UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Though the odds are long, it is entirely possible to score a shorthanded goal in the NHL.
The Penguins should know that better than anyone.
They are, after all, the only team to allow eight of them this season. And Olli Maatta almost made it nine with a giveaway in the final seconds of the first period Monday night at Nassau Coliseum.
However, the Penguins are one of just three teams -- the Sabres and Panthers, being the others -- that have yet to score a goal while down a man this season.
That's in no way, shape or form to suggest that the Penguins' penalty kill has been derelict of duty in its primary role. Quite the opposite. They are the NHL's sixth-ranked unit, killing off 83.7 percent of opponent's power plays.
In Monday night's 2-1 shootout win over the Islanders, they did a tremendous job in killing off three first-period penalties in succession and then, for an encore, a 4-on-3 in overtime. From the blocked shots to the 200-foot clears, it was textbook stuff.
"I think we're just trying to be sound and just clear the puck," Riley Sheahan said of the PK's mindset. "We have enough talent with our guys that we can score 5-on-5 and on the power play. We just kill the penalty off and get back to work."
But Monday was also the second game in a row during their three-game road trip -- that concludes Wednesday night in Chicago -- in which that talent was both low-scoring and undisciplined. The Penguins scored just one goal in each of their games against the Senators and Islanders while taking nine penalties over the two games.
Though there is no way to predict or plan for a shorthanded goal, they are fairly random, but they do happen.
The Penguins just haven't had one since Carl Hagelin scored on Feb. 9 in Dallas, 54 regular-season games ago.
That puts this year's team on pace to tie or eclipse the franchise mark for futility. The record for fewest shorthanded goals in a season is two and that happened in 1967-68 and 1968-69, the team's first two seasons in existence.
This season, as his team has given up eight shorthanded goals, Mike Sullivan has routinely blasted his top power play unit for lacking a "defensive conscience."
But the Penguins can't be the only team who's power play lacks a defensive conscience, right?
Clearly, shorthanded goals are not all about the other teams power play. It requires a two-way forward with speed and strong instincts to read and react.
During his playing days, Sullivan scored 16 shorthanded goals, placing him 124th all-time and tying him with Peter Forsberg, Doug Jarvis and Bobby Orr, most notably.
Perhaps it might be time to get a little creative.
Up front, the Penguins' penalty kill regularly features Sheahan, Zach Aston-Reese, Bryan Rust and Derek Grant. All are good in their own end and willing to give up their bodies to block shots. But they are not exactly a murderer's row of natural scorers.
That quartet has scored a combined eight goals this season, half of them Sheahan's -- and he went 19 games between goals Nos. 2 and 3. Combined, that foursome has scored four shorthanded goals in their career, two each for Sheahan and Rust.
"You just kind of make a read when teams get a little too offensive-minded and give up opportunities," Sheahan said of his experience. "They're not expecting you to turn around and go the other way. Sometimes you can catch guys pinching in or going for the puck and you know you can win (that battle) and can cheat a little bit and get some offense."
You know who should have been a good addition to the PK? Derick Brassard. But as I wrote after Monday's game, he's struggled to adapt to a bottom-six role. After trying him on the PK earlier this season, that plan was quickly scrapped.
That leaves Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel as the only other viable options.
In fact, Sullivan has used those two as a pair recently to close out games, but it was done more for defensive purposes.
Crosby has three shorthanded goals in his career but none since 2010-11 and Guentzel saw some time on the PK last season when Rust was injured.
Obviously, the Penguins don't want to risk losing either player to injury while serving as cannon fodder against the Islanders in December.
But desperate times should call for desperate measures. If the Penguins are tied or down one in the third period, as they were the past two games, why not?
To paraphrase another Pittsburgh coach, also named Mike, you can't live in your fears.
• Matt Murray returned to full Penguins practice for the first time Tuesday afternoon at the United Center.
“It feels good,” Murray told reporters in Chicago after the session. “You kind of take it for granted how much fun it is out there with the whole team, rather than yourself with no pucks.”
Murray hasn’t played since Nov. 17 after being shut down with a nagging lower-body injury that had been getting increasingly worse. Murray and the Penguins’ doctors made the decision to let it rest and heal.
Murray didn’t rule out starting tomorrow against the Blackhawks, saying he needs to speak with team doctors first.
• Patric Hornqvist did not practice on Tuesday, still dealing with an injury that Sullivan says is not related to his previous concussion.
• Matt Cullen was a full participant, and said he was “feeling a lot better.” He confirmed that his injury was a result of being hit with a puck on Nov. 17 against the Senators in Ottawa.
• The Penguins used the following lines and pairings during Tuesday's practice. They are the same as the ones that finished out Monday's game, with Brassard on the top line:
Guentzel — Crosby — Brassard
Pearson — Malkin — Kessel
Aston-Reese — Sheahan — Rust
Wilson — Grant — Dea
(Cullen)
Dumoulin – Letang
Maatta – Oleksiak
Pettersson – Johnson
(Riikola – Ruhwedel)