Mike Sullivan would like all of his players to adopt what he calls a "shooter's mentality." Few have embraced that philosophy more than Phil Kessel of late.
Over the last five games, Kessel has fired a team-high 20 shots on goal. That doesn't even take into account the 14 others that missed their mark, hit a post or were blocked. It's also 13 more shots on goal than he had the five games before that. Unfortunately for Kessel, he has nothing to show for it.
Saturday night's win at Montreal made it 15 games without a goal for Kessel, matching a career-worst drought that he set a dozen years ago as a 19-year-old rookie with the Bruins. Kessel's last goal, his 21st of the season, came in the first period of the Penguins' 4-2 win over the Lightning on Jan. 30.
While other teammates have since broken out of recent slumps, including linemate Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist, Kessel has grown frustrated.
"Feels like I'm not going to score again this year," he said candidly after practice Monday. "It happens, I guess. Interesting run the last month, I'll say. Hopefully it changes."
The Penguins, who are in a fight for their playoff lives, kind of need it. They can live with some of his defensive deficiencies when he's producing. But the right winger with the $6.8 million annual salary is on pace for his fewest goals since 2016-17 when he scored 23 in 82 games. He had 34 last season, his most in a Penguins uniform.
"One game, hopefully, I’ll get three or something," Kessel said. "Who knows? Happens like that."
Sullivan has placated Kessel this season by playing him primarily on Malkin's line. Since Kessel's drought began, the two have been good together, especially since Zach Aston-Reese was installed as the left winger on Feb. 17. According to naturalstattrick.com, the trio has a Corsi For percentage of 57.14 while generating 18 high-danger chances for and 12 against at 5v5.
"He's brought hard work," Kessel was saying when I'd asked about Aston-Reese. "You watch him out there, he goes to gritty areas. He works hard. He gets in front of the net. He has some good skills to help our line out. He battles for us, hard."
Seemingly the only thing missing is more scoring from Kessel. On Monday, Sullivan reiterated that he's not concerned with Kessel as long as he's getting looks.
"When players of that talent are shooting the puck and they're getting quality looks, it's only a matter of time before the puck goes in the net."
• The Penguins got some much-needed good news on the injury front as Brian Dumoulin skated in a non-contact jersey.
• Like the rest of the hockey world, the Penguins and Sidney Crosby were mourning the death of Red Wings great Ted Lindsay at age 93 on Monday:
Crosby is a three-time winner of the Lindsay Award, which recognizes the players' choice as league MVP. The captain said it's a special honor.
"I'd say right up there, the guys you compete against every night are voting for it so, I think, as a player, that's a great compliment when you can be awarded that trophy," he said.
Lindsay was a third-cousin to Penguins TV color analyst Bob Errey.
• How difficult is it physically to play back-to-back games as a goalie in the NHL? Matt Murray told me that he routinely sweats off 7-9 pounds per game underneath all that equipment in a game. The real challenge, he says, is mental.
"We're all pretty good athletes at this point, we can all handle back-to-backs," he said. "These guys, our strength and conditioning guys, they give us all the tools to feel good physically. It's just getting mentally prepared."
• Sullivan kept the same lines and pairs used Saturday in Montreal:
McCann-Crosby-Guentzel
ZAR-Malkin-Kessel
Simon-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Blueger-Cullen-Wilson
Johnson-Schultz
Pettersson-Gudbranson
Riikola-Trotman
Note: Dumoulin rotated through the first pairing.
• The Penguins will honor Matt Cullen before Tuesday's game for playing in his 1,500th game. He is now second all-time among American-born players, behind only Chris Chelios.