COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Penguins’ opening night lineup against Tampa Bay lacked star-power, but that did not stop them from dictating terms at both ends of the ice.
While Jeff Carter and Danton Heinen made sure the Penguins created a number of quality chances on the offensive side of the puck, it was Marcus Pettersson leading the way on the defensive side.
Pettersson logged 18 minutes and 39 seconds of time-on-ice at five-on-five and put the clamp down on any Tampa Bay attacker that dared to work the puck to the slot in front of Tristan Jarry.
Thanks to Pettersson’s adept ability to read the play and clog passing and shooting lanes, Tampa Bay mustered just one unblocked shot attempt below the faceoff dots with him on the ice during five-on-five play, a lousy attempt from the outside hashmarks. (The below Evolving Hockey chart depicts every unblocked shot attempt for Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay with Pettersson on the ice at five-on-five. Attempts are scaled to their expected goal value.)
Evolving-hockey.com
Crowning Pettersson as the Penguins’ best defensive defenseman after a single game would be nothing short of an overreaction to a small sample, so it’s a good thing there is two years worth of data and video to back up the claim.
Since the beginning of the 2019 season, the Penguins have scored 55.7% of the goals with Pettersson on the ice at five-on-five. That should come as no surprise, as his five-on-five goals against and expected goals against rates are the best of any regular Penguins defenseman over the past two seasons.
Evolving-hockey.com
The only Penguins defender to rival Pettersson’s defensive metrics is the guy who spent a large chunk of that ice-time alongside him, John Marino.
Last week, we covered the duo’s effectiveness and why it might behoove the coaching staff to keep Mike Matheson away from Marino.
This week, we’re covering Pettersson’s individual skills and what leads to his consistently solid defensive impacts, even though he appears to get bullied in the corners and front of the net.
DEFENDING THE SLOT
Pettersson rarely does anything that looks pretty. His skating is roughly average for a defenseman, and his puck skills often leave you wishing for a tad more, but it’s his six-foot, three-inch frame combined with his ability to read the play before it happens that allows him to keep opponents to the perimeter.
Because his skating is no match for the likes of Kris Letang, Pettersson uses his long reach to accommodate for the extra half-step backward he takes when defending head-on traffic.
In the following GIF from Tuesday night’s game, Marino follows Tampa Bay’s puck-carrier to the corner while Pettersson maintains his distance in the slot.
Even though Pettersson’s gap wasn’t very tight on the second Tampa Bay attacker into the zone, he nearly gets a stick on the pass before blocking the shot attempt and tying up the shooter for Sam Lafferty to get the puck out of harm’s way.
The next GIF from Tuesday’s game illustrates a tremendous amount of patience and smarts from Pettersson.
As Brayden Point barreled into the zone, he dared Pettersson to step up on him to ultimately dangle his way to the front of the net, but Pettersson maintained his gap and positioned his stick in a manner that invited Point to cut against the grain. Point did not bite, as he and Pettersson both knew Letang was there to step up on him.
At this point, it became a battle of patience, but Pettersson already had a hefty advantage due to his positioning in the slot. With nowhere to go, Point was forced to the outside for a low-danger attempt that Jarry steered aside.
Even though Pettersson’s 177-pound frame does not instill fear into his opponents, he is still able to effectively use his body to break up plays, as shown in the below GIF from a 2020-21 game against Boston.
Pettersson got caught beyond the goal-line, but quickly recognized the much heftier Nick Ritchie bee-lining to the back-door for a tap-in. He recovered swiftly, and applied just enough body-contact to prevent a high-danger attempt from transpiring.
The idea that defensive defensemen need to be overly physical and obliterate their opponents every chance they get is simply foolish. Pettersson exemplifies the ugly but effective traits that lead to insulating the most dangerous area of the ice.
The final GIF showcases Pettersson’s ability to disrupt the puck-carrier in, and around the net by using his long arms and stick.
In a 2020-21 game against Philadelphia, Pettersson unwisely chased Kevin Hayes behind the Penguins’ net during four-on-four play, but again, he makes an unsexy but effective play to prevent an attempt from ever happening by simply using his reach.
It is understandable that Penguins fans get frustrated with Pettersson’s $4.025 million cap-hit. Afterall, he does not put up many points, and the things he does well never show up in the box score.
That being said, you will have a tough time finding many defensemen that do not sink their team in the offensive zone while maintaining defensive impacts as strong as Pettersson’s, especially at that cap-hit.
After being acquired for Daniel Sprong at the end of 2018, ex-general manager Jim Rutherford envisioned Pettersson developing into a Brian Dumoulin-Lite. Not only has that foresight come to fruition, it is likely that Pettersson has usurped Dumoulin as the team’s best defensive defenseman.
Although it is unlikely the points ever start to stack for Pettersson, the Penguins are getting plenty of value out of his current contract.
