Kovacevic: All that confidence, camaraderie ... it's only grown stronger

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Justin Schultz and Ian Cole, defense partners for more than a year, stall-mates for most of that span, sat together after the Penguins' practice Tuesday afternoon. Still stuck in their pads. Still seemingly soaking up the rather intensive session that had just taken place.

Not to mention the season that's about to switch gears.

"This group," Schultz would tell me, "we've been through a lot together, you know?"

Yep. We've all witnessed it. The good, the bad and the all-bandaged-up.



"But you know what? You look around this room, and you'll see a lot of guys who've gotten better, gotten stronger."

I tapped him on the knee to remind him of one.

"Oh, absolutely. I'm not the player I was a year ago. Not even close. I've learned a lot, played a lot more with great players, gotten so much more confidence."

He motioned over to Cole, to his left.

"How about him?"

Right. How about him? How about all of them?

How about getting three months and 11 days between raising the Stanley Cup in San Jose and reporting to training camp?

That's not an offseason. That's recess.

How about opening the season a couple weeks later with Sidney Crosby out because of a concussion?

That had the captain himself frightened, given ample precedent. It's easy to forget 44 goals later, but at the time it shook his friends, family and, of course, his most tenured teammates and the public as a whole.

How about Evgeni Malkin going down not once but twice?

How about Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust, Olli Maatta, Patric Hornqvist, Jake Guentzel, Matt Cullen, Carl Hagelin, Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley, Brian Dumoulin, Ron Hainsey, Mark Streit, Tom Sestito, Olli Maatta, Chad Ruhwedel and Schultz also going down for significant stretches?

How about Kris Letang, the linchpin of that championship finish, the last player they could have afforded to lose in the eyes of some, going down for good to neck surgery?

That's not adversity. That's an ACME anvil being dropped on their collective heads a dozen times over.

And yet, there they all were on this cool spring Tuesday, flying about the Lemieux Sports Complex rink, feeling the extra fire spit from Mike Sullivan's instructions -- "Go! Go hard!" -- and even mixing in more than their share of fun in the form of playful jabs or shoves. They went for 65 minutes after an extended video session, and they went every bit as hard as the coach had urged.

None the worse for all the wear.

No matter what happens to these Penguins in the Stanley Cup playoffs that open Wednesday against the Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena, they've already written at least one remarkable chapter in their potential sequel.

Cole, the most outgoing voice in the locker room, unsurprisingly summed it up best.

"I think a lot of what's happened this season speaks to the maturity of the guys we have," he told me. "Everyone's able to realize a situation, assess a situation and put forth the product on the ice that's needed for the team to be successful."

Sounds almost like a job.

"Well, yeah, it's about being a professional. It's 100 percent that. It's maturity and professionalism. But we do have young guys on this team who are very professional and, quite frankly, follow our leadership that way. We have a captain, assistant captains, older guys who may not have a letter, who are extremely professional, extremely hard workers who are trying to get better every single day."

He took a deep breath, clearly awaiting a concluding thought.

"That's what you see when there are injuries here, when things haven't always gone the way we want. That's how a Jake Guentzel steps up right away and works so well with a Sidney Crosby. That's great to see. That lifts all of us up. It gives us confidence that the way we do things here as an organization is the right way."

Hm. I mentioned that he's outspoken. He's also outstanding.

I'm not going to top that, but I'll try to buttress the broader case from back to front.

In goal, obviously, Matt Murray's now got a full NHL season to his name, in addition to that championship ring. He did it a little backward, and he'll adamantly deny that anything about his attitude changes in any circumstance, but it's inconceivable that he isn't better now than then.

"Really, I'm the same guy, and the games are the same," he insisted even after I pushed. "You get up for the game the same way. You prepare the same. You perform the same. Experience is overrated. If anything, maybe you're better off in some ways not experiencing as much."

OK, dude. You do you. It worked once.

Marc-Andre Fleury will begin as a backup, but he'll be readier for that role than he ever could have been a year ago. And he most definitely isn't an experience denier.

"It's crazy to think about without Tanger, but we might be a better team, for sure. Look at our 'D' right now. Eight, nine guys?"

The defense, as Sullivan pointedly noted after the practice, is viewed from within as being "eight deep," and he was referring only to those immediately available. That's Schultz, Cole, Dumoulin, Hainsey, Maatta, Daley -- the starting six in drills Tuesday -- plus Mark Streit and Cameron Gaunce, the expected scratches. Ruhwedel will be in the mix, too, once he returns from his wrist injury.

That's legit depth. In contrast, the healthy scratch for Game 6 in San Jose was Derrick Pouliot.

Up front, the Penguins have the best version of Crosby in several years, certainly from a goal-scoring standpoint. And that's to say nothing of having arguably his most dynamic overall line since ... wow, ever?

The captain, predictably, was downplaying any year-over-year edge. But not entirely.

"I think you start fresh," he said. "I mean, you draw on your experiences. The fact that we have a lot of guys back from that team, that helps as far as trust and belief. But really, everybody starts from scratch here. You've got to find ways to get it done again."

Do you remember Crosby's regular linemates from the playoffs last year?

Nope, me neither.

He'll be better with Sheary and Guentzel, no doubt. And though he'd downplay this, too, he'll enjoy shaking Brandon Dubinsky's hand more than anyone will enjoy anything in the coming series.

Malkin will be back for Game 1, as he confirmed Tuesday, and he'll be better: