CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- It's tempting to judge a team's penalty-killing success merely by one simple metric: Goals against.
For the Penguins, it's a little more complicated than that. While the outside world might bemoan the spate of power play goals against of late --- the PK has given up goals in 10 of the last 12 games and a dozen goals in 34 chances -- the Pens believe they are slowly but surely seeing progress.
No, seriously.
Not all goals are created equal, they say. Allowing one on a single chance in a 5-1 win over Montreal on March 31 is a little different than, say, surrendering two on three chances in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers on March 3. For them, it's also about intangibles like timing, feel and confidence.
"Our PK, for whatever reason, we've been giving up some goals," Matt Murray told me after practice Wednesday at the Lemieux Sports Complex. "But we don’t focus on the results as much as what we're doing and how we feel out there. I thought the PK has been pretty good for a while."
"At the end of the day, you don’t want to give up goals, but I think if the fundamentals are there and you're doing a lot of good things game in and game out, sooner or later, you’re not going to give up goals," Carl Hagelin told me. "It’s more of a feel. You can watch tape and see certain areas where we we can do better, but certainly areas that we’re doing well."
The Penguins' new-found confidence in their PK is rooted in their last performance. Perhaps the only silver lining in Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Capitals was that it snapped a streak of five straight games in which they surrendered one power play goal. And this wasn't just any power play either. Washington's seventh-ranked unit (22.4 percent) boasts an imposing arsenal that includes Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson.
Washington had five chances over 8:40, including :40 at 5-on-3, and registered 11 shots. But the Penguins didn't bow once. They were aggressive on Ovechkin at his usual spot on the left circle, forcing easier shots for Murray:
They had several 200-foot clears, they blocked shots -- 12 of them in all -- and weren't bogged down in their end for minutes at a time. Here, Hagelin and Riley Sheahan teamed up to prevent Lars Eller from even crossing center red:
"I think we had a little bit of a different mindset," Sheahan told me. "Obviously, we're trying to get ourselves back on track. You have to watch a guy like Ovechkin and stay on him, changed our game plan a bit. I think overall we do a good job when we can pressure up ice and pressure in the defensive zone and get quick line changes."
"I think for us, we were just working hard," Bryan Rust said. "We weren't really over-thinking things. We were just anticipating and just using our hockey sense. Just 'go get it done.' I think before we may have been hesitating a bit and we're just trying to get it out of our system."
Now comes the hard part. The Penguins must build off that showing and carry it into the playoffs next week. The penalty kill -- which was ranked as high as fifth this season before falling to 19th (79.8 percent) -- might be the single biggest concern going in for the defending champions. The struggles began soon after the trade deadline when the Penguins dealt top defensive defenseman Ian Cole to the Blue Jackets, who they will see Thursday night in Columbus.
Though technically still the regular season, game No. 81 will have a playoff-like feel at Columbus' Nationwide Arena as the Penguins are still looking to clinch home ice in the first round. Given what home ice has meant for the Penguins this season, you can expect to see a sense of urgency from the road team.
That means being defensively aware in all situations, not just the PK. That means selling out a little more. The Penguins have blocked 38 shots over their last three games after blocking just 26 in the three games before that.
"I think it’s going to be huge for us to have that mentality," Sheahan said. "Get in those shot lanes. It's not a fun thing to do but it can change a game. I think if we can start doing that and build up some momentum going into the playoffs and get our PK going, it’ll help us."
Perhaps the Penguins' confidence in their PK is completely unfounded. Recent history has shown they elevate their game in the playoffs.
A year ago they had the identical 79.8 percent kill rate that they do now. But in the postseason, that number jumped to 83.6. In 2015-16, the Penguins had the NHL's fourth-ranked unit in the regular season at 84.4 percent but improved to 85.1 in the playoffs.
But for the current PK, these last two games of the regular season present a perfect opportunity to gain traction and confidence as it will face Columbus' 27th-ranked power play (17.0 percent, but 26.8 over their last 15 games) on Thursday and then Ottawa's 26th-ranked unit (17.1) the following night.
Hagelin says it will require a full attention to detail for the duration of the kills.
"There were certain games where we weren’t really in sync and then there was other games where we were feeling really good but we end up giving up one Grade-A chance that they can't score on," Hagelin said. "You have to be focused on the whole two minutes you’re in there."