Practice makes (almost) perfect for Penguins' PK

Mike Sullivan was chuckling the other day when talking about his team's lethal power play. How in the world do you defend against that kind of offensive firepower, he wondered.

But for Carl Hagelin and Jamie Oleksiak and guys in their line of work, it's no laughing matter.

No one faces the quintet of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist -- the current Murderer's Row of the NHL -- more than Hagelin, Oleksiak and their brethren on the Penguins' penalty kill units.

They face that power play every day in practice, often holding their stick blades in their gloves to give Crosby and Co. even greater advantage. Sure, it can be humbling but it's also a learning experience that the PK can utilize against, you know, actual opponents.

To borrow a favored line of Mike Tomlin: "Iron sharpens iron." (Hey, it feels only right on a day when Styx's 'Renegade' was blared and Terrible Towels were twirled in tribute to the Steelers.)

"Practicing against those guys, you have to stay on your toes," Oleksiak was telling me. "If you can kill against them, you can pretty much kill against anyone in the league."

"It's obviously pretty cool to see them pass around the puck like they do," Hagelin said, "but it's going to make me a better killer."

The Penguins penalty kill might not get the headlines that the power play does, but it was absolutely the deciding factor in Saturday afternoon's 4-1 win over the Red Wings that extends Pittsburgh's winning streak to three games.

And that was after the PK -- gasp! -- gave up the lone Red Wings goal to Justin Abdelkader at 13:36 of the first period:

That was the first power-play goal that the Penguins had surrendered in their last seven games and 19 chances. The last opponent to score had been Anaheim's Cam Fowler in the final four seconds of the second period all the way back on Dec. 23.

But you'll have to forgive the PK for this latest goal. They might have been just a little bit overworked. Playing shorthanded for 12 of the first 30 minutes isn't sound strategy in any game, let alone a game that was their first in six days following a bye week. But that's what the Penguins did.

"Coming back from the break, we weren't expecting to get that much practice on the PK," said Oleksiak, who logged 4:14 short-handed. "I think we handled it pretty well."

"PK, they're hard minutes, obviously," said Hagelin, who played 8:02 of his 15:18 short-handed. "It's good coming off the break, got a good workout in."

Hagelin was one of four Penguins -- along with Riley Sheahan (7:45), Brian Dumoulin (7:07) and Kris Letang (7:03) --  to play more than seven minutes on the PK.

In all, the Penguins took seven penalties -- a new season high -- but allowed only the Abdelkader goal. Six successful kills on seven chances? Other than the sheer volume of penalties taken, Sullivan will take that.

When I asked about the latest success of the PK, Sullivan said it's been no secret, it just comes down to sound fundamentals.

"It's winning faceoffs, getting 200-foot clears," Sullivan said. "It's making sure that we recognize the pressure points and we have cooperative pressure, it's not isolated pressure. It's a lot harder to beat two or three guys than it is to beat one. When our pressure points are cooperative, we're much more difficult to play against, we're harder to beat and that's usually when we can create the loose pucks and get that 200-foot clear. But I give the guys a lot of credit, they're making the necessary commitment. They're doing everything they can out there to help us be successful. But for me it boils down to the little things. They add up to the big things."

Case in point, here on this first-period power play, Letang badgered Henrik Zetterberg, who forced a pass that Gustav Nyquist couldn't handle and Hagelin was able to clear the puck the length of the ice:

Here, on this late first-period power play, Sheahan and Oleksiak isolated Nyquist along the boards where the Red Wings' leading scorer forced a pass that Hagelin was able to intercept and clear.

The seven-game run which ended Sunday was the second extended scoreless streak that the PK has enjoyed this season following an eight-game stretch between Dec. 1-16.

"It's a matter of blocking shots," explained Hagelin. "We're being more aggressive and winning more battles. Before, we had some bad clears, and usually they score on the second opportunity. We're not giving them up as much now."

Coming into the season, the PK had been an area of concern following the losses of Nick Bonino and Matt Cullen. Though they are ranked just 11th (82.4 percent) in the league even after this hot stretch, the PK has grown leaps and bounds over the course of the first 45 games. As recently as Nov. 22, they had been ranked 20th at 79.2 percent.

With the long-term injuries to Carter Rowney and Bryan Rust, players like Sheahan, Oleksiak -- and even Jake Guentzel (3:15) and Sidney Crosby (1:15) -- have had to step up. So far, so good.

The bruises that come with blocking shots -- 14 more on Saturday -- have been a badge of honor and not allowing goals a source of pride for the penalty killing units.

"Its huge," Oleksiak said. "Especially in this league. Special teams are huge. They can determine games; often they do. We focus on winning that battle, and a lot of games and wins will come to us."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY