Penguins Perspectives: Surging Penguins get a 'power surge'
Welcome to Penguins Perspectives, a weekly column by KDKA-TV Digital Producer Patrick Damp. Each Monday, Patrick will talk about the week that was, the week to come, what to watch for, and more.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Just a few weeks ago on this very column, I wrote about the Penguins' struggles with the man advantage.
Their power play was a problem. To the point where a cliched hockey joke of "can't they just decline penalties" became a near-serious question.
As of late, with the Penguins surging and climbing both the Metropolitan and Eastern Conference standings, their power play has surged right along with it.
(Editor's note: this column is being written prior to Sunday's game against the Hurricanes, so it is not part of this breakdown.)
During their seven-game winning streak, the Penguins have scored 10 power-play goals in 27 opportunities, good for a 37 percent success rate. For reference, as of Sunday, December 18, the Edmonton Oilers lead the NHL with a power play percentage of 31.9 percent.
They've also scored at least one power-play goal in each of their seven victories.
In fact, when the Penguins score at least a power play goal, they're 11-4-1, when they don't, they're 7-4-3.
So, this begs the question, since the calendar flipped to December, what changed with the Penguins' power play?
Before we even get into the film, a big change was simply in personnel. While this isn't at all a shot a Bryan Rust, he's a fine player 5-on-5 and one of the better offensive weapons the Penguins have, replacing Rust with Rickard Rakell was the correct move.
One of the suggestions I had in my earlier column was that a way to get the man advantage back on track was to shoot more and that's something Rakell has done quite a bit. When he has a lane, he puts it at the net.
Now, let's take a look at what the Penguins have been doing well during this streak.
Lateral Movement
In today's NHL there are two ways to get a goalie off his game, one of them is taking away his sight – setting a screen and making the defenseman move you.
The other is lateral movement.
Your hope is to get a goalie to overcommit going left-to-right or right-to-left. When the Penguins' streak began, so did the power play streak and they did both.
With Sidney Crosby in front of Logan Thompson, Evgeni Malkin fakes a shot that Thompson sees, and freezes ever so slightly. From there Malkin drifts to the left and Jake Guentzel gets into position for a one-timer.
Malkin feeds Guentzel and he lets it rip as Thompson can't get over quick enough to make the save.
Just a couple of days later, the Penguins do it again, this time with Crosby.
Crosby takes up position in front of Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins and the puck on the half wall on Evgeni Malkin's stick.
Once again, Malkin, Crosby, and Guentzel team up.
Malkin slides the puck across to Guentzel and this time instead of Crosby taking the goalie's eyes away, he disappears behind the Columbus defense and out of the sight of the goalie.
With a wide-open lane, Guentzel looks them off, slides it to Sid for a deflection and the Penguins' power play is on the board again.
Setting the screen
This is a goal I wanted to highlight for a couple of reasons – first, for the evolution of P.O. Joseph as a player.
I told Josh Taylor last week on 93.7, that a younger, more inexperienced player with less confidence would not shoot here. They would take a higher-percentage play, making a pass. Putting the puck deep in the zone. Or simply shooting as soon as they get the pass.
Joseph, however, holds on to the puck, waits for Jason Zucker to set a perfect screen in front of Jake Oettinger, and takes full advantage.
Oettinger has no idea where the shot is coming from, Joseph has time to pick a corner and makes no mistake. In a game where both teams were playing extremely stingy defensively, a power-play goal made all the difference.
The Penguins are doing what they always do, getting hot in November and December after a pedestrian October, but make no mistake – getting the power play going again has played a huge part in their surge.
Here's to hoping Jason Zucker isn't out too long because his willingness to get to the front of the net when he has a chance on the power play will make life much harder for goalies and much easier for the Penguins' shooters.