Penguins power play has turned into weapon through structure, flexibility
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan often has remarked about the need to establish a structure for the team while allowing its talented players to freelance and use their world-class skill.
It’s a balancing act, and it is tested most by the power play.
Recent results suggest the Penguins are navigating that fine line well.
A 3 for 3 power-play effort during a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday lifted the Penguins into the top 10 conversion rates. With power-play goals in five consecutive games heading into a rematch with the Maple Leafs on Thursday, the Penguins have converted seven of their past 13 opportunities.
“We’re out there working as a unit,” said Bryan Rust, who had the first 5-on-4 goal Tuesday. “I think we have a little bit of confidence and I think the more we have time together, the more we talk about things and the more chemistry we build.”
Tuesday’s game was the fifth over the team’s past 14 in which it had multiple power-play goals. That span featured one game each without the unit’s biggest stars: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And each of those games resulted in at least two power-play goals, including when Malkin missed because of illness Tuesday.
Jared McCann filled in seamlessly.
“I felt comfortable,” said McCann, who assisted on a Crosby power-play tally. “Obviously, it’s kind of different playing with those guys. They make plays a lot more. I am just trying to complement them as much as I can.”
McCann was a regular on the power play earlier this season when the Penguins’ injury problem was at its worst. He also has been part of the second unit, so he is familiar with how the Penguins do things 5-on-4.
The fact he could seamlessly immerse himself with short notice on the top unit at an unfamiliar position (the left point, Malkin’s typical domain) is a testament to the way the structure meets creative fluidity.
“We don’t really have any set positions,” McCann said. “You kind of move all over the ice, take what they give you. And we have guys who read the play really easily, and we have been taking advantage of it.”
That fluidity is part of the freedom Sullivan and his staff give in an effort to avoid stifling their best players’ creativity. That can be difficult for coaches, whose default mindset reverts to respecting structure.
“Sometimes these guys go off the grid a little bit just based on their instinctive play,” Sullivan said, “but I think that’s one of the things that separates some of our players from others, so that’s always been a fabric of our offense — be it 5-on-5 or on the power play — and we try to provide the latitude for that. We certainly don’t want to get in the way of that for the coaching staff. But it is important to have a framework and have some structure so that our guys can be somewhat predictable for one another when they are out there.”
The Penguins’ hour-long practice Wednesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry featured power-play work with McCann taking Malkin’s spot alongside Crosby, Letang, Hornqvist and Rust, though Malkin could return for Thursday’s game.
Tuesday’s outburst improved the Penguins’ season power-play success rate by a point and a half to 21.9% and moved it to ninth in the NHL.
The Penguins rank sixth in the NHL in goals per game despite the power play lagging behind the 24.9% conversion rate of last season, suggesting the offense might not have peaked yet.
A strong power play also can affect the other 50-plus minutes of games via the threat of its potency.
“It definitely does help, because it does make teams a little more hesitant to take some penalties,” Rust said. “I think when they do, we try to either score goals or gain momentum for the team. And that’s big.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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