Mike Sullivan didn't quite know how to respond to the question, which was entirely understandable.
Sure, he's been asked about the Penguins' power play a lot this season, but rarely, if ever, have the questions been like this one.
The issue this time was not what was wrong with the power play, why a unit with so much skill produces so few goals.
When it produces anything at all, other than frustration.
No, this time the subject was what suddenly had gone right for the power play, which scored on the first two of its three chances in what became a 4-3 victory against Philadelphia at PPG Paints Arena Saturday.
Sullivan is, to be sure, an analytical sort, but even he couldn't explain it.
He certainly could appreciate it, though.
"I wish I had an answer for you on why it was good," he said. "I think the players made good decisions. They executed. They worked together. The players deserve a lot of credit for making it happen out there. These guys, they're good players. When they're at their best, they're trusting their instincts and they're playing collectively, as a group. I thought they were a difference in the game tonight. They have the ability to be that for us, night-in and night-out."
True enough, although they seldom are. Not in a good way, at least.
Neither of the Penguins' power-play goals proved to be the game-winner -- that distinction went to the one Jared McCann scored at 10:41 of the third period, when he threw a Brandon Tanev rebound past Flyers goalie Brian Elliott to break a 3-3 tie: -- but they restored the Penguins' equilibrium after a ghastly turnover by Sam Lafferty spawned a two-on-zero break that culminated in Travis Konecny burying a shot behind Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry for a 1-0 lead at 6:08 of the first period.
That hardly was the optimal start for a team that had squandered a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-3 loss in the previous game, but Evgeni Malkin salved that wound by scoring on a wraparound at 7:54, while Philadelphia defenseman Ivan Provorov was serving a hooking minor:
Bryan Rust converted a Jake Guentzel feed at 18:01, just 12 seconds after Michael Raffl of the Flyers was sent off for tripping:
"Our power play gave us a lot of momentum at the beginning of the game," defenseman Brian Dumoulin said.
That's not something the power play has done very often. It had not scored twice in a game since a 5-4 overtime victory against Washington Jan. 19.
The penalty-killers had a decent showing, too, giving up one goal -- with just four seconds left on the power play -- in four shorthanded situations on a day when Marcus Pettersson, who was assessed three minors in a little more than 15 minutes, seemed intent on making a run at Dave Schultz's single-season record of 472 penalty minutes.
That unit seemed to benefit from the return of Dumoulin, who had been out since Jan. 26 because of an unspecified injury.
His ice time of 23:39, second on the team only to defense partner Kris Letang, included a game-high 5:45 of shorthanded work.
"I felt good out there," Dumoulin said. "Obviously, as the game went on, you feel a little bit better."
The same appeared to be true of Malkin, who has dressed for all 23 of the Penguins' games so far, but was a non-factor in most of them.
Saturday, however, he was assertive and aggressive all over the ice. He didn't play a perfect game -- there was one particularly ill-considered drop pass that sabotaged an odd-man break -- but Malkin turned in his best performance of 2020-21.
"He was competing out there," Sullivan said. "He commanded the puck an awful lot. He felt like he was a threat every time he went over the boards. ... (Malkin) had an impact on the game, on both sides of the puck. That's what we've grown accustomed to expect from him, because he's such a generational talent. I hope this is something he can build on."
Despite all that Malkin -- and most of his teammates -- did, the victory wasn't secure until after one final flurry by the Flyers, triggered when Claude Giroux won a faceoff from Teddy Blueger -- Philadelphia was 44-24 on draws -- in the Penguins' zone with seven seconds left in regulation.
Regardless of the drama, though, the Penguins did find a way to rebound from what could have been a soul-crushing defeat two days earlier.
Now, a victory might have seemed almost inevitable on some levels -- the Penguins, after all, have alternated wins and losses in their past seven games -- but the reality is that they could have been deflated by the way the game Thursday got away from them.
Instead, they overcame the adversity, self-inflicted or otherwise, that could have thrown them into a tailspin that might have carried them out of playoff contention.
"Obviously, the result we had the other night was not what we wanted," Tanev said.
Pulling even with the Flyers in the standings -- at least until Philadelphia makes up its two games-in-hand -- was critical, because the Penguins are about to enter a stretch during which nine of their next 11 games are against the bottom three clubs in the East Division, beginning with one against the New York Rangers Sunday at 7:38 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins are 3-1 against New York, but have yet to face Buffalo or New Jersey, which will dominate their schedule for much of the month.
Those games, of course, come with no guarantee of victory -- there are no gimmes in the NHL these days, and the Rangers have won four of their past five games -- but it's hard to ignore that the top two teams in the East, the New York Islanders and Washington, are a combined 9-0-1 against the Sabres.
The Penguins should take some momentum into their pair of games against the Rangers because, although best-of-three playoff series long ago were relegated to a place deep in NHL history -- somewhere near wooden sticks and the California Golden Seals -- the set the Penguins and Flyers just completed could have passed for one.
"It was almost a mini-series," Tanev said.
While it's not unusual for these two teams to infuse their meetings with a generous helping of animosity, they seemed to be particularly weary of seeing each other when they collided for the third time in five days. There was no dearth of short fuses snd high sticks, although only 11 penalties were handed out.
"The way the schedule is set up this year, they all feel like mini-playoff series," Sullivan said. "What you'll find is that the intensity of the games is starting to heighten, just by nature of the standings being so close. There are less games to establish yourself in a playoff position."
The Penguins aren't in one of those at the moment -- they're tied with Philadelphia for fourth place in the East, and the Flyers have played two fewer games -- but would be tied with Boston for third place in the division if they hadn't let the game Thursday get away from them.
Sweeping three games from a quality opponent like Philadelphia probably would have done great things for their confidence. Of course, that also could happen if they can harvest a bounty of points from all of those upcoming games against the Rangers, Sabres and Devils.
"Obviously, we would have liked to have won all three," Sullivan said. "But the fact we won two of the three is positive, from our standpoint. Now we've got to look to the next task at hand."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Lafferty's turnover that led to the first Flyers' goal also led to him barely getting off the bench for the rest of the game. He took a game-low total of seven shifts, good for just three minutes, 29 seconds of ice time. That was enough time to record two hits.
• Forward Evan Rodrigues, back in the Penguins' lineup after missing 16 games, did not record a shot on goal in 10:32 of playing time. He had a chance to seal the victory, but failed to hit an open net after Elliott had been replaced by an extra attacker.
• Dumoulin's personal linescore for his comeback game: Three hits, one takeaway, one shot.
• The Penguins announced that winger Colton Sceviour has entered the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.
• The Rangers game Sunday will begin at 7:38 p.m., a half-hour later than usual.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins
2. Brandon Tanev, Penguins
3. Scott Laughton, Flyers
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Juuso Riikola, out with an unspecified upper-body injury suffered Jan. 19, has resumed practicing.
• Defenseman Mark Friedman is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 4.
• Winger Jason Zucker is sidelined indefinitely with an unspecified lower-body injury sustained Feb. 23.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Sam Lafferty-Mark Jankowski-Evan Rodrigues
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Peter Laviolette's Flyers:
James van Riemsdyk-Sean Couturier-Joel Farabee
Oskar Lindblom-Claude Giroux-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Scott Laughton-Kevin Hayes-Travis Konecny
Michael Raffl-Jakub Voracek-Nolan Patrick
Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun
Robert Hagg-Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim-Nate Prosser
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will play the New York Rangers Sunday at 7:38 p.m at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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