Penguins forward Brock McGinn is finding more goals on 3rd line

When the Pittsburgh Penguins signed forward Brock McGinn in July 2021, general manager Ron Hextall offered a finite variety of vocabulary to describe the player he has just added to the roster.

“Inside game.”

“Good energy.”

“Physical.”

“Intangibles.”

One term that was absent as Hextall outlined McGinn’s features?

“Scoring.”

The Penguins didn’t add McGinn to boost their offensive figures. The likes of forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang largely have that covered.

Primarily a bottom-six forward, McGinn was (and still is) primarily expected to provide hits, blocked shots and stout defense.

To be clear, McGinn has been a competent scorer as an NHLer. In three of his previous five seasons, he has reached double-digit figures in goals. The exceptions were the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns that were disrupted in some regard by the pandemic.

Currently, he’s one goal short of another double-digit goal figure this season. In 31 games, he has nine goals, a slightly better pace than last season when he needed 39 games to reach nine goals.

As it was, he finished with 12 goals in 64 games during the 2020-21 season. After starting off on such a productive pace, a combination of a bout with covid-19 and a right hand injury slowed him down in the second half of the season.

Provided he stays on the ice, he very well could surpass the career-best 16 goals he scored in 80 games for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017-18.

What has led to such an uptick in production?

“Just putting in the work over the summer on my shot,” McGinn said. “I think I’m on the receiving end of some good plays right now and fortunate to bury them.”

McGinn is short on specifics as far as his offseason work is concerned. But one thing he is frank about is the opportunity he has enjoyed over the past two months since he was promoted from the fourth line to the third line on a permanent basis — or as least as permanent lines in the NHL are — on Nov. 9 during a 4-1 road win against the rival Washington Capitals.

In the 19 games since that day, eight of McGinn’s goals have come on that line that primarily has included Jeff Carter at center and Kasperi Kapanen on the right wing.

“(Carter) reads the ice so well, and I think he’s always in the right spots,” McGinn said. “He’s good at getting pucks back and making plays. And (Kapanen), obviously, brings so much speed and skill to our line.”

During a 3-2 road loss to the Hurricanes on Sunday, McGinn scored a go-ahead goal at 5 minutes, 3 seconds of the third period.

Off a turnover by the Hurricanes, Kapanen gained the offensive zone as the Hurricanes bumbled a line change and fed the puck from the high slot to the right circle, where McGinn swiped a laser of a one-timer past goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov’s left skate.

“I kind of saw that the two (defensemen) by the bench were kind of disoriented,” Kapanen said. “I thought I’d kind of attack the middle and make (Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob) Slavin come towards me and make a decision. I knew (McGinn) was coming hot on the outside. He’s been scoring from that (right) side going against the grain a little bit. Lucky enough, he did that again and it worked out.”

While McGinn has scored a handful of cosmetically appealing goals such as Sunday’s offering, he has potted a few that are bowling shoe ugly. Or flat-out lucky.

During a 4-3 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 1, McGinn scored the Penguins’ first goal in that comeback victory. From the right circle, he chucked a wrister toward the cage that bounced off the left leg of Golden Knights defenseman Ben Hutton and caromed into the cage.

“(McGinn) is a guy that plays the game hard. He plays a pretty straight-ahead game, he goes to the net (and) he has the ability to score off the rush,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “For example, (Sunday) night. He’s a couple of those that he’s scored this year. But he also gets those blue-paint goals that are in and around the net which are so important. It’s a huge aspect of scoring goals in today’s game.

“He just plays the game the right way.”

That fundamentally sound approach has McGinn in line to set career numbers in an area of the game that isn’t necessarily his most prominent trait.

“I think people don’t give him enough credit of being really good offensively,” Kapanen said. “Obviously, he’s big for us on the (penalty kill) and the (defensive) zone. Our line is a bit more defensive taking those (defensive) zone draws. But the guy can shoot. He’s got a good shot. He’s got good hands. And obviously, his speed is really good, too. He’s a very dangerous player.”

McGinn isn’t a danger to any of the franchise’s scoring records. But he’s offering a level of production that wasn’t necessarily expected upon his arrival with the Penguins.

“Just getting in those spots and areas where I can get the puck towards the net,” McGinn said. “Sometimes, they go off of some people. Sometimes, they go right in. Fortunately, they’re going in right now.”

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