’s tough when we’re dominating a period or playing really well period and we take a timely penalty or an untimely chance and (the opposition comes) back down and it ends up in our net off a grade-a high chance,” defenseman Brian Dumoulin said during a video conference Saturday. “Obviously, those are what we need to clean up. They’re ending up in the back of our net.”

“Overall, for our team game, we’ve been playing really well. We’ve been playing hard, we’ve been playing with a lot of emotion. … But obviously, we’ve got to limit those chances and not give them those little momentum swings when we have all the momentum.”

During Friday’s 5-2 loss, each of the Flyers’ first two goals came within 10 feet of the net against a team that long has been fond of crashing the crease.

That challenge won’t get easier Sunday against rival Washington. The Capitals have forwards such as Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie and Lars Eller who don’t mind going to the net.

“We have to protect our net front a little better, help our goalies out,” defenseman Chad Ruhwedel said Friday. “Just try to keep them out of that blue paint.”

That issue could be aided by a sturdier effort on the penalty kill. The Penguins have allowed three goals on nine opposing power-play opportunities.

Though on Friday, the Penguins killed six of the last seven power-play chances the Flyers had and saw signs of optimism on that front.

With a new assistant coach, Mike Vellucci, overseeing the penalty kill, the Penguins are still adjusting to a new scheme following a brief training camp.

“Without any preseason games and some new personnel, it definitely has been a little bit of an adjustment,” Dumoulin said.

“(Philadelphia) did a great job of moving the puck and creating some seams. Obviously, we’ve got to be sharper on that. Obviously, we gave up a power-play goal early in (Friday’s) game, but I thought from there on out, we felt a little more cohesive on the same page. It’s something that we’re going to have to learn quick.

“The more we play, the more we kill the more, the more we get comfortable with each other, I think that will benefit us.”

The Penguins probably could benefit from better goaltending as well.

Starter Tristan Jarry was pulled from Friday’s game after allowing three goals on six shots and replaced by Casey DeSmith. Through two games, Jarry’s goals-against average resembles a Boeing model number: 7.57.

While coach Mike Sullivan did not reveal his starting goaltender for Sunday, DeSmith did work against the team’s top power-play unit during practice in Cranberry on Saturday while Jarry faced the second unit.

Regardless, Sullivan reaffirmed his faith in Jarry.

“We all believe in Tristan,” Sullivan said. “We know he’s a good goalie. He’s going to have an opportunity here to respond, and we believe he’ll respond the right way. He’ll work with (goaltending coach Mike Buckley) along the way here to make sure from a fundamental standpoint that his fundamentals are where they need to be in order to give himself a chance to be successful when the puck drops in games.”

That notion could be applied to anyone in a Penguins’ sweater who has a role in keeping the puck out of their own net.

“At the beginning of games, we’ve got to limit the chances against,” Dumoulin said. “Especially two-on-ones, breakaways, three-on-ones. Those are tough to save for a goalie. Obviously, those are high danger quality chances. It’s tough for a goalie to get into it when he’s got to make those decisions, make those reads. I feel like we can help him out a little bit more at the beginning of games.”