CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Oh, Phil Kessel is concerned all right.
Not about playing on the third line, or about the Penguins chances at a threepeat or on surpassing Nikita Kucherov for the league scoring lead.
Kessel's mind is on the Olympics where his sister Amanda Kessel is competing in the women's hockey tournament in PyeongChang. It's nerve-wracking stuff.
"I'm way more nervous for that than me playing, to be honest," Kessel said after practice Friday at the Lemieux Sports Complex. "I'm hoping that they can win."
Amanda Kessel is a three-time national champion, two-time world champion and an Olympic silver medalist in the Sochi Games.
Phil's done pretty well for himself too. Runs in the family. With 66 points, he's tied with teammates Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for fourth place in the league scoring race, 10 points behind Kucherov. Surely an Art Ross would look pretty good on the ol' mantle, right Phil?
"Psssh, I got two Cups," Kessel said. "Doesn't really matter."
Not even a little internal competition between the three Pittsburgh stars?
"Definitely not, we're all just good buddies here," he said. "We don't really care about that. We're all here to win."
Still, Kessel has been playing at a level not seen at any point in an already outstanding 11-year career. He's been the Penguins' best, if not most consistent, player this season. That's saying something given the presence of Crosby and Malkin.
Most notable has been Kessel's playmaking this season. Former Toronto teammate Dion Phaneuf was raving to DKPittsburghSports.com the other day about it. Kessel's 42 assists are just five short of a career high with 23 more games to go in the regular season. He's going to shatter that mark.
"I think I've always looked at myself as trying to do what's the best play," said Kessel, who is also just 16 points shy of his career best 82 points. "This year it seems like the best play a lot of times has been to pass."
Of his 66 points, 35 of them have come while working as the de facto point guard on the NHL's top power play unit. At 5-on-5 though, Kessel has been playing mostly on a third line centered by Riley Sheahan of late, who has just 34 points combined the last two seasons. Nah, Kessel's not worried about that.
"He's a good player," Kessel said of Sheahan. "You watch him out there. He's got a lot of skills. He's a smart player and he's got good offensive instincts. Now he's using them and, look at him, it's going good."
Many, including Mike Sullivan, have suggested that Kessel's conditioning has improved and there's reason to believe that: 28 of his points have come in the third period or overtime. That compares to 24 third-period points in his previous best season in 2011-12. Kessel is a stocky 6-feet, 202 pounds, but scoffs at the notion that anything has changed about his game.
"I do the same stuff," he said. "Go to the same spots. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."
Indeed, life is good for Kessel.
Out of the white-hot media spotlight of Toronto where he spent six seasons -- he was jettisoned by the Maple Leafs in a July 2015 trade -- Kessel seems content in his own skin. Tomorrow night when the Leafs visit PPG Paints Arena, Kessel says it will mean little to him.
"I don't really care anymore," he says. "Been here three years, we've won twice. It's in the past."
The best part of not being with the Leafs, it seems, is that he doesn't have to talk to the media. Friday was an exception. As captain, Crosby handles media duties with the Penguins.
"It's nice," Kessel says. "I don't have to talk every day to you guys. Just kind of do my thing. I like that."
Now, excuse Phil, he has some hockey to watch.
"I'm just following my sister," he said. "That's what I care most about."
• During their half-hour long practice in Cranberry, the Penguins did not show lines or pairs, but they did work on special teams with Justin Schultz working the point on the No. 1 power play unit.
• Carter Rowney played just 12 shifts and 6:37 of ice time on Thursday against the Kings. Sullivan said that it was just a matter of trying to put Crosby and Malkin in more "advantageous" situations and nothing against Rowney's play.
• As he had done the previous two days, Patric Hornqvist skated on his own prior to Friday's practice. Hornqvist has been out since Feb. 2 with a lower body injury but he is close to returning.
• The NHL announced a scoring change on the Penguins second goal Thursday night against the Kings. Credit Kris Letang with his fifth of the season, extending his club record with 19 game-winners for a defensemen. Assists go to Olli Maatta and Conor Sheary. Zach Aston-Reese was originally credited with his third goal in the past two games.