Skate report: Penguins aiming to 'minimize the damage' when trailing first

WASHINGTON -- The Penguins have a near-perfect record when they score first this season.

Through 25 games played, the Penguins have scored first 12 times, going 11-1 in those games. That's a .917 winning percentage when scoring first, good enough for third in the league behind the Oilers (1.00) and Wild (.929) in that category.

Their record when they trail first isn't quite as good.

The Penguins have trailed first in 13 games this season, and their record in those games is 1-7-5 for a .77 win percentage in those games. The only team in the league with a worse record when trailing first is the Islanders, who are winless when they don't score first this season.

That's a trend that the Penguins would like to reverse, 

Finding a way to win those games will be even more tough moving forward now that Jake Guentzel -- who has factored in on 36 percent of all of the Penguins' goals this season -- is sidelined on a week-to-week basis with an upper-body injury.

I asked Mike Sullivan after Friday's optional morning skate at Capital One Arena in Washington what the Penguins need to do in order to have a better record when they don't score first, especially now that they'll be without Guentzel's offensive contributions.

"We've got to try to score first," he said with a smile.

"No, I just think it's still early in the season, so I think those numbers are still immature," he continued. "I do think that we can be a team if we don't score first that can have success. You know, it's a 60-minute game for a reason."

Sullivan said that if they don't score first, they just have to be able to respond the right way.

"I think that's the important takeaway," he said. "If we can just respond to the ebbs and flows of the game the right way, so that we can minimize the damage from a goal standpoint when we're on our heels or the other team is pressing, and we don't have momentum. If we can minimize those circumstances and work through those as a team to give ourselves an opportunity to get the momentum back, I think it will go a long way to helping us get the success we're looking for."

Last time the Penguins were in Washington on Nov. 14,  Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal early in the first period. The Penguins weren't able to recover, and suffered their worst loss of the season to date, a 6-1 defeat.

Ideally, the Penguins would like to get on the board first in Friday's meeting with the Capitals. But if they don't, they'll focus on responding better than they did last time.

MORE FROM THE SKATE

• It was an optional skate. Participants were Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith, Mark Friedman, Zach Aston-Reese, Chad Ruhwedel, Marcus Pettersson, Dominik Simon, Evan Rodrigues, Mike Matheson, Jason Zucker, Drew O'Connor, Kris Letang, Sam Lafferty, Teddy Blueger

• That list includes Zucker, who missed the last two practice days with maintenance days. I asked Sullivan specifically if Zucker will be available tonight, and he sounded like he was in full playoff mode with his answer.

"Tristan Jarry will play goal and all the other roster players will be game-time decisions," he said.

• These were the lines and pairings used in practice the previous two days:

Evan Rodrigues – Sidney Crosby – Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor – Jeff Carter – Danton Heinen
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brock McGinn
Dominik Simon – Brian Boyle – Sam Lafferty

Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson – John Marino
Mike Matheson – Chad Ruhwedel

• My expectation would be that Zucker goes back in on the second line, O'Connor goes back to the fourth line, and Lafferty sits.

• Per Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, both Carl Hagelin and Evgeny Kuznetsov are expected to be available tonight for the Capitals. Hagelin missed yesterday's practice with a non-COVID illness and Kuznetsov left practice early with a lower-body injury.

• FINAL REMINDER that tonight's game will not be televised in any market. The only way to (legally) watch it will be by streaming via ESPN+ or any Hulu plan. The NHL is having over 70 games like this each season, most teams have already had an ESPN+ exclusive game. This is just the first one the Penguins' have had, and it won't be the last. The Penguins have three more ESPN+/Hulu exclusive games this season.

• Remember former Penguins goaltending prospect Emil Larmi? He's back in Finland perfecting his Michigan goal. Enjoy: