Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin enjoying an offensive surge

Brian Dumoulin never will be a point-per-game producer.

At least not again.

There was a time in his existence as a hockey player Dumoulin could boast he generated offense at such a rate.

Heck, he was nearly a three points-per-game player a little more than a decade ago during his high school days for the Biddeford (Maine) Tigers.

As a junior during the 2007-08 season, Dumoulin racked up 61 points (13 goals, 48 assists) in 24 games, equating to a scoring average of 2.54 points per game.

He might have surpassed that as a senior had he not opted to play in the junior ranks during the 2008-09 campaign.

“I was just trying to fit on the team and trying to just win,” Dumoulin said via video conference in May 2020. “If the team needed me to play defense, I’d play defense. If the team needed me to score, I’d try to score.”

Dumoulin’s game has changed in the 13 years since. Especially because the level he currently plays at, the NHL, is a step or two more challenging than the Class A division of Maine’s high school league.

Having never put up more than 23 points in an NHL season, Dumoulin is no threat to break any kind of scoring records. This season, he has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 28 games.

At the same time, he has proven to be a vital, if subtle, component to the typically potent offensive game the Penguins possess during his tenure with the team.

“I’ve always been a believer that (Dumoulin’s) game helps us offensively,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “It doesn’t always show up on the score sheet, but he makes good outlet passes. He helps our transition game. He’s a mobile guy. He can join the rush and just help present that four-man attack on the entry, which a lot of times gives our forwards the opportunity to gain the blue line with possession and potentially make the next play. (Dumoulin) might not touch the puck, but just his presence in the rush helps us create offense off of the rush. So he helps us in a number of different ways.

“How he helps us offensively flies under the radar or it goes unnoticed, especially because of his partner and how active (Kris Letang) is and how good (Letang) is in helping us offensively as well we. But (Dumoulin), I think, is a guy that’s a real good two-way player for us. Obviously, his defending ability and how good he is positionally and the way he defends with his stick and his mobility and his smarts is really, for me, the most important aspect of (Dumoulin’s) game. But the offense, I think, goes unnoticed in a lot of situations.”

During Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss at home to the rival Philadelphia Flyers, Dumoulin was easy to notice.

His most obvious offensive contribution came in the form of a secondary assist on the team’s lone regulation goal. He settled a puck in his own slot and chipped it to the neutral zone for Letang to push up ice on a sequence that resulted in forward Sidney Crosby scoring.

His assist extended a career-best scoring streak to six games.

Beyond that, Dumoulin’s also drew two penalties in the offensive zone by simply pushing the puck deep, including on an improbable breakaway he generated at the end of a short-handed sequence.

“He makes good outlet passes,” Sullivan said. “He’s not just an ‘off-the-glass-and-out’ guy. He joins the rush with his mobility. He helps us with our possession games in the offensive zone along the offensive blue line. So he does a lot of things well that I think go unnoticed that help our team as a group generate offense. The fact that he’s getting rewarded on the scoresheet, we’re thrilled for him.”