Kovacevic: This power play's a complex problem with a simple solution

Patric Hornqvist wouldn't stand for it.

And not just because he was, quite literally, being bulldozed off his skates time and time again.

No, it's that he'd drag himself back to the Pittsburgh bench after some pointless power play, he'd find the teammate who'd just attempted some stupid perimeter finesse play/pass while he'd been planted in the goaltender's crease getting hacked and whacked and, per countless tales I've been told, he'd bark right into that teammate's face something to the effect of, 'WHAT THE F--- DO YOU THINK I'M DOING THERE? F---ING AROUND SO YOU CAN LOOK CUTE WITH THE F---ING PUCK? GET ME THE F---ING PUCK SO I CAN PUT IT IN THE F---ING NET!'

He didn't pick his spots, either. The stars heard it from him the same way the stiffs did.

Man, I miss him. Before his way-too-predictable issues with concussions compelled him to retire in July, he was an NHL personality like no other. An NHL player like no other. As Mike Sullivan once shared with me a few years ago, and I'll never forget it, "Horny's elite at what he does. Other guys are elite at other things. Horny's elite at what he does."

Oh, yeah. Forever:

So imagine, then, what he'd say of the Penguins' 1-0 whitewash at the hands of the Rangers on this Thanksgiving Eve at PPG Paints Arena. Of the home team's power play flailing and failing yet again at 0 for 5 with five total shots. Of Radim Zohorna, sparingly deployed on the second unit, registering two of those five shots. Of eight shots even being attempted in 8:47 of five-on-four. Of one -- count 'em, one -- rebound attempt, that also by Zohorna. And rewinding back a bit, of that power play now being 1 for 20 over the past eight games, with the lone success having been accidentally redirected into the Buffalo net by a Buffalo player.

Allow me, please, to be borderline Hornqvist-level blunt as I reiterate the two facets in which these Penguins unconditionally must rank among the league's top five to be considered a contender, and they're in order:

1. Goaltending
2. Power play

There are flat-out too many other flaws to work around either, and I've been saying this since Kyle Dubas put the roster together this past summer. They're not deep enough up front, they're not dynamic enough on defense, and they're hardly founded on potential with all the thirty-somethings in prominent positions.

Tristan Jarry's been a bummer most of this season, and I wasn't wild about the timing of the one goal he'd allow, a breakaway backhander by Alexis Lafrenière ...

... partly because Lafreniere's been connected to that move since he was crawling around in his couches as a petit bébé, but also because the scene must've felt too familiar for too many among the 18,250 fans here. Meaning that the Penguins had just peppered Jonathan Quick, they had the faithful hopping the way this annual Pittsburgh homecoming-for-the-holiday tradition always has ... and then the Rangers rung one up on their first real chance.

The place went pfffffffffffffffft and never recovered.

And yet, Jarry more than made up for it by conceding nothing else and finishing with 35 saves. He was sound, smart and mechanical in his movement.

"Tight-checking game," he'd say afterward. "They got one."

If he performs like this against other top Metro teams, he'll change a lot of the conversation.

But this power play ... with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Reilly Smith and the truly great Erik Karlsson on the top unit, plus top talents in Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell on the second unit ... how?

Just how is this attached to a 13.7% success rate and a ranking of 26th?

Look, the lowest-hanging fruit in the equation is Todd Reirden, since he's the associate head coach assigned to this component. But the fact, as I've reported for years, is that the premier players have far more to do with structure, spontaneity and all else than any coach. Including Sullivan. Reirden's breaking down film, processing data, and he's in the room for the big talks at the big board. But there's a lot of listening, too. 

That's not a mutiny thing. That's not an inmates-running-the-asylum thing. That's a Sullivan thing. It's how he's handled his very best players since he won two Stanley Cups with them, a measure of respect for the extraordinary achievements they'd engineered over the years. He believes that a Crosby, a Malkin can think offense at a level that even the most experienced coaching minds can't. So he, too, does a lot of listening.

“I think it was a struggle on the power play tonight," Sullivan would say. "These guys, they care an awful lot, and they've got a lot of pride. When it doesn't go the right way, they put a lot of pressure on themselves to make it work. I think that was a little bit of the case. I think we were forcing it a little bit. As a result, we looked robotic instead of just instinctive. That's when our guys are at their best. I think tonight was just a struggle.”

The struggle's real. Examples abound from this evening alone:

First power play. Geno has two friendly bodies at the net. He also can turn toward the end boards and create space for himself. Instead, he tries an aerial flick back to Karlsson that's easily picked by the Rangers' Barclay Goodrow and pushed out.

Happened all night. Hate it.

Second power play. This time, Geno does step toward the end boards and creates space for himself. But rather than awaiting -- or having -- friendly bodies at the net, he takes the Penguins' always preferred option of threading some needle somewhere on the rink. And even though the scouting report on the Rangers is that they'll intercept anything through the box all day, he advertises his hope of hooking up with Smith, and hands the puck to the Rangers' Ryan Lindgren for another clear.

I mumbled this one out loud in the press box before it happened. Hated it even before it happened.

Third power play. Karlsson gets his gears going below the Pittsburgh goal line and lasers his way to the New York blue line, before doing the Phil Kessel drop, before Sid dishes to Geno, before ... Geno tries to stickhandle through not one but two penalty-killers.

Hate this one so much I'm including it even I can't classify it. It's just bad hockey.

Seems we've got a pattern in place, too, huh?

Fourth power play. Geno yet again. Movement's always welcome, so it's no seismic event that Sid slid back to the right point and Karlsson went forward. But the Penguins' confounding tendency to constantly go point-to-point keeps opponents up high, as the Rangers are here, even as the Penguins' confounding tendency to seldom operate low -- or shoot or pass down there, for that matter -- makes this steal by Mika Zibanejad routine.

I am overflowing with hockey hatred, so I'll switch up 180 degrees for the final example:

Hey! Now we're talking!

More healthy movement results in Guentzel at the left point. Sid sneaks out into the higher slot, Smith's staked a claim to the lower slot, and there's a smooth connection that's a kissed crossbar away from being a pristine power-play sequence.

That. Do that.

There aren't any Hornqvists in this fold. Heck, there aren't really any in the NHL anymore. But every forward, to a degree, has some Joe Pavelski blood coursing through his veins, and Sid's as adept as anyone at tips, redirects, back-doors and so forth. This is his best space on the ice on a power play. 

Geno's at his best when he's on the right side as a trigger man or, candidly, when he doesn't generally stink up the joint as he did here with a game-high five official giveaways.

“It’s a long season," he'd say. "We need to fix the power play. We need to just play the same. We had a great game tonight. We fight against a good team, and I think the power play should change momentum in this game. We have lots of power plays tonight.”

Play the same?

Uh, that's a nyet and a half.

As to the rest: Guentzel's at his best when he's in the high slot shooting or staging setups. Smith's at his best in retrieval mode or when whipping from the right side. And Karlsson, he's at his best, as I've been writing all season, when he has some Hornqvists at the net. It's funny, but I've joked with him that I've long thought that he's more effective with pluggers, since they'll barge where they belong, absorb his passes on their blades, and bang away. And the next time he rejects that theory will be the first.

I brought it up again after this one, asking if more ugliness might come in handy:

"Yeah, maybe," he began his reply before kinda kicking himself. "You know, you gotta get the puck there. That's one of the things we haven't done a good job at getting guys in there and getting pucks down there."

He was referring to the Rangers' ridiculous 25 blocked shots, of which a game-high seven originated on his blade.

"They had some really good blocks, you know, where they're sticking out feet and it's hard to read. You think you have a lane and then, then you don't. But that's definitely one of the things that, if you don't get the puck down there or if you don't get quality scoring looks, then it's hard to score goals in this league."

He gets more through than most, though. This isn't a recurring issue. Whereas not having enough targets is.

Change that. Doesn't matter who. Doesn't matter how. Doesn't matter what they're being paid. Doesn't matter what's on the back of their hockey cards. Doesn't matter if they'll all wind up with their own wing at the Hall of Fame.

It does matter when. Being 9-9 this time of year isn't exactly feasting.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Jonathan Quick, Rangers G
2. Alexis Lafrenière, Rangers RW
3. Tristan Jarry, Penguins G

THE INJURIES

• Rickard Rakell (upper body) is on long-term injured reserve

• Chad Ruhwedel (lower body) is on injured reserve and considered week-to-week

• P.O Joseph (lower body) is on injured reserve and considered day-to-day

• Bryan Rust (lower body) is considered day to day

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Drew O'Connor
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Alex Nylander
Radim Zohorna-Lars Eller-Vinnie Hinostroza
Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-John Ludvig

And for Peter Laviolette's Rangers:

Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Blake Wheeler
Artemi Panarin-Vince Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière
Will Cuylle-Nick Bonino-Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Tyler Pitlick

K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren-Erik Gustafsson
Zac Jones-Braden Schneider

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE SCHEDULE

There'll be a practice Thursday, 11 a.m., at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, then back-to-back games against the Sabres and Maple Leafs.

THE CONTENT

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