Sullivan fiercely defends Hunwick, third defense pairing

Mike Sullivan wasn't exactly dancing on air about the Penguins' defensive performance in going down to the Devils, 3-2, Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. Not when the opponents turned out 38 shots on goal, attempted a total of 61, took off on far too many odd-man breaks and generally made a nuisance of themselves.

As the coach spoke afterward, "I don't think we played as tight a game as we need to play. I thought there were moments in the game where we were just trying to outscore them rather than outplay them."

It's a fair assessment, by any reasonable accounting.

But what Sullivan evidently finds robustly unfair is isolating on anyone in this regard, even the hugely struggling Matt Hunwick. And he made that quite clear when asked afterward about Hunwick, who scored once but before that was on the ice for New Jersey's first two goals, as well as the overall third pairing with Jamie Oleksiak.

"I thought they were fine," Sullivan began his reply, calmly, before gradually building some gusto. "It's easy to point fingers. I think they're a pair that we know can get the job done for us. They're good players. And uh ..."

Here it came.

"Just because you're on the ice for goals-against doesn't mean there isn't a whole lot more to it than that. We try to look at specifics and responsibilities and where people are. So just because someone's on the ice for a goal doesn't necessarily mean that's their fault. There are five ... there's six ... six guys on the ice. Not five. There's six."

Really snapped off that 'six.' I'll get to that in a moment.

"So I think that's a real broad assumption to make, and that can be dangerous."

With that, the press conference was over. Which was probably just as well because there might as well have been steam blowing from his ears.

New Jersey's opening goal, at 12:19 of the first period, came when Kyle Palmieri rushed right at Oleksiak and used that 6-7, 255-pound frame as a screen to beat Casey DeSmith:

Oleksiak could have kept a marginally tighter gap, but Palmieri was putting on the Ritz all night. Lean forward too much, and he'd scoot right by, as he'd later do to scorch Kris Letang.

No, this one's on DeSmith. Short side. Forty feet. It looked like an AHL goaltender who hadn't been at all accustomed to that speed, let alone that level of shot.

"Yeah, maybe it is to the top guys," DeSmith replied when asked if that's a hard adjustment. "The way he kind of pulled it around the shin pad and shot it through Jamie's legs just ... I should have that. But at the same time, that's a high-level play."

He should have that.

Which undoubtedly was why Sullivan was emphasizing the 'six' after initially counting up only the five skaters.

New Jersey's next goal, at 4:25 of the second, came from Taylor Hall at a severe angle and, really, wasn't the fault of either Hunwick or Oleksiak:

But still, if one isolates on Hunwick down low, getting back up from his knees, he's got that same lost look he had all through the Raleigh/Sunrise trip this past weekend. And he had it for the better part of the evening, shift after shift.

Oleksiak, of course, had been emerging in a big way when partnered with Ian Cole, but Cole's now gone to Columbus. And that might explain why Sullivan, Jim Rutherford and others with the Penguins would have heightened sensitivity on the subject. Remember, Rutherford also staunchly defended his defensive depth after the trade deadline Monday, saying, “We felt confident in our seven guys."

Confidence could be the issue with Hunwick. He's been mostly poor since arriving last summer on a three-year, $6.75 million contract out of free agency, but there had to have been something, anything, that Rutherford and his scouts liked about his previous work in Toronto to put forth that kind of commitment.

Maybe that confidence will get a boost with this goal he scored at 17:02 of the second, a terrific redirect of a Jake Guentzel feed following an authoritative burst between the circles, to tie the score, 2-2:

Whether or not that turns some corner for Hunwick remains to be seen. But hearing his coach, sure sounds like he'll be right back out there Thursday night in Boston.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY