Shootouts are rarer for the Penguins and the NHL

In 16 games this season, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jansen Harkins has zero points.

But he has a place in franchise history that likely never will be surpassed.

During a 4-3 road win against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 13, Harkins scored the winning goal in a 12-round shootout, the longest shootout in the history of the Penguins.

Harkins has 13 regulation goals throughout his five seasons in the NHL, but his shootout score earlier this month was clearly significant for his team and for his career.

“Pretty big,” Harkins said Friday after practice in Cranberry. “Everyone wants to go in the shootout. Everyone wants to score in the shootout. I’ve always done well in the shootout. I just try to not overthink it and just kind of take my shot. A pretty big goal. A winning goal in a shootout is a great feeling.”

It’s become a far less common feeling, however, since the NHL instituted three-on-three overtime beginning with the 2015-16. With so much open ice, games typically are determined in that realm and not through shootouts, which the NHL introduced in 2005-06 to eliminate ties.

Not many tears have been shed by the Penguins over the decline in shootouts.

“I’m not a huge fan of it,” said forward Jeff Carter, whose rookie campaign was the NHL’s first season with shootouts. “I’d rather just play overtime. It’s kind of a cheesy way to end a good game.

“Games should end with hockey.”

That’s how the Penguins ended Thursday’s game. In a tight defensive affair, they edged the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1, when forward Sidney Crosby scored the lone goal in the shootout.

Crosby’s preferences mirrored Carter’s.

“I like it being settled in overtime,” Crosby said. “Three on three probably gives you the best opportunity to do that. But there are going to be times where — like the game (Thursday) night — that game could have probably went (on) forever. You’ve got to get a winner. I’ve gone back and forth on it. It would throw everything out of whack if there were ties. So you’ve got to find some way (to determine a winner).”

In the first 10 seasons the NHL used shootouts — including the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign — the Penguins averaged 10.4 shootouts per season.

Through the ensuing nine seasons — including the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns that were shortened because of the pandemic — they have gone to shootouts on an average of 5.7 games per season.

With that, NHL teams don’t focus on preparing for shootouts quite as often.

Under former coach Dan Bylsma, virtually every practice session for the Penguins ended with some sort of shootout “tournament.” With current coach Mike Sullivan, shootout competitions are mixed in sporadically to break up the monotony of practices.

And that’s a pattern most teams have followed as shootouts have declined.

“With Montreal, we would practice it quite a bit,” said Penguins forward Lars Eller, a member of the Canadiens and Washington Capitals earlier in his career. “(Washington), we would practice it once in a while, maybe once every two or three weeks. (With the Penguins), we probably practice it a little bit less. In training camp, we did quite a bit.”

Eller scored in the seventh round of that marathon shootout in Montreal with a forehand shot.

“I’ve done it so much now that I feel confident in what I’m going to do anyways,” Eller said. “I practiced it so much in the past, you know your moves in your head. You’ve done it so many times. It’s just automatic. Either the goalie makes a save, or he doesn’t.”

In the case of Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, he made saves on all three shootout attempts he faced Thursday.

“I try to not really think about (shootout techniques),” Nedeljkovic said. “The more I think, the worse I get. I just try to read and react, take away their time and space and force them to make a decision when they don’t want to make them.”

This season, the Penguins are 2-1 in shootouts.

Entering Thursday, they had the second-most shootout wins in NHL history with 89. Only the New York Islanders (90) have more.

“There was a lot of excitement for it,” Crosby said of the introduction of shootouts during his rookie season. “I didn’t even do it in juniors. It was something completely new they hadn’t done before. I think they talked about guys doing it with no helmets at one point. There were just a lot of ideas being thrown around. The camera used to be right out there. There was a lot of surrounding that as far as bringing more attention to the game and things.

“It’s stuck around. The three-on-three (overtime) has made it more game-like as far as to settle that point (in the standings).”

Others still see the appeal of a shootout.

“I like them,” Harkins said. “Entertaining. I’ve always enjoyed being part of a shootout. Three-on-three is fun, but when you get down to a shootout, it’s a lot of pressure. It’s a fun part of the game.”