"We were awesome in boxing out."
Hm. That's what a positively beaming Casey DeSmith told me late Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena, this after he and the Penguins had put down the Golden Knights, 4-2. But honestly, I wasn't sure what to think of it.
I mean, I don't trust pitchers when they praise the glovework behind them. I don't trust quarterbacks when they praise their offensive line. And I'm sure I'll never trust a goaltender praising his defense, particularly not after he'd just been pelted with 37 pucks and needed to stop 35 of those to prevail.
Not when the opponent possesses the puck 64.9 percent of the time.
Not when the opponent produces 12 of the evening's 17 high-danger scoring chances.
Not when that goaltender's own head coach calls him "the best player on the ice," as Mike Sullivan would speak of DeSmith even though another of his players, Phil Kessel, had a natural hat trick.
At the same time, I'd been sure that I'd witnessed precisely what DeSmith described in that assessment up there. The Penguins really did box out. And beyond that, they did a whole lot more -- backchecking, fronting the play, managing the puck -- that Sullivan had impressed upon them all week long through intensive practices following those ugly first two games against the Capitals and Canadiens.
Oh, I don't know that they did any of those things at an 'awesome' level, but they did do them.
And that's at least a legit start, right?
"Obviously, we're pleased that we won, that we got the result," Sullivan replied to a question in that spirit. "I think our team is capable of getting to another level. I don't think we had the puck nearly as much as we need to have it to be at our best."
He paused a moment.
"But having said that, I can see guys making more of a concerted effort to defend, to be on the right side of the puck. I don't think we had our swagger tonight, like I know our team is capable of. That's what we need to get to. But certainly, I think from an effort standpoint, you could see they were trying to do the right things to defend."
Exactly. They were trying. Which in and of itself is a separator from the Washington and Montreal messes.
Let's queue up a couple arbitrary cases in point:
That up there is a minute and a half into the game, so that's troubling. Deryk Engelland gained the Pittsburgh zone on what could have become a two-on-one. But, with Phil Kessel tracking back hard to cover for Justin Schultz's pinching, Jack Johnson could choose to go right at Engelland and poke the puck away.
Not ideal, but they were trying.
This one's a little longer but worth it:
That up there is Vegas' opening shift of the third period, also troubling on its surface. The Golden Knights generated two shots, one from the high slot, and maintained strong possession throughout these 30-plus seconds. That's what they do. But watch the Penguins, too. They stay to the middle, don't stray from assignments and, in the end, Bryan Rust collects and coolly clears.
Not ideal, but they had the right mindset.
This one's really small:
That's a few minutes later. Daniel Sprong was hounding Vegas' William Carrier with every solitary stride through the neutral zone, and the Golden Knights would go offside as a direct outcome.
And yes, that was Sprong.
A lot of that took place. It wasn't all well-executed. But it probably wouldn't have been fair to expect the Penguins to go zero-to-60 in efficiency with the snap of Sullivan's finger, and going against the Western Conference champions and their straight-line approach only heightened the challenge, so this absolutely was progress.
Johnson might have worded that best when he told me, "I think there was more attention to detail defensively, and that led to some of our offense. I think we have a long way to go, but it was a step in the right direction. We definitely put our better foot forward tonight."
Maybe they'll have an even better foot forward, a more 'concerted effort' Saturday night in Montreal.
• Someone who shall go unnamed had been barking up a storm over Johnson being put on his unnatural side and with a brand new partner in the first two games. And in Johnson's first game back on the left side with his preseason-long partner, Schultz, all he did was come through with eight hits -- double the next-highest individual in the game -- as well as three blocked shots and a near-pristine record on outlets.
His advanced analytics weren't nearly as flattering, to put it mildly -- he was on for seven of the Penguins' attempted shots, 24 of Vegas' attempted shots -- but here again, he made a move toward where he needs to be.
"Every day, I’m getting more and more comfortable," Johnson told me afterward. "My best hockey’s still ahead of me. I’m looking forward to it."
• Best advanced analytics of anyone on the Penguins side belonged to ... yeah, Juuso Riikola.
As if he weren't already all that.
The kid's NHL debut looked like anything but, as he logged 18:07 of ice, including nearly a minute at center point on the power play, while registering four hits, two blocked shots and a team-high Corsi For percentage of 46.34, the latter meaning he was on for 13 of the Penguins' attempted shots, 15 of Vegas' attempted shots.
Want to see poise?
First, take a look at the Matt Sunday action photo atop this column. Riikola's being lassoed like cattle by the Golden Knights' Ryan Carpenter, but he's confidently fending off Carpenter with his left hand, commanding the puck with the right, all while keeping eyes up for partner Jamie Oleksiak to make the smartest possible play.
Now, watch this unorthodox clearance from a risky area right after the Penguins claimed a defensive zone draw in the third period:
Even a grizzled vet turns and takes that behind the net with two opponents bearing down. Not only does he keep his chin up, but he also banks it right where Patric Hornqvist is headed.
To repeat: This was Riikola's NHL debut, and he was arguably better than anyone.
"I thought Juuso had a good game," Sullivan would say. "You can see his intellect, his ability to process the game, his passing game, his mobility to get back to pucks. I thought for his first NHL game, it was a strong effort for him."
News flash: He's not coming out of this lineup.
• I tried, maybe harder than ever, to coax more than a handful of words from him. And almost succeeded:
Happiest guy around. Hates to elaborate. That's an eclectic mix.
• DeSmith made the saves he made and worked tirelessly in doing so. He earned every attaboy and more, coming in cold and handling an opponent that's as adept at tips and deflections as any in the league.
At the same time, starting goaltending in the NHL isn't supposed to be anywhere near as hard as he made it at times. His heels stayed back on the goal line even on point shots. He splattered and sprawled, and he slipped up with the stick. None of those areas are general strengths for him, and they weren't on this night.
But again, his job is to come in cold, work tirelessly and get the W. Which is exactly what he did.
• Midway through the second period, Sullivan flipped Hornqvist and Bryan Rust between the first and third lines in a transparent attempt to get more from the first.
Specifically, Sidney Crosby had an assist after the switch was made, setting up Jake Guentzel's goal with Rust sharing the ice, but that would be it for points, and he had no shots. Through three games, the captain's got no goals, three assists and six shots. That's obviously never a concern, but it was still probably a worthwhile move by Sullivan to push a button or two.
• What compels any goaltender facing Kessel on a breakaway to not keep his glove sky-high?
I'm asking, obviously, on behalf of Malcolm Subban, who, remarkably, had the glove down on Kessel's first, then was late to raise it on the second and, of course, was scorched both times. But I also could be asking for any number of NHL goaltenders, who somehow never seem set for one of the sport's most prominent shots.
• Evgeni Malkin, albatross for two games and maestro for the third, had three assists and could have had a couple more if Carl Hagelin had capitalized. It's one of Malkin's neater personality dynamics that he'll often climb out of a drier spell through crisp passing. He was connecting with tape-to-tape bullets from his first leap over the boards.
• Defense happens all over the rink. It even happens with possession on an odd-man break, a point Sullivan emphasizes time and again.
Not to be that guy on an obviously good night for the home team, but the Golden Knights opened the game's scoring in the first period after this turnover by Guentzel:
He held the puck up the left wing, never peeling his eyes from Hornqvist making a beeline up the middle. But when Vegas' Reilly Smith did well to read that, Guentzel opted for Crosby as the trailer. Which would have been fine except that, maybe because he had a saucer pass in mind for Hornqvist, he tried to saucer back to Crosby -- when a simple slip along the ice would have sufficed -- and the puck went right back the other way.
• The Golden Knights, now 1-4 with just 10 goals, will miss James Neal terribly. Don't forget, their Cinderella tale took flight last fall when Neal was scoring nearly all their goals. Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson are outstanding offensive players, but they can't carry an offense.
• Winnipeg will take the West this time. Just saying.
• There wasn't even a fraction of the buzz for this Vegas visit compared to its visit last year, when the Marc-Andre Fleury lovefest was almost overwhelming. For this one, Fleury lingered last on the ice following warmups, tossed a few pucks into the crowd and, as he was heading off and heard the cheers only build, reversed course and found a family to whom he cautiously tossed his stick over the glass.
But the ultimate show came in the second period, when fans in the upper deck spontaneously started a 'Fleu-ry! Fleu-ry!' chant right after Guentzel scored the Penguins' fourth goal on Subban.
Beautifully executed, people. Really.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Golden Knights, PPG Paints Arena, Oct. 11, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS