CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Now more than ever, every regular-season point matters in the NHL standings.
With only 56 games this year, if a team digs itself into a hole early, it'll be much more difficult to climb back out. The closest comparison in recent history is the 48-game 2012-13 lockout-shortened season. But unlike 2012-13, teams are only playing teams within their own division this year, and the playoff pool will be determined solely by division standings. Each game has the potential to be a four-point game in the standings down the stretch, especially in the Penguins' East Division, which looks to be the most competitive of the four realigned divisions.
It's not time to panic yet for the Penguins after starting the season 0-2 with back-to-back losses in Philadelphia, but the pressure is on to start gaining some ground in the standings.
"We know we have to start getting some points here," Jake Guentzel said after Saturday's practice at the Lemieux Complex. "Every win you get against your division, it means that they're not getting points. It's time for us at home tomorrow to get going. We know how big and important of a game it is for us."
"There's definitely more pressure," Brian Dumoulin said. "We want to try to get a win as soon as possible, points are important right now, especially right now, playing against our own division every night. Points are a lot more crucial. Right now, especially in the beginning of the seasons in the past, we've really been focusing on how we're playing more than results through two games."
And that focus on the way they're playing is why nobody is too worried just yet. The Penguins outshot the Flyers in both losses, including 33-20 on Friday. They outshot the Flyers by nearly double at five-on-five on Friday, 23-12. It was a consistent effort, recording more five-on-five shot attempts in each of the three periods on Friday, but the results just weren't there. And that doesn't take into account all the times the Penguins possessed the puck and had the opportunity for a prime scoring chance, but squandered the opportunity.
"The first game, I thought we could have played a bit better and smarter," Dumoulin said. "But the second game, I thought we dictated the play. We played hard. If we give that effort, I think we'll come out with the end result more often than not."
A big focus heading into Sunday's home opener against the Capitals has been smarter decision making: Staying out of the box, and not passing up Grade-A chances:
Guentzel said that when those chances start converting into goals, "we'll get some confidence with that, and I think we'll be just fine. We just have to stick to what we were doing, and we feel it'll come."
Matchups with the Capitals always present a challenge, and they are coming into Pittsburgh 2-0 record after sweeping the Sabres in their opening series. Just like the Penguins' winless record doesn't tell the whole story of both opening games, the Capitals won their games by a combined margin of just three goals, and were outshot Friday, 31-21. Some of the Penguins' stars aren't exactly shining yet, but neither have some of the Capitals' top players. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov are both goalless to start, and top defensemen John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov are each minus-3.
It looks to be a tight matchup, and it'll come down to capitalizing more on opportunities like the example above.
"With us, we've got to get in the win column," Dumoulin said. "We have to start getting some points. It's even more crucial to us to come out with form and play solid against Washington. We both know what each other is like, what each other's game plans are. It comes down to execution and wanting to win more than them."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Jared McCann had a hearing this afternoon for his elbow to the head of Travis Sanheim on Friday, and the result was a $10,000 fine, no suspension. Had McCann been sidelined for a game or two as punishment, Drew O'Connor looked to be the leading candidate to take his place in the lineup. O'Connor practiced with the main group on Saturday following the taxi squad skate, and took shifts in McCann's place in both the regular line rushes and during special teams work.
"We feel as though he's had a really good training camp to this point," Mike Sullivan said of O'Connor Saturday. "And he's performed extremely well since he's been on the taxi squad. Those are the types of discussions we have when we're looking for a player potentially to go in our lineup. ... He was a sought-after guy coming out of Dartmouth, we knew he was a good player coming in. You see his physical stature, he's a big kid, he's strong on the puck, he's a good skater, he has poise. He has a lot of the attributes that can potentially translate into being a real good pro."
• Aside from O'Connor joining the group, the line combinations and defense pairings were the same as Friday, plus Juuso Riikola and Cody Ceci skating as the extra defensemen:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann/Drew O'Connor-Mark Jankowski-Brandon Tanev
Sam Lafferty-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Mike Matheson-Chad Ruhwedel
Juuso Riikola-Cody Ceci
• Sunday will be the first day Kasperi Kapanen is eligible to join his new teammates, after the Penguins were awaiting the results of his final COVID test on Saturday afternoon. Given that Sunday's game is a noon start time with no opportunity for a morning skate, it would seem unlikely that Kapanen jump right into game action with new teammates after being unable to skate for the last week-plus. But Sullivan didn't rule it out on Saturday.
"His last and final COVID test, part of the protocol on the quarantine period was today," Sullivan said. "As long as that result comes back in a favorable fashion for us, then that's when he can join the team. We'll make decisions once we get that result, and we'll get him involved as quickly as we can."