Ever skip past a Sidney Crosby quote?
Oh, come clean, it's OK. I won't tell. This captain's known for his outstanding performance on the ice and, if we're all being candid, anything but his oratory.
Well, make this one exception and consume every syllable of this from Sid following the Penguins' 4-1 burial of the Bruins on this Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.
"We're competing hard," he began when asked how he feels about the team's standing -- 18-9-1, third place in the East, six-game winning streak, all that stuff -- at the season's precise midpoint. "We're giving ourselves a chance. That's what we need to do. That compete level's got to be there. That's a strength of our team. Obviously, the speed is, too, but the desperation, the urgency, playing physical when we need to, being strong on pucks, those are things that need to be there every night, regardless of who we play and any other circumstances."
After a brief pause, he added, "We've brought that consistently, and now we've got to continue and build off it."
Yeah, like, the very next night. Boston again. Same place, same time and, optimally, the same scenario Sid just beautifully described up there.
Because that's the real undercurrent to what we're witnessing of late, isn't it?
They're trying hard. Really hard.
What's more, even the resident living legend, who's carved his iconic career first and foremost on the wholesome concept of doing whatever it takes to win the next game he plays, understands that they need -- as in need -- to be doing exactly that.
Want to talk about Sid and Evgeni Malkin rising up anew, each with four goals and six assists over this six-game run?
Or the power play continuing its resurrection?
Or Tristan Jarry continuing his ascent up the NHL's goaltending ranks with a 42-save gem?
Awesome. Buckle up:
But me, I'll stay stuck on the trying-hard thing.
Know what extraordinary effort means in a Mike Sullivan system?
Yep. Defending.
"I thought we defended hard," Sullivan would say after this, enunciating that last word as only he can."They did get some quality chances and, when they did, Tristan was there to make some big saves for us. I thought Tristan had a great game. Having said that, we'd prefer not to give up 43 shots. Obviously."
Obviously. But anyone who's followed the Bruins for ... oh, forever ... know that pumping shots from anywhere has carried through the playbook from coach to coach to coach. It's part of who they are. Get the puck there first, go get it after that, and forgo any frivolities.
So sure, while shots were 43-26 in Boston's favor, the high-danger scoring chances were ... five apiece. For real.
Here's a heat map to illustrate the half-and-half distribution of the only shots that really mattered:
NATURAL STAT TRICK
Hardly suitable for framing, as Sullivan suggested, but plenty good enough against a reeling opponent -- Boston's now lost 10 of 14 -- that's still got as much pedigree as any team in the conference. Even at the outset, when the Bruins were commanding most of the 50/50 pucks, the Penguins' skating was as aggressive as their approach in all three zones.
It's as if they embraced the push they knew they'd get.
"I just think we know how dangerous that team is off the rush," Evan Rodrigues replied when I asked, in particular, what was fueling the passionate backcheck that took place throughout. "We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game, and it's something we focused on before the game. And I think, from top to bottom, we did a great job executing."
As ever when discussing defense, it's in the details:
The Teddy Blueger line had a bona fide break toward the Boston end in the third period and, with a two-goal lead, it felt like a reasonable risk. But watch Brandon Tanev, Zach Aston-Reese and Kris Letang all bust back in a sweetly symmetrical way to keep Boston's line from creating anything.
I know, I know ... it's expected of that line.
But the tracking back of forwards through the neutral zone, a foundational emphasis for Sullivan, came with no exceptions:
Nothing came of that chance, either, but if Geno isn't covering the full sheet the way he's done for a while now, none of all this recent goodness would be going on for him. His game's always rooted in the wheels, as he'd be the first to acknowledge, and they've got to keep rolling.
And he wasn't the only star setting such a standard:
Remember when I was fussing this past fall about who on the first line would come back for breakouts since Dominik Simon wouldn't be around?
Up there's the answer. Sid plants the seed for his own goal by swinging way back, gathers up steam while Letang goes D-to-D with Brian Dumoulin, hits the Boston blue line with enough speed that he draws the eyeballs of one, two, three Bruins, dishes to Jake Guentzel, then sets himself for the severe-angle one-timer.
No one would show that first part on any highlight, but the last part can't occur without it.
And no one would show any part of this one other than me:
I literally laughed out loud.
It's still 3-1, the puck pops loose above the Boston circles, and Mike Matheson, who's never seen a pinch he didn't want to make, leans ... leans ... extends a half-hearted poke ... and seriously backpedals.
My friends, when Matheson's thinking defense first, that's a mindset that's fully pervasive.
Over this six-game winning streak, these not-so-long-ago-flailing Penguins are flying high, and I dare say it's not nearly as much about the 25 goals they've scored in that span but about the NHL-low nine they've conceded. Of special note: At five-on-five, they've conceded 35 total high-danger chances and an absolutely astounding two total high-danger goals. This from the group that'd ranked next-to-worst in the league in both categories through a month and a half of this season. Only the Senators were worse.
This might come across as disrespectful, but I hope it doesn't: This is how it needs to be.
Crosby's right to state that part of the Penguins' identity is speed. They're a far faster team than they were a year ago, and that was a necessary, welcome development. But the notion of carving out some path to contention on speed and skill alone, even with Crosby and Malkin flying around as they have, even with Letang offering such steadiness on the back end, belies the collective age of the core. And whether or not performances like theirs could be sustained through a couple best-of-seven series, let alone all four.
It'll require a team-wide dedication to defending. 'Hard' defending.