The Penguins' power play is alive!
Even if it took a 4-on-3 power-play opportunity for their re-animation to happen:
That rocket one-timer to the back of the net from Jake Guentzel in the Penguins' 4-3 victory over the Golden Knights here at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night was the first time the Penguins scored a goal on the power play since Nov. 17. They went six consecutive games without a power-play goal.
"Nice play by Geno to suck them over to the other side, [I] just tried to find a lane on the other side," Guentzel said. "It’s a great pass by him and great screen by Sid."
Guentzel was brief in his description of the sequence, but some of the elements the Penguins displayed here are elements that have been sorely lacking with the man-advantage. The absence of such elements is a big reason why the Penguins have the NHL's 27th-ranked power play despite possessing three future Hall of Famers.
Off-puck movement? Check.
Working through the middle of the ice? Check.
Weaving in and out of lanes? Check.
Changing the attack angle? Check.
Actually shooting the puck when it's far and away the best option? Check.
Just look at the way Evgeni Malkin was able to manipulate the Golden Knights every step of the way until he finally opened up his hips and made a cross-slot pass to Guentzel for him to blast away, all while Sidney Crosby was just enough of a nuisance at the net-front to draw the defenders low and impair the goaltender.
"It’s hard to score in this league if you don’t make the goalie’s sight-lines difficult," Mike Sullivan said after the game. "I just think the goaltenders in today’s game, they’re all really good, and if they see it, they’re gonna stop it. And a lot of times, even if they don’t see it, they make positional saves, but it becomes more difficult to control rebounds when they don’t see it.
"It’s just an important aspect of generating offense in today’s game, whether it’s 5-on-5 or on the power play. Obviously, a big part of that power-play goal was the screen in front. Hopefully the power play will get a boost of confidence from that. These guys are real capable guys, as you know, and we’re hoping that they can get some momentum."
Obviously, there's much more room to work with on a 4-on-3, but all of this can and should be utilized by the Penguins more than it has been at 5-on-4. It'll go a long way toward pumping some life into this power-play unit that has looked stale for most of the season.
