The Penguins were credited with three shots on goal during the second intermission of their 3-2 loss to the Rangers at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday night.
It might have been one of their most prolific, if not productive, stretches of the evening.
Oh, a third-period surge bumped their shots total for the game up to 24, but they still didn't launch as many pucks at New York goalie Igor Shesterkin as they could have.
Or should have.
It's probably just a coincidence that this game was played in front of Ben Roethlistberger, who made a pretty fair career out of throwing passes.
Regardless, the hard truth, for better or worse -- and it's usually worse -- is that this team often has no qualms about allowing a scoring chance to go by because it believes a better one is just another pass or two away.
That's at least part of the reason the Penguins recorded just five shots on Shesterkin during the first period, and only matched that total in the second until the off-ice officials did a review that turned up three others.
"I think we passed up opportunities to put it in play a little bit more, and just deliver pucks to the net," Mike Sullivan said. "I think the nature of our team is, we're not a group that shoots the puck from everywhere. When you look at the makeup of our team, we tend to hang onto pucks and look for more quality than quantity, I guess, is one way to phrase it.
"I just think that's part of the DNA of our group. We've got some playmakers who aren't just going to throw pucks to the net. I think we can adopt a little bit more of that mindset, though. I think we can try to find a modified approach, where one way to manufacture offense is by putting more pucks there. It creates decision-making on behalf of the defending players. It creates a next-play opportunity in the scoring area. It will encourage guys to go (to the net front) more often."
Shesterkin's performance against the Penguins this season suggests deploying bodies there is mandatory if they hope to beat him more than once or twice per game; he has stopped 67 of the 71 shots they've put on him.
"We know he's a good goaltender," Jake Guentzel said. "But from our end, we just have to put pucks on net. You never know what happens."
Actually, they do know, at least some of the time.
Goals happen.
Brian Boyle got the first of their two when he staked out a spot near the crease and deflected in a Brian Dumoulin shot, and Sidney Crosby scored the other, beating Shesterkin with a slap shot that Shesterkin never saw because Guentzel was standing directly in front of him.
"We have to be willing to do more of that, more consistently," Sullivan said.
That's because, if a goalie in today's NHL gets a good look at a puck coming his way, the shot isn't likely to do anything except improve his save percentage.
"You don't just shoot to shoot, if nobody's there," Boyle said. "We want to get to the net, too, and have some traffic. Cause some chaos that way."
Mike Matheson, the only Penguins defenseman to record a shot on goal Tuesday, said the defensemen have to do a better job of getting shots through opposing defenses and praised the work their forwards did around New York's crease.
"I think our forwards did a good job of fighting for position in front of the net," he said. "You could see it on Sid's goal. The goalie had no chance of seeing the puck."
Of course, maintaining possession of the puck is the first step toward manufacturing a shot on goal, and New York's aggressive, effective forecheck helped to hold down the number of offensive opportunities the Penguins created by making it tough for them to get out of their end smoothly.
"You have to have the puck a little more, some sustained (offensive) zone time a little more, to get 35, 40 shots," Boyle said.
But players have to be willing to shoot once they get there, too. Anytime a puck is thrown toward the net, there's a chance it will be deflected, or result in a rebound that leads to a goal.
Which is why, the next time the Penguins face Shesterkin -- whether it's April 7 at Madison Square Garden or in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs -- they'd like to keep him a little busier than he's had to be in their first three meetings in 2021-22.
"We just have to make sure we're trying to put as many pucks as possible on him," Guentzel said. "And get net-front (presence). When he sees the puck, he's one of the best goalies in the game. We have to make it a little tougher on him."
