Penguins power play concerns, Canadiens ‘equalizing factor’ besides Carey Price

There’s one continuing narrative about the Penguins preliminary round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens.

“The Canadiens have a chance to steal the series if Carey Price stands on his head in goal!”

Sure. That could be true.

But our TribLive hockey beat writer, Seth Rorabaugh, has a different theory about who could be an X-factor working against the Penguins.

And it’s not a player.

Rorabaugh points to Canadiens head coach Claude Julien.

“He’s a guy who gets the most out of his talent,” Rorabaugh said during Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “The Canadiens don’t have a lot of talent. But they do have a lot guys who can get under your skin and agitate. He might have 10 Bradon Tanevs on the roster.”

Julien certainly is using mental gamesmanship already. He’s going to the old Lou Holtz well. The former Notre Dame coach was infamous for propping up his opposition week to week to the point that he made it sound like the Irish never had a chance to win a game.

Habs coach Julien a few mins ago on their series vs PIT: "Experience wise, we don't compare to Pittsburgh. . . . So, the chance that we have of winning is by having everybody being able to step up and play a little bit above their heads and have the confidence to do that."

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) July 29, 2020

Yeah. Julien doesn’t believe that. He may say it publicly. And he may even be right.

But I’m sure he’s got more confidence in his team than that. As Rorabaugh points out, Julien sounded the same way before the 2013 Eastern Conference championship series.

That’s when his Boston Bruins swept the Penguins thanks in no small part to Julien’s structured, disciplined tactics.

“He’s routinely frustrated (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin,” Rorabaugh continued. “Put them in a five-game series and the margin for error is a lot more limited for the favored team.”

Another issue that could undermine the Penguins is a poor power play. Despite all of the Penguins’ offensive talent, the Pens were just 16th in power play percentage (19.9) during the regular season.

The man-up unit was 0-3 in Tuesday’s 3-2 (OT) exhibition game loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. A major point of confusion still appears to be who will be on the left wing wall.

That’s where Phil Kessel used to play.

Kris Letang seems like an easy choice, if head coach Mike Sullivan elects to go with two defensemen on the first unit, thus allowing Justin Schultz to be the quarterback.

But if Sullivan wants to split those two defensemen between the two units as capable point men and have four forwards in each group, someone else needs to go to the left wall.

“We’re all interchangeable out there,” Letang said Wednesday. “But it’s certainly a spot that I played in the past and I’m pretty comfortable there. If they ask me to be there, I’ll gladly be that guy.”

Both Crosby and Malkin made appearances there at least once during those power play situations Tuesday. By doing so, however, they are vacating the spots where they are prone to do the most damage. During power plays, Crosby is usually best down near the goal line. Malkin usually camps in the right circle.

“One of the strengths of our power play is the instinctive play,” Sullivan said. “Allowing for players like Geno and Sid to go off the grid a little bit and use their instincts. We are trying to implement a scheme to give that latitude. There are a number of people we can utilize to fill that backside flank position. We’ve discussed lots of things.”

Sullivan went to the extent of acknowledging the coaching staff tried yet another “look” in practice Wednesday. So we’ll see if that spot is the best way to get Crosby and Malkin thinking “off the grid.” Regardless, this power play is still going to be in the experimental phase by Saturday night when the series against the Canadiens starts.

At this late date, even with all those training camp workouts in Cranberry, the Penguins still appear to be hunting and pecking.

Interestingly, Sullivan also expressed concerns about extending minutes of forwards who are on the top power play unit, top penalty kill unit, and in the top six. Personally, I’d prioritize getting the most proficient man-up unit on the ice, as opposed to worrying about in-game load management.

But if minutes are a concern, then perhaps balance personnel on the two power play units a little more and be more diligent about getting the first unit off the ice.

Rorabaugh gives his opinions on the power play as well during the podcast. Plus, we get into goaltending, other points of emphasis from Montreal, and the dangers of trying to speak French into a microphone.

Listen: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh discuss the Penguins power play and Canadiens’ equalizing factor ahead of the start of the playoffs