On January 27, Marcus Pettersson's winning goal in overtime gave the team momentum against the visiting Montreal Canadiens. The postgame atmosphere at PPG Paints Arena heading into the All-Star break was definitely positive for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins (22-17-7) lost a shootout to the Florida Panthers the night before, but they managed to tie the game late in regulation and force overtime, ensuring they would at least escape with a point. Score.
Pettersson himself said this after the win against Montreal: It's a real battle across the East (Ern Council). …That's two big points. ”
Scoring three of a total of four points in the final two games before the All-Star break was huge for the Penguins as they continue to fight for their lives in Eastern Conference playoff contention. card position.
At the time of the break, the Penguins were tied for fifth in the Metropolitan Division, seven points removed from the second wild card spot, which is currently held by Detroit.
The Penguins used the break to rest and refresh before preparing to strengthen their position in the standings starting Tuesday at home against Winnipeg.
A key factor in determining whether the club can accomplish that will be improving its power play, which ranks second from bottom in the NHL with a 13.1% conversion rate.
From coach Mike Sullivan's office to the Penguins' locker room to the virtual squares of social media, discussion and dialogue abound about how the 31st-ranked team's power play can start to perform admirably. It's overflowing.
So far, neither Sullivan nor armchair experts on X have been able to crack the code.
The video from mid-December features back-to-back games in which they scored two power-play goals, and the Penguins scored on the man advantage in four consecutive games from Jan. 2-8 (17 of their chances). home).
But apart from that, the club's power play this season has been largely ineffective.
If the Penguins' last two games are any indication, Coach Sullivan has seemed more willing to shuffle the deck in terms of his talent group lately.
The power play started right away against Florida, with Jake Guentzel scoring less than two minutes into the game.
But from there, the Penguins were frustrated as they couldn't find the back of the net on their next seven power-play opportunities.
Late in regulation, Sullivan replaced Erik Karlsson and Evgeni Malkin on the top unit and brought in Valtteri Puustinen and Kris Letang to begin the Penguins' last power plate try.
The switch didn't come to fruition, but Sullivan opted to keep Puustinen and Letang in Saturday's game against the Canadiens, along with Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Bryan Rust, while Malkin, Karlsson, Lars Eller, Jeff Carter and Rickard Rakel rounded out the second group.
The power play was 2-0 that night.
“We'll have to make decisions accordingly as to what happens next,” Sullivan said. “We made the decision to split the group for obvious reasons, and we want to believe that if we put a group of players on the ice that have been on the ice for a long time, we'll find a way to get traction.” To get. It seemed like we weren't quite there yet. ”
Puustinen was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last Sunday, opening a spot on the cutting edge of the top power play unit.
Regardless of what Sullivan decides to do after the hiatus, the Penguins' power play has been a liability this season, as opposed to a supposed source of strength.
To date, the Penguins have lost 12 games, including regulation games and overtime, by one point.
In eight of those games, he failed to score on the power play, and overall he scored on just five of his 50 attempts (10%).
According to Penguins historian Bob Grove, if the season ended today, the Penguins' power play percentage of 13.4% would be the franchise's worst, and would be more inefficient than the club's 13.6% in the 1967-68 season. Dew.
Currently, the Pens' PP percentage is 13.3%, the worst in team history. The team's worst single-season conversion rate was 13.6% in 1967-68.
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) January 26, 2024
Last year, they finished 14th in the league with a rate of 21.7%.
Suffice it to say that once the team resumes organized action Sunday in Cranberry, fixing the Penguins' weak power play into one that can help them win games rather than lose them will be a major priority.
“There’s nothing carved in stone,” Sullivan said. “We'll see how this goes. All of these options are on the table and will continue to be on the table. We're looking for a group that can bring us success.”
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A native of Pittsburgh, he is a Central Catholic and graduate of the University of Colorado. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. Please contact jguerriero@triblive.com.
