Tim Benz: Some things the Penguins can do better in rematch with Avalanche
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t think that his team’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver deserved too much disappointment.
“It was just a really good hockey game. It was a well-played game on both sides,” Sullivan said after the defeat. “It was a real competitive hockey game.”
It was. As was the 4-3 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. As was the 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Yup. To no one’s surprise, the Penguins are playing a lot of these lately. They are playoff-bound as is this seemingly endless run of quality competition they’ve faced since mid-March.
The Pens are winning some. They are losing some. But for the most part, just about all of these pre-playoff showdowns against the NHL elite have been up for grabs late in the third period, or beyond.
Since Feb. 26, Sullivan’s club has played 12 games against teams currently in a playoff position. Seven have been one-goal contests. Four have gone to overtime. Two of those overtime games ended in a shootout.
The Penguins have won six of them. Not bad. But you can only go 50-50 for the first six games of a best of seven in the playoffs. After that, you have to do better than break even, or else you are going home. The Penguins haven’t even done that in their last four playoff series — all defeats. And in none of those series did they win more than two games.
So, sure. We’d all like to see the Penguins do better in these jousting matches against likely postseason representatives from both conferences. But in all honesty, with their playoff spot ostensibly locked up and their first-round opponent (the New York Rangers) a near fait accompli, the results are somewhat pedantic.
Unless you are a big believer in home-ice advantage in the hockey postseason, which I am not.
And based on where the Penguins won their first five Stanley Cups and the path they took to get there in most cases, maybe you shouldn’t be either.
All that said, sure, there are some things the Penguins can do better in the return matchup against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
• Finish more often: The Penguins have uncorked 79 shots on goal in the past two games against the Avs and Wild. They have resulted in six goals.
For an allegedly highly skilled team, the Penguins should’ve finished off a few more than they did.
“We had a lot of looks. We had a fair amount of chances. We would normally convert on some of those. But they played extremely well also,” Sullivan said after the loss in Denver.
That critique was especially true Saturday for Kris Letang and Bryan Rust. They combined for 13 shots without a goal.
Better that, though, than what we saw Tuesday against the Rangers when the Penguins only managed 24 shots.
• Faceoffs: The Penguins went from winning 55% of their draws against the Wild on Thursday to losing 56% of them against Colorado.
Sidney Crosby went 15-11 in the circle. Teddy Blueger was 9-9. Jeff Carter was 5-4. But Evan Rodrigues, Evgeni Malkin and Brian Boyle went a combined 3-13.
The Pens are 13th in the league with a 50.9% faceoff win rate. The Avalanche are 29th at 47.1%
• Buckle up after goals: Just 20 seconds after the Penguins tied the game 1-1 in the second, they allowed the Avalanche to score and take the lead back 2-1. Just 27 seconds after the Penguins re-tied the game in the third, the Avalanche scored the eventual game-winner.
That’s ridiculous.
“Those moments after goals are scored, those are big moments in the game,” Sullivan said Saturday. “You’d like not to give one up after you score. You’d like to take that goal you get and build momentum.”
The Penguins similarly frittered momentum away against the Wild on Thursday when they challenged a Minnesota goal call and won, only to yield a goal anyway 14 seconds later.
• Make up for the power play: If the Penguins only get one power-play chance again, as was the case Saturday, they are just going to have to outscore Colorado 5-on-5.
After whiffing on their only power-play opportunity on Saturday, the Penguins’ six-game streak with at least one power-play goal came to an end. Over those six games, they had nine power-play goals in 24 opportunities.
That’s great. But the Pens can’t get over-reliant on their man-up crew, especially when penalties get scarce in the playoffs.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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