Tim Benz: Mike Sullivan is ignoring the obvious when it comes to net-front issues

After the overtime loss Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 playoff opener, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan blamed a lack of offensive net-front presence as a major factor.

“We generated a fair amount of scoring chances,” Sullivan said after the defeat. “It’s not that there wasn’t opportunity. There was lots. Areas where we can make it harder on Montreal is if we get to the net more consistently. Take the goalie’s sight lines away. Make it harder for him to find the puck and maybe create some rebound opportunities.”

It’s a critique Sullivan’s players echoed.

“Their bigger defensemen were doing a good job of keeping us away from the net,” forward Conor Sheary said Sunday. “But there were opportunities we saw where we could’ve gotten there and we didn’t. We were either trying to tip off to the side or we skated through the crease and not really establishing position there.”

Sullivan’s criticism is correct. It’s also partially his fault.

Well, his and general manager Jim Rutherford’s.

Rutherford is to blame in the sense that Patric Hornqvist is pretty much the only forward on the roster who provides that kind of physical skill set and demeanor.

It’s Sullivan’s because he didn’t play Hornqvist enough on Saturday. He’s not playing him with the right people or on the right special teams units.

Hornqvist was granted 14:54 of ice time. The only Penguins forward to play fewer minutes was Patrick Marleau (11:15).

Part of the reason Hornqvist has been such a cult hero in Pittsburgh since his arrival from Nashville in 2014 is that few Penguins have embraced and perfected the physical, pesky, net-front stereotype role the way he has.

He can’t do it from the bench, though. And he can’t utilize those talents on the power play—when they are the most necessary—unless he’s on it.

Hornqvist was on the ice when the power play scored its lone goal in seven attempts. But that was only because the first unit had already exited the ice.

It was a typical kind of Hornqvist goal, even though Hornqvist didn’t put the puck in the net himself.

Hornqvist was standing on top of the crease in front of goaltender Carey Price’s face. A perimeter shot from Jared McCann hit him in the chest. Bryan Rust collected the rebound and scored a game-tying goal.

After four months, we only have the good kind of Rust.

: @rustyyy_92
: Hornqvist, @jaredmccann19 pic.twitter.com/RpRdLEt14b

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) August 2, 2020

However, when Hornqvist is relegated to the second power-play unit, he isn’t getting enough ice time to create such problems. And he’s not doing so with the Penguins’ top skill players.

One could argue he and Rust should be on the first man-up squad, with Rust on the left wall and Hornqvist in front of the net.

Well, I’d argue that. How ’bout you?

I’d also advance that Hornqvist should be getting more ice time at even strength with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Hornqvist’s line with McCann and Marleau was the least effective unit for the Penguins on Saturday. The shot attempts were 14-5 against in 10:21 of ice time with those three together.

It’s hard for Hornqvist to bang in rebounds or create the net-front havoc Sullivan desires when his linemates can’t get shots on goal. Neither Marleau nor McCann registered an official shot on goal.

“It’s a mindset,” Marleau said on Sunday. “We were close to the net. But we weren’t in the sight lines as much as we wanted to be. We did it at times. But we can always get better at it.”

On Sunday, I asked Sullivan if Hornqvist might get more ice time in Game 2 and who else on his roster might be able to provide that harassment in front of Price.

He declined to answer either question specifically, instead reiterating Marleau’s “mindset” mantra.

“Everybody can go to the net. That’s just being a hockey player,” Sullivan said. “When a shot is imminent, we have to be conscious of getting people to the net. We got pucks to the net. We need to get people to the net.”

Preaching about the collective is all well and good. However, at 33 years old, Hornqvist is making $5.3 million specifically for the purpose of providing that presence. It’d be nice to actually see him get a chance to earn what he is getting paid to do.

More of Hornqvist isn’t a cure-all. The problems displayed by the Penguins extend well beyond his restricted role in Game 1.

But the most obvious solution to the most obvious problem Sullivan cited is right in front of his face. And it wears jersey No. 72.

The coach would be wise to acknowledge it.