Analysis: Penguins forward Drew O'Connor figures out how to use his size

Empty thoughts on the Penguins’ 7-1 win against the Maple Leafs:

With seemingly any center of note sidelined due to various medical concerns, the Penguins elevated rookie Drew O’Connor to the second line on Saturday and he responded with two goals.

On each occasion, he used his robust 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame to create them.

“A lot of it is just battling at the net front, using your body,” O’Connor said. “It wasn’t something that I didn’t do maybe as well the last game. So, I tried to focus on it a bit. Just trying to box out guys, get some space in front of the net and just kind of use my body.”

With the first goal, which was also the first goal of the contest, O’Connor literally scored it with his body. After defenseman Marcus Pettersson corralled the puck at the left point, he chucked a wrister on net as O’Connor battled Maple Leafs forward David Kampf for position above the crease.

As the puck arrived, O’Connor twisted his backside toward the puck and allowed it to hit off his left hip, causing a deflection past goaltender Jack Campbell’s blocker.

(After the game, O’Connor admitted he used that maneuver in part to protect his left hand after he had lost his glove a few moments earlier.)

On the Penguins’ fifth goal, O’Connor used his physical tools again, albeit in a different way.

Rushing up the left wing into the offensive zone, he again used that big chassis to shield the puck from a backcheck by Maple Leafs forward Alexander Kerfoot. A lucky bounce off a botched pass attempt ended up in the net thanks to the left skate of former Penguins defensive prospect Jake Muzzin.

It was a fluky goal but it would not have happened if O’Connor didn’t know how to box out the backchecker effectively.

Such a sight was pretty uncommon for O’Connor during the 2020-21 season when he appeared in 10 NHL games.

At least that’s what his career statistics indicate. To the naked eye, O’Connor was just about invisible during his brief cup of coffee last season.

And that was understandable. After signing him out of Dartmouth in March of 2020, the Penguins kind of hot-shotted him to the NHL during the training camp in January of 2020 and probably rushed him a bit.

At his size, he could bulldoze his way around mostly smaller and younger opponents at the NCAA level. But in the NHL? That’s a whole other challenge going against grown men who know all the tricks of the trade in terms of positioning.

After looking completely lost in NHL action last season, he received some much-needed refinement with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and was productive in the AHL, putting up 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in 20 games at that level.

With the benefit of a true offseason, he added some speed and earned an NHL roster spot with a strong training camp earlier this month.

On Tuesday, he was the Penguins’ second-line center and was flat-out dominant by simply using his natural gifts, namely his size, in an effective manner.

“Drew’s evolving into a real good player,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “His size, his skating ability and his instincts I think are encouraging. He’s still learning every day. His learning curve is so steep right now. We believe he’s only going to get better. He does have a power forward game in a sense that he skates so well and he’s strong on the puck. He’s a heavy body so he can hang onto pucks down low. He’s hard to push off the puck and he’s got a real good shot. He’s willing to take pucks to the net.”

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins controlled shots, 33-29.

• O’Connor and Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews each led the game with six shots.

• With defenseman Kris Letang sidelined after entering the NHL’s covid-19 protocol, he was replaced on the Penguins’ top pairing by John Marino who led the game with 26:05 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• Defenseman Morgan Reilly led the Maple Leafs with 22:59 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• The Penguins dominated faceoffs, 39-22 (64%).

• Penguins forward Teddy Blueger was 17 for 24 (71%).

• Kampf was 7 for 14 (50%).

• Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin, forward Danton Heinen and Muzzin each led the game with three blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• Believe it or not, there was a moment where the Maple Leafs looked like they were going to take control of this game. It was right after O’Connor’s first goal when the Maple Leafs got their only goal from forward Jason Spezza less than a minute later. After that, they just peppered the Penguins’ offensive zone with rushes and threw a bunch of quality shots on net.

But there was goaltender Tristan Jarry to reject them all after Spezza scored. In all, Jarry made 16 of his 28 saves in the first period. And the Penguins needed him to because the Maple Leafs had all the momentum.

A six-goal victory doesn’t always compliment the winning goaltender very well. But Jarry earned this win with a strong first period.

• Really, if the Penguins had been the team to give up a touchdown in this game, it would have been understandable. After all, they were missing $31.85 million of salary cap figures in the form of Letang as well as forward Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust. They had every excuse to lose this game. Yet, they dominated most of this game.

A result like this is a really strong reflection of the structure Sullivan and staff have put in place as well as the adherence the players have to that schematic. These Penguins almost remind one of the Detroit Red Wings of the 2000s where everyone was on the same page and moved on the ice like a school of fish.

• With Letang absent, the Penguins’ defensive pairings got mixed up and Pettersson really looked like he drew the short straw out of that ordeal. He was separated from Marino, his long-time partner, and moved to the third pairing.

All Pettersson did was respond with a career-best three-point effort.

It might be a bit strong to say Pettersson regressed in 2020-21 but he definitely didn’t progress in his development. He has said as much. But this season, he looks so much more assertive in his decisions on the ice.

• A lot of that has to do with assistant coach Todd Reirden who oversees the defensemen. His effect on many of the younger defensemen such as Pettersson, Marino and Friedman has been notable this season.

Reirden’s bread and butter as a coach is his penchant for working in one-on-one settings with players and helping them smooth out rough edges in their games. Matt Niskanen, Deryk Engelland and Brooks Orpik will tell you that.

But last season, so much of that in-person guidance was not possible due to the NHL’s pandemic rules that limited direct contact between coaches and players. As a result, a lot of Reirden’s lessons were done remotely.

Today, Reirden is able to have face-to-face discussions with the defensemen and it appears to really be paying dividends.

• The Penguins’ first fighting major of the season was recorded by their biggest player, forward Brian Boyle, against Maple Leafs forward Wayne Simmonds at 13:16 of the third period.

After Friedman tripped Kerfoot at the center red line, Simmonds mouthed off to Friedman then slashed his skates, prompting Friedman to take a tumble. That was followed by Simmonds throwing a high shoulder into Penguins forward Dominik Simon.

Boyle had seen enough and challenged Simmonds right away.

Simmonds (6-foot-3, 180 pounds) got the better of Boyle (6-6, 245). But the result of the fight was irrelevant. The sight of a Penguins player actually standing up to an aggressor in some notable fashion was a rare but welcome sight, particularly for management.

To be clear, this author isn’t a big believer that having a fight will curtail future violence. If anything, it’s a kind of never-ending cycle. Simmonds is going to try to rough up the Penguins the next time he plays them. That’s his game.

But Simmonds was not able to cause any more trouble for the rest of the game as a result of the penalties he accumulated thanks to Boyle challenging him.

• Friedman was assessed an embellishment minor out of that scene. He’s clearly not a favorite of officials around the league.

• Simon might have had the best individual moment of the game 20 seconds into the third period. First, he lifted Spezza’s stick in front of the visiting bench to steal a puck. Then he reversed course and gained the offensive zone. Finally, he drew in Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie and fed a subtle pass to the left circle for Boyle to fire a one-timer.

That was Simon’s fourth point (one goal, four assists) in five games this season. Beyond the production, he just looks faster than the last time he skated for the Penguins. There were a lot of complaints about the Penguins re-signing him, but he’s been a pretty valuable contributor to this team considering the absences it has endured.

• Heinen had an under-the-radar game with two assists. He now has five points (three goals, two assists) in five games.

• The Penguins lead the NHL with 14 different goal scorers this season.

• Goodness, what is wrong with the Maple Leafs? They just didn’t look like they gave a you-know-what (with the exception of Simmonds). That just looks like a toxic situation.

You can only fire the head coach so many times before the players have to be held accountable in a meaningful fashion.

• Attendance was listed as 15,397. Full capacity of PPG Paints Arena for hockey is 18,187.

Historically speaking

• Penguins forward Jake Guentzel (260 points) surpassed former defenseman Sergei Gonchar (259) for 32nd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• In a cruel twist, Letang had the Penguins’ longest streak for consecutive games played at 56 — including playoffs — before Saturday. He had only recently inherited that streak from Rust who was injured Oct. 14.

With Letang injured, Pettersson is the Penguins’ new “iron man” at 54 games. Though at this rate, it might be more appropriate to call Petterson the Penguins’ “barium man.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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