CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Sitting at his locker stall, hat pulled down low like always, Matt Murray lifted his head, revealing a furrowed brow, to answer a question about the Penguins' power play.
Murray has seen some things, man. Bad things.
"Scary," Murray was telling me Thursday at the Lemieux Sports Complex, pausing for a second. "Really scary. They just move the puck so well, so quickly. Yeah, they can hurt you in a lot of different ways, especially for a goalie."
Fortunately for him, he can count Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang, et al, as teammates. He only has to face them in practice. Pity the poor schmucks who have to do it when the games count.
So, um, do they at least go a little easy on their own goalie in practice?
"Nah," Murray said, a small smile creasing his face. "Nobody does."
Practice? Man, we're talkin' about practice!
"Not in our DNA," Murray said.
It's what Mike Sullivan calls a "compete," used as a noun.
It's what Penguins TV analyst Bob Errey calls "a passion." That, he says, is what has separated Pittsburgh's power play from the pack. It's not just the high-end talent, the speed, the vision, the playmakers and the shooters. It's the want-to.
"I mean, you can have great players, but if you don't have a passion and desire to score those goals, it's useless," Errey said. "That's the key."
Just how good has the Penguins power play been this season? Consider the following:
Last week the Penguins were awarded two chances with the man-advantage against the Wild and had just two shots on goal. And both Malkin "shots" went in ... yep, right off the skates of Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter:
See, the Penguins have been lucky and good, but mostly they've been good. Like, really, really good. But there's more than just anecdotal evidence to back that up.
Heading into Friday night's game against the Capitals, they are converting at 26.7 percent (48 of 180), not only the top percentage in the NHL this season, but -- if that number holds up -- it would be the second-best in nearly 30 years.
The 1989-90 Flames were the last team to click at better than 27 percent (27.7) and that was in a far different time. Since then, only two teams -- the 2012-13 Capitals (26.8) and 1995-96 Penguins (26.0) -- have even sniffed 26 percent.
But what the Penguins have accomplished through 52 games, in a salary cap era with micro-managed defenses, defensemen wearing foot guards and goalies in bloated equipment, isn't just remarkable, it's filthy.
Kessel, Crosby and Malkin are No. 1 (33), No. 2 (28) and No. 3 (26), respectively, in power-play points. Malkin is tied for the league lead in goals (12) and Crosby is second with 21 assists.
Kessel's 33 points are just two short of what league-leader Nicklas Backstrom put up all of last season, with Kessel still having 30 games to play. Barring something unforeseen, Kessel should become the first player to put up 50-plus power play points since 2006-07 when Crosby had 61 and the Sharks' Joe Thornton had 54.
"He's always been a big threat," Letang said of Kessel on the power play. "I don't know if he's been better, but he's been great."
Where does this season's group rank?
Historically, the Penguins have boasted some of NHL's greatest offensive talents and, not coincidentally, some of the NHL's very best power play units. The organization holds four of the top seven -- and six of the top 20 -- spots all-time for power play goals in a season.
Most consider the 1988-89 and the 1995-96 versions to be the best in franchise history, though that might be subject to change after this season. The common thread between the first two is Mario Lemieux, of course. He had 31 power play goals in each season.
In terms of power play goals scored, the '88-89 team still holds the NHL record with 119, and then in an 80-game schedule. In terms of percentage though, it was only third that season at 24.5. Again, different time. The '88-89 group featuring Lemieux and Paul Coffey was so good it made an All-Star of Rob Brown, who scored 24 of his career-high 49 goals on the power play. Coffey posted a career-high -- by far -- 53 power play assists that season.
"When you have Mario and you have the best quarterback in the league (Coffey), so right away you've got a guy that 's going to see the ice and make all the right decisions and then you have guys who could do different things," said Errey, who scored a career-high 58 points that year. I think Mario challenged everybody. When you're playing with a guy like that, you have to be on top of your game."
The 1995-96 team was widely considered to have the best power play of the last quarter-century and it's hard to argue against a unit that boasted two Hall of Famers in Lemieux and Ron Francis and Hall of Famer in-waiting Jaromir Jagr. That's three of the NHL's eight all-time leading points scorers. But they also had Tomas Sandstrom, who scored a career-high 17 power play goals, and the highly underrated Sergei Zubov manning the point. That quintet combined for 80 of 109 power play goals, the fifth-most all-time. The Penguins led the league with a 25.9 conversion rate, or 4.6 percent better than the second-place Avalanche.
"They had it all," said Rick Kehoe, an assistant coach on Eddie Johnston's staff in 1995-96. "You had the two guys on the side, Mario and Jagr. They got the puck and everyone had to respect them and back off. It created open space for the other guys. Once they went over the boards, you figured you had a real good chance of getting one."
Besides Lemieux, only Johnston has had more impact on Penguins power play history. During his two stints as head coach in Pittsburgh, Johnston famously utilized basketball strategies handed down by his old friend in Boston, Celtics great Tommy Heinsohn.
Though none of Johnston's teams of the early '80s had a winning record, nor won a playoff series, they still were good when up a man. From 1980 to '83, the Penguins clicked at 23.1, 24.8 and 22.5. During those three seasons, Kehoe scored 20, 17 and 15 goals on the man advantage. He had never scored more than seven power play goals in a season before working with Johnston.
"We ran picks like basketball," Kehoe said of Johnston. "He had us running the pick and that created open space also. Now you can't do that. That's interference now. But when we were doing it, it was a little different. E.J. taught us to make sure we turned our back so we weren't fronting the guy so whereas they were running into us."
Again, the game has fundamentally changed. This year the league has made slashing and hooking penalties a point of emphasis and it's had the desired effect, as scoring is up. This season teams are averaging 2.93 goals per game, the highest level since the first post-lockout season of 2005-06 when teams averaged 3.08. Predictably, power plays are up too. The current league average is 19.59 percent, a level not seen since 1989-90 when the average power play clicked at 20.77 percent.
The Penguins lead the league with 48 power play goals (nine different scorers) which puts them on pace for about 80 this season. The 2008-09 Red Wings -- whom Pittsburgh fans should remember well -- were the last team to reach 90 power play goals in a season when they converted at 25.5 percent.
For the Penguins, it's not only what the power play does for just those two minutes, it affects the way teams play them at even strength. Opponents have to be mindful of not taking penalties, playing less aggressively. And if they do? Look out.
"There aren't too many teams that put out the types of threats our group has," Sullivan said. "When they're firing on all cylinders, they're hard to defend."
"If you're just going to put your stick out there, it's not going to work," said Errey, who staked his playing reputation on the PK.
The power play has been the one constant for the Penguins this season, but during their 9-3 run in January, they ratcheted up their game.
In those 12 games, they converted at 33.3 percent and went from 10th place in the Eastern Conference to second place in the Metropolitan Division. Oh, and that 2-for-2 performance against the Wild last week? It was the fourth time this season the power play was perfect in a game this season. That had only been done 54 times in team history.
Is this a great Penguins power play?
History -- and the final 30 games of the regular season -- will determine that. But it does bear the markings of one.
From a personnel standpoint and schematically, it's nothing different from what they've been doing, though it seems the power play has been running through Kessel at the half-wall more recently. Letang mans the point, Hornqvist is the netfront presence, Malkin is the shooter and Crosby is the best playmaker of his generation.
"When we play with intensity, play for each other, things open up and we have guys who teams have to respect," Letang said.
The core group of the first unit -- Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang and Hornqvist -- has been together the past three seasons. There's a familiarity there that only comes with some quality offensive zone time spent together.
Kehoe, now a Rangers pro scout who regularly works Penguins games in his job, marvels at the speed of the puck movement. Some nights it seems the only thing missing is "Sweet Georgia Brown."
"A lot of time, the play just comes automatically without even having to look or even have a second thought," he said. "You make that play and you know the guy is going to be there."
But what it all comes down to, as shown above, is the group's competitive fire, even -- as Murray can attest -- in practice.
"To me, it's a passion and hard work," Errey said. "You look at Hornqvist. Look at Kessel and Crosby, winning loose puck battles the same way. They have a burning desire to be the best. They challenge each other."