It is, the conventional wisdom tells us, the most dangerous lead in hockey.
For some teams, maybe.
For the Penguins?
No way.
They're undefeated this season in games in which they have a two-goal advantage at some point.
Won every last one of those.
The emphasis there is on "one," which is the total number of times it's happened in their first 13 games.
That means two-goal leads have been only slightly more rare than Penguins power-play goals this season, and they also got one of those during their 6-3 victory against Washington Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
To complete the hat trick of improbabilities, the Penguins (7-5-1) were ahead on the scoreboard at the second intermission for -- you guessed it -- the first time in 2020-21.
Well, OK, there's at least one more first: While winning in regulation isn't quite unheard-of for this team -- a mere five of their previous six victories had required overtime or a shootout -- this was the first with a margin of victory greater than one.
That's actually a bit misleading, since their goals-for total was bloated when Zach Aston-Reese and Sidney Crosby scored into empty nets during the final 63 seconds of the third period, but was not an entirely unreasonable reflection of how the game played out.
A convincing case could be made that this was the Penguins' finest performance of the season.
"We got it done in all aspects of the game," defenseman Cody Ceci said.
It was not flawless, by any measure, but a clear upgrade over most of the games that preceded it.
"I thought it was a solid effort," Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we competed hard. It certainly wasn't perfect, by any stretch. ... There was a lot to like."
For starters, Tristan Jarry's goaltending, leaky through the early weeks of the season, was solid for the most part.
And then there was the power play, which pulled out of a 0-for-21 skid with a goal by Bryan Rust and actually looked as if the Penguins realized they were operating with an extra man. And were determined to do something with that advantage other than trying to polish their over-passing game.
The penalty-killers also did some good damage-control against Washington's power play, the most efficient in the NHL, limiting it to one goal on four chances.
And while the Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev line had another impressive two-way showing, the No. 1 line, which has Crosby between Jake Guentzel and Rust, was an absolute force throughout the game, with its members accounting for four of the Penguins' goals.
"They've been dominant," Sullivan said. "They've been a threat every time they're on the ice. They're so hard to play against, the way they possess the puck in the offensive zone, how stiff they are on the puck. They don't throw pucks away. They force our opponents to have to expend so much energy defending them."
Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson knows the feeling, having faced Crosby and his linemates while playing for Florida.
"It's terrible when you're on the ice against them," he said. "They're just so good down low, and they attract so much attention, and are so good at supporting each other and making little passes to each other and then getting open for each other."
Opponents aren't getting much of a payback for the work they invest in trying to contain that line. Sunday, Rust had a team-high six shots on Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek, while Crosby and Guentzel tied for second with four each.
"We're playing complementary hockey," Guentzel said. "We're getting in on the forecheck, making plays. It's great fun to play with these two guys."
Does great things for some guys' personal stats, too.
For all that Sullivan and his staff had to like about this game, they will have some blemishes to discuss when they go over video with their personnel, like how Jarry pushed the puck directly to Jakub Vrana to set up Washington's second goal, and how Evgeni Malkin had his pocket picked in front of the net by Nicklas Backstrom when the Capitals made it 4-3 in the second period.
"I just saw the puck was lying there between (Malkin's) legs, so I tried to strip it and backhanded it into the net," Backstrom. "It was a lucky goal."
And one that should have been prevented by Malkin.
Still, despite the occasional letdown or lapse in judgment, there was far more about which the coaches had to be pleased.
Not only the quality work by the first and third lines, but the much-better-than-usual special-teams work. Matheson's best game of the five he has played since being acquired from Florida, including a deft feed to set up Rust's first goal. Another good 200-foot effort by Ceci, who accounted for two of the Penguins' 10 assists and seems to be settling in with his new team.
"After a while, you get a little more comfortable," Ceci said. "You trust your instincts a little more. You're not guessing. You're not trying to figure out the systems. You're just back to playing hockey."
And playing it in a way that presumably made a positive impression on newly hired team executives Ron Hextall and Brian Burke, who watched the game from a luxury box.
Although getting the power play and penalty-kill to operate at the levels expected before the season is critical, having Jarry elevate his game -- and keep it there -- is vital to any hope the Penguins have of being a factor in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Or perhaps of even qualifying for them.
Calling this his best game of the season says little, given how low the achievement bar had been set in Jarry's previous seven starts, but stopping 28 of 31 shots could begin to restore any belief in his own abilities that might have been waning.
"He made some good saves for us at key times, and that's what you need from your goaltender in order to win games and have success in this league," Sullivan said. "I thought Tristan took a big step tonight. He made some big saves for us. I thought we defended hard in front of him, but when we broke down, he was there to make big stops.
"Hopefully, Tristan will gain some confidence off of this. He certainly should."
Jarry's work during the second period -- "The second period wasn't our best," Guentzel said -- was singled out for praise by Sullivan and several teammates, but he also turned in some timely stops in the third, when Washington was pressing to wipe out a 4-3 deficit.
Jarry and his teammates wouldn't let that happen, and the rebound goal Guentzel had scored at 10:44 of the second period went down as the game-winner.
Fitting, perhaps, since it also was the goal that gave the Penguins the most dangerous lead in hockey.
"It's definitely nice to have a little bit of a cushion," Rust said. "Hopefully, we can keep getting more of those."
• The Penguins were extremely efficient on faceoffs, going 37-23. Sam Lafferty (7-0) led the way, followed by Blueger (10-5), Malkin (6-3) and Crosby (12-7).
• The Penguins are being assessed an average of 6.8 penalty minutes per game, second-lowest figure in the league.
• Capitals wingers Alex Ovechkin (6) and Tom Wilson (5) led both teams in hits.
• The Penguins are 5-0 at PPG Paints Arena, with three of those victories coming against Washington.
• Before the game, the Penguins recalled goalie Maxime Lagace from their taxi squad, and he backed up Jarry. Casey DeSmith was scratched because of a non-COVID-19 illness.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Bryan Rust, Penguins
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
3. Cody Ceci, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery Jan. 14 and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks
• Marcus Pettersson has an unspecified injury and has resumed practicing after being listed as "week to week."
• Juuso Riikola is out "longer term" with an unspecified injury.
• Evan Rodrigues is out "longer term" with an unspecified injury.
• Brian Dumoulin has an unspecified lower-body injury.
• Jared McCann is "week to week" with an unspecified lower-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Colton Scevious-Mark Jankowski-Sam Lafferty
P.O Joseph-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-John Marino
Chad Ruhwedel-Cody Ceci
And for Peter Laviolette's Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana-Evgeny Kuznetsov-T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary-Lars Eller-Richard Panik
Carl Hagelin-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway
Brenden Dillon-John Carlson
Zdeno Chara-Justin Schultz
Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are scheduled to practice Monday at 11 a.m. in Cranberry and will face the Capitals again Tuesday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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