CRANBERRY, Pa. -- No lines, no pairs. Only one puck.
Monday's half-hour long practice at the Lemieux Complex was five minutes or so of individual drills -- 2-on-1 rushes and such -- followed by 25 minutes of nothing but special teams. And that doesn't even count the video work that was done before anyone had even stepped on the ice.
It was neither punishment nor reaction, Mike Sullivan said, to Sunday night's dismal showing in the Penguins' 5-3 loss to the Blackhawks, but rather a chance to reinforce a few things, most of them mental more than physical.
"Last night, special teams lost the game," said Olli Maatta. "I think lately we've been pretty good. Just trying to get back in the habits. It's a tough game to lose the way we did. But we have to leave it behind. I think lately we've been doing good things. I don't think last night we [played] that bad. But special teams really cost us."
Against the Blackhawks, a team they just can't seem to solve, the Penguins went 0-for-3 on the power play. The loss marked the first time that the NHL's sixth-ranked power play unit (26.5) took the sombrero in five games. They had converted on nine of 13 chances prior to that.
Obviously, the Penguins would like to see consistency from that unit, but more important is scoring the timely goal. Going 4-for-4 against the Blues in a 6-1 win like they did on Dec. 29 is nice, but they could have sorely used one of those goals Sunday night, particularly on a 5-on-3 for 1:11 in the first period or one during a third-period power play.
Sullivan has compared the power play to herding cats but, much like the 3-on-3 overtime, there's only so much coaching he can do. As he says, when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and Kris Letang, you let them do their thing and know when to get out of the way.
"We're trying to share our insights into what we see to help them be successful," Sullivan said. "We're always very cautious in coaching the power play or coaching the offense because what makes them so good is their instinctive play. There are certain things we give them, a framework, we do have a game plan that we give these guys so they can work collectively and be somewhat predictable for one another, but what makes them unique is their instinctual play. We don't want to get in the way of that."
As a former penalty-killing specialist, Sullivan knows that power plays rise and fall over the course of a season. There will be nights like those against the Blues and nights like Sunday's against the Blackhawks. What he wants to see is the same mindset.
"I said this morning, I wanted to reinforce their confidence level because they've been really good for a long time and won a lot of games for us," Sullivan said. "We know that and we're appreciative of that. We just have to learn from that experience and get better."
The same could be said for the penalty killers, who spent most of Monday's practice holding their sticks by the blade as to give the power play an even greater advantage.
The Penguins' fifth-ranked penalty kill (83.6) went 2-for-3, though really they went 0-for-3 after Chicago scored a pair of goals as power plays were expiring. It was the first time the PK gave up multiple goals -- official or otherwise -- since Nov. 17 against NHL-leading Tampa Bay. Prior to the Blackhawks, the Penguins had killed off 17 of 18 chances.
That the Blackhawks scored two of those goals technically at even strength was of little consolation.
"That's PK," Maatta said. "We had a couple chances to clear. I had one (on Dylan Strome's game-winner in the third period) that didn't get out. That's a costly thing. On that PK, too, what was frustrating was that was the only chance we gave them, and it ended up in our net.
"We're just going back to what we're doing lately: Don't get frustrated and stay confident."
Special teams have been vital to the Penguins' turnaround this season, and though their eight-game winning streak came to an end, Sullivan said it's time to move on and start a new streak: one win.
That can begin with Tuesday night's home game against the Panthers, who have the NHL's third-ranked power play (27.8) and 18th-ranked penalty kill (79.2).
"From a coaching staff standpoint, we're trying to get better every day," Sullivan said. "We're trying to push this group to be at their very best each and every day. If we control what we can in the short-term and we stay in the moment and don't get ahead of ourselves, then the results will come."
• Coming off his two-week conditioning assignment, Chad Ruhwedel was back in the NHL. He has been held without a point in 11 games this season, the last coming Nov. 19 vs. the Sabres.
In the AHL, Ruhwedel had a goal and four assists in five games while posting an impressive plus-8 rating with WBS. While it was good to get in some game action, Ruhwedel said he doesn't believe playing in the AHL is beneath him at all.
"I just try to make the most of my time down there," he said. "Play as well as I could and seize any opportunity when I get back up."
Obviously, Ruhwedel would love to be playing but he knows that his lot is as a seventh defensemen on the Penguins, which means he has to prepare as if he'll play at all times.
"It's not an easy task," he said. "Honestly, it's a mental battle, but you have to keep yourself in good physical shape. But [there's] nothing compared to being in the game and making split-second decisions. It was good to be out there and doing those kinds of things."
• Ruhwedel worked exclusively with Jamie Oleksiak on a fourth defense pair, meaning that both likely will be scratched Tuesday. If he is out, it will be the fifth time in six games that Oleksiak has been a healthy scratch after being cleared to return Dec. 29, following his concussion sustained 10 days earlier. He'd been scratched just twice in the previous 34 games.
• Count Sullivan among those who think Crosby should be considered for the Selke.
"Without a doubt he should be in the conversation," the coach said. "He could have been in the conversation for a number of years now, but his defensive game gets overlooked because of how good he is offensively."
• The Penguins will hold a morning skate Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, where they'll host the Panthers at 7:08 p.m. This will be the first of three meetings with the Panthers this season. They will also play Feb. 7 in Sunrise and March 5 in Pittsburgh.