Penguins

Tim Benz: 1 aspect of the Penguins’ game that must be rediscovered coming out of the All-Star Break

Tim Benz
Slide 1
Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby just misses against the Capitals’ Ilya Samsonov in the third period on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.

Share this post:

After a torrid stretch winning 17 of 19 games between Dec. 4 and Jan. 25, the Pittsburgh Penguins limped into the All-Star break by losing four in a row.

All of the games were at home. All of the defeats were against clubs with fewer points than them in the standings. Two of the losses came against teams — the Seattle Kraken and Detroit Red Wings — that aren’t even currently in playoff position.

That said, all of the defeats were one-goal decisions, and three of them ended in overtime. So at least the Penguins managed one point in three of the four contests.

“We don’t like the last four,” forward Jake Guentzel said of the slump. “But from our part of the whole season, we are happy with where we are. We know we have a good team and can do something special here. For us, this break is much needed to get away from the game a little bit. Get recharged and ready to go for the second half.”

Another positive during the slump is that the team’s power play has found a groove, scoring in each of those contests and six times total in that stretch. After some early season struggles, the man-up unit is now 11th in hockey, scoring at a 22.1% rate. That’s a far cry from the eight-game drought the power play unit endured in November and December.

The power play scored all three of the team’s goals in a 4-3 loss to Washington on Tuesday.

“They are playing incredible,” defenseman John Marino said of the power-play unit. “With everyone healthy, the chemistry that those guys have, playing together over the years. It’s special to watch. You just try to take it in and learn from it.”


Related:

First Call: Steelers focus on QBs at Senior Bowl; Cameron Heyward’s brother on Steelers’ radar; JuJu’s parting shot?
U mad, bro?: Fans spit fire about Steelers’ QB situation, Heinz Field attendance, Evgeni Malkin, Antonio Brown, NFL OT


It’s no surprise that the power play’s jump has coincided with the return of Evgeni Malkin. Since he came back to the lineup on Jan. 11, the Penguins are scoring at a 33.3% clip (13 of 39) with the extra skater. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play is currently leading the NHL at 30.5% for the entire season.

Where the Penguins may want to find the stride they had going before the All-Star break is scoring 5-on-5. The Pens netted just two 5-on-5 goals during the four-game losing streak. They also lost the 5-on-5 shot attempts battle in the first three of those games, before soundly winning it (63-40) against the Capitals on Tuesday.

“We played good games,” Malkin said after Tuesday’s defeat. “Maybe we deserve more. But it’s fine. We understand that it is a hard league. Every team plays hard. Washington played hard for sure. Next time, I hope we score 5-on-5 — a couple of goals — and we win.”

Head coach Mike Sullivan sounded as if he was encouraged that the team found its rudder in the Capitals game before the break. If opposing goalie Ilya Samsonov hadn’t been so sharp — stopping 43 of 45 shots in relief — the Penguins would’ve likely gone into the week-long pause on a better note.

“That’s hockey. I thought our team played hard,” Sullivan said after the game. “There was commitment. There was collective effort. Was it perfect? No. But it is hard to play a perfect game out there. For the most part, we played the game we are trying to play. We dictated the terms. We controlled territory. We controlled the shot clock. We controlled scoring chances. Everything we could control we did. We just didn’t get the result. … If we put that game on the ice consistently, we are going to win a lot of hockey games.”

The Pens better be that sharp coming out of the break. They start with a three-game road trip, beginning Feb. 8 in Boston. They have nine games over those 20 remaining days in February.

The schedule has some tough games on it, too. Along with the Bruins, the Penguins will also face the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers and Maple Leafs. All four of those foes are currently in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket.


Seth Rorabaugh joined me for his weekly hockey podcast Wednesday afternoon. We discussed the Penguins recent spell of close losses, the All-Star game festivities and potential trade targets of interest for the team and the rest of the league.

Listen: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh discuss the Penguins’ losing streak, All-Star game and trade targets

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Sports and Partner News