For all the Pittsburgh Penguins’ woes this season — and boy, there are a lot — the power play isn’t exactly one of them.
After struggling badly with the man advantage over the past two seasons — the 2023-24 campaign in particular — the Penguins entered Thursday ranked 13th in the NHL with a conversion rate of 20.9% on the man advantage.
As of late, they have scored power-play goals in four consecutive games and five of their past six contests.
Their latest score in that scenario came in Wednesday’s 5-4 home win against the Vancouver Canucks. During the first period, forward Kevin Hayes cleaned up a rebound off a wrist shot by forward Evgeni Malkin.
Power play goal for Pittsburgh!
Scored by Kevin Hayes with 04:46 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson.
Pittsburgh: 3
Vancouver: 1#VANvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Canucks pic.twitter.com/Bohke9LhM5— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) November 28, 2024
While the results have been appetizing, the execution can still be spruced up. During practice Thursday in Cranberry, the Penguins devoted a considerable chunk of the session to the power play.
“We’re pleased that they’re scoring, but we do think there is a next level to the power play,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s the process that we’re working on with them in just trying to get them repetitions. We haven’t had a ton of (power-play opportunities). So part of it is just giving them an opportunity to get into a rhythm. If we’re not getting enough (power-play opportunities) throughout the course of game competition, we have to make sure that we get them the repetitions in practice.”
At one point during the session, Sullivan issued a simple reminder.
“He was just saying to get more pucks to the net,” forward Sidney Crosby said. “Just not passing up shots when you have them. Today, I think once he said that, you saw some more pucks going to the net. It’s a good mentality to have. With the second and third opportunities you can get from that, it’s not always the prettiest but those are effective. You look at (Hayes’) goals (Wednesday) night, (Malkin) just kind of puts one in and we get a goal off it.”
The Penguins are getting goals from their power play. But they’re not completely satisfied with it just yet.
“Our entries have been good, consistent,” Crosby said. “We can still get better in (the offensive) zone. You’re always trying to improve it, regardless. But you’d rather try to improve it when it’s being productive. We all feel like it can be better, and we’ll work towards that. But it’s big when you can get goals off it.”
Tomasino debuts
Acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators on Monday, forward Philip Tomasino made his debut with the Penguins on Wednesday. Primarily skating on the right wing of the second line with Malkin at center, Tomasino logged 18 minutes, 5 seconds of ice time on 21 shifts and had one shot on four attempts.
“Obviously, no excuses but kind of a little different system,” Tomasino said. “Took a while to adjust. As the game went on, I got better and better. As the games go on, just continue to get better and learn to play with new guys here.”
Sullivan professed some optimism over Tomasino’s first steps with the team.
“Obviously, we’re trying to assimilate him into the group here, and he’s learning on the fly as far as some of the subtleties of our game and what might be different from where he’s been,” Sullivan said. “We put him on (Malkin’s) line, and we’re hoping he can bring an offensive dimension to that line but also bring a conscience defensively.
“(Malkin is) obviously, wired for offense. But we have to have guys on that line that have a conscience defensively away from the puck. … I thought he did pretty good in that regard. He managed the puck pretty well. There are some areas where we think we can help him. Being stiffer on the puck, some of the plays on the wall, things of that nature. But, overall, I thought it was a good first game for him.”
Pickering remains sidelined
Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering was absent from practice because of an unspecified illness that led to him being scratched in Wednesday’s game.
After Thursday’s practice, Sullivan indicated Pickering was still recuperating but was unsure if Pickering would travel with the team for Friday’s road game against the Boston Bruins.
