Kovacevic: Pettersson, defense the real catalysts

"I don't know. Not really."

This was Phil Kessel, of course. Because that's the classic Kessel comeback upon being asked whether he'd made any meaningful difference in the Penguins' 5-2 flipping of the Red Wings on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. You know, after he scored twice and set up the other of his team's first three goals.

"I thought we played well and, kind of like, we'd draw a penalty, it turned momentum ... and it kind of started from there."

Kind of like, indeed:

That was Kessel's first goal, 7:12 into the second period, that tied the score at 1-1. The ugliest conceivable power-play breakout preceded it, but Evgeni Malkin hit his bud with a lateral bullet, Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson lost the edge on his left skate, and Kessel was gifted a short-range breakaway.

"Hopefully, I don't miss a breakaway, right?" he recalled thinking then. "I'm not great on breakaways. To score on it feels nice."

He spoon-fed Derick Brassard for the go-ahead goal 1:14 later, then buried another power-play rush at 18:58 of the same period, this for a 3-1 lead:

Wonderful shots, both of them. Worthy of all the cheers at the time, as well as the chants later of 'We want Phil!' in hopes of a hat trick.

"The fans, the city, they've been great to me ... they've always supported me," Kessel would say. "I can't thank them enough."

It was fun. It's a scene unlike any I'd seen in this building all winter.

But the fact is, both throughout this fourth consecutive win and all the way back over this 9-2-1 December rebound, what's occurred really shouldn't remain a mystery anymore, to Kessel or anyone else. Because the common denominator is that this group's finally getting it together defensively:

I'll condense it further: In December, the Penguins have conceded 2.46 goals per game. In November, it was 3.2. And in the past four games alone, obviously, four total goals.

Examine no further.

"I feel like, for both myself and the team, we're trending in the right direction," Matt Murray mused at his stall after 25 saves brought a fourth consecutive individual win since returning from injury. "Even this game, it was a perfect example. We came a little slow out of the break. Most games, you're going to get a period where the other team will throw everything at you. And if you can weather that storm — especially with our talent — if we can bend but not break, then we're a tough team to beat."

That tells the tale here. The Red Wings stink overall, but certainly not up front, where Dylan Larkin and a handful of others can skate and create at a threatening level against any opponent. They did that in the first period and well into the second, commanding the shot clock, possession and pretty much all else, emerging from the four-day Christmas break with an energy the Penguins couldn't match.

"Their young guys came out flying," as Mike Sullivan would acknowledge.

Sullivan's counterpart, Jeff Blashill, assessed it the same way when I brought that up:

So the stage was set for another of those deflating upsets, unless the Penguins could "bend but not break," to borrow from Murray. Which is what happened. They remained patient, stayed to the center of the rink, stuck out their sticks and minimized the damage.

That, my friends, is the difference between this team a month ago and now.

Well, that and Marcus Pettersson.

Want to see my highlight of the night?

Yeah, I know, not quite the same pizzazz, huh?

That's early in the second. The Red Wings were still up a goal, and one of their fastest players, Andreas Athanasiou, was absolutely flying through center ice. But there's Pettersson, who uses his mile-long stick as part of his gap better than anyone on the Penguins' defense -- even better than Brian Dumoulin -- glides back smoothly, sets himself to cut off Athanasiou's main lane, then pokes the puck over to partner Jack Johnson for the easy clear.

Go ahead and say it: It's boring.

But boring is what was needed around here. Not in style, necessarily, but in substance. Rushes up ice, like the one above, routinely mushroomed into much worse. And that's just the ones that weren't outright odd-man breaks.

Want to call that a coincidence?

Go nuts, but good luck explaining, then, how this entire 9-2-1 run has followed the acquisition of Pettersson from Anaheim for Daniel Sprong.

Or how, even though his assist in this game was his first point with the Penguins, his advanced analytics scream his successes: On this night, he had a stunning 70.0 Corsi For percentage, best of anyone in the game, compiled by being on the ice for 19 of the Penguins' scoring chances vs. just nine for Detroit. And since his arrival, he leads all of the team's defensemen in creating/preventing high-danger scoring chances for and against at 53.85 percent.

For anyone not into such data, here's the cheat sheet: This kid's been on the rink for two goals all month that were scored from a high-danger position.

Oh, and the same goes for Johnson, whose advanced analytics before Pettersson's arrival were night and day. Call that a coincidence, too.

I asked Pettersson after the game to discuss further something we first broached in Chicago a couple weeks back, how he's actually been more reserved since coming to Pittsburgh and, in turn, how he'd like to get more aggressive. Because in this one, he was both.

"Anything that I'll create on offense comes from playing good defense first," he told me. "That's where I get my energy, in the back, by defending. I think I did that good tonight."

It's not an opinion. It was right there for all to see, had they chosen to look. Heck, one of the Detroit TV broadcast crew, seated directly behind us in the press box, at one point could be heard glowing, "This Pettersson has been all over the puck, a real presence out here." And I'll bet there were plenty in the seats who noticed, too.

If not, hey, there was that assist, on Patric Hornqvist's deft tip of Johnson's blast:

Those who haven't noticed will soon. Because for all that Pettersson's brought in immediate stability, he could prove equally valuable in the next couple months for Jim Rutherford. Once Justin Schultz returns -- that timetable's always been February -- there will be nine NHL defensemen in the fold. No team anywhere would or could carry that many, so someone will have to go. Pettersson won't go, given his youth, price and potential, but it'll be someone. And most likely someone with a weighty salary such as Olli Maatta and his $4 million-plus to clear cap space.

Remember half the fan base freaking out over Sprong?

Patience can pay.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY