BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have been separated on the Penguins' power play only a handful of times over their 18-year tenure as teammates.
It's been four years since Malkin and Crosby were on separate units, and that was a short-lived experiment that was reversed before the end of their first game apart.
Mike Sullivan experimented with new power-play units in Thursday's practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, with Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Vinnie Hinostroza, Radim Zohorna and Erik Karlsson comprising the first unit, and Malkin, Jeff Carter, Reilly Smith, Alex Nylander and Kris Letang comprising the second. Sullivan said that day that the coaching staff was "trying to find some ways to bring some solutions to the table" for the struggling power play.
"We just feel like as a staff that a little bit of change might be a good thing at this particular point in time. Could be a short-term thing, it might not be," Sullivan continued. "Sometimes just a little bit of change can free up the mindset a little bit, give our guys an opportunity to simplify the game."
The Penguins debuted their new-look power play units in a 3-2 loss to the Sabres on Friday at the KeyBank Center. In a game in which a goal on the man advantage could have made all the difference, the Penguins were scoreless on their only two power play opportunities in the game.
The Penguins got five-on-five goals from Crosby in the first period and Lars Eller in the second. The first opportunity on the power play came when it was still a one-goal game in the second period, when Buffalo's Alex Tuch took a minor for an illegal hit to the head of Karlsson.
The result? Four shot attempts for and one against. Within those attempts, the Penguins registered two shots on goal and allowed one. The one they allowed -- a short-handed rush attempt from Dylan Cozens -- might have been the best scoring chance in those two minutes. Not ideal.
Goals from Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo tied the game for the Sabres in the third period before the Penguins got their second power play opportunity -- a holding call on defenseman Owen Power drawn by Zohorna.
That second man advantage went significantly better for the Penguins -- six shot attempts for and none against, and three shots on goal for within that. The result was the same -- no goals -- setting the stage for Tuch's eventual game-winner with 2:43 remaining.
Sullivan was in no mood to give any in-depth assessments regarding the power play, offering only, "They were OK."
Malkin, though, had some thoughts of his own when I sat down with him after the game.
"I mean, we need time," Malkin told me. "It's a new power play for both units, and it's not easy to play right away, you know? We had one practice before. We just need to work, everybody. It doesn't matter who plays on the power play. Just play the right way, try and help the team to win. Go to the net, shoot the puck."
The second unit did a fair share of that shooting. Of the five total shots on goal registered in those four minutes of power-play time, three came from Malkin's unit -- two by Nylander, and one from Letang. The other two power play shots came from Karlsson and Crosby.
The "go to the net" part was what was really missing. Zohorna took on the net-front role for the first unit -- an easy decision, given his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame. The Penguins recorded only one high-danger shot attempt, and it came in the form of a Zohorna rebound attempt at the net-front that just went wide right during the power play in the third period.
Otherwise, many of the attempts came from a distance:
NATURAL STAT TRICK
Shot attempts on the Penguins' power plays vs. Sabres
There are a handful of Hall of Famers on this team. As a result, managing egos has been a real conversation this season. With Karlsson coming in, he's another top defenseman capable of playing top-pairing minutes, and he's also bumped Letang off the top power play. Letang has had to answer questions throughout the year regarding his lesser role, and he's handled the change with professionalism and understanding. He's not here for the individual accolades, he wants to win. If Karlsson being ahead of him on the power play is what's best for that goal, so be it.
The top power play unit got the bigger share of the time on the man advantage in this first game, obviously, though it was pretty close. It was actually the second unit over the boards to start the second power play, too. Crosby on the top unit finished with 2:25 of power play time, and Malkin on the second unit finished with 1:52. That's not a substantial difference, but that difference will add up if the Penguins stick with these combinations moving forward.
I asked Malkin what his reaction is personally to being on the second unit, and potentially seeing less time on the power play moving forward as a result.
Much like Letang, Malkin gets it. And he's OK with it.
"I mean, if we're not scoring the last seven or eight games, I think Coach tried to change something, you know?" Malkin told me. "Sid played the first power play, then in the third period, we jumped first. It doesn't matter who plays, we both play like one minute. Right now, it's not the time to think first unit or second unit. It's time to win, help the team. If we do the right things, it doesn't matter what unit we play on. We have good players."
The loss brings the Penguins back below .500 with a 9-10 record. The two failed power-play attempts lowered the Penguins' success rate to a measly 13.2%, now 26th in the NHL. For the talent on this roster, that's just unacceptable, and the Penguins are leaving valuable points on the table as a result. This one-goal loss and blown lead was a prime example of that.
Time will tell if this experiment with the different personnel will hold up. They've had one game, one practice together. With more reps, maybe these units could be the changes the Penguins need.
Whatever the solution for the power play is, the Penguins need to find it fast.
GETTY
Ryan Shea and Henri Jokiharju battle for the puck Friday night in Buffalo, N.Y.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at KeyBank Center:
1. Alex Tuch, Sabres RW
2. Jeff Skinner, Sabres LW
3. Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen, Sabres G
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained Nov. 19. He's on injured reserve.
• Forward Bryan Rust is day-to-day with a lower-body injury he said just "popped up," it isn't clear whether it was from anything specific in his last game on Nov. 19. He skated in the optional skate on Friday. The skate itself was not a contact skate, and Rust said he isn't sure if he's been cleared for contact yet.
• Forward Rickard Rakell is out "longer-term" with an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 19. He's on long-term injured reserve.
• Defenseman P.O Joseph is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He last played on Nov 4.
• Defenseman Will Butcher is sidelined with an undisclosed injury sustained at the end of last season. He has resumed skating with a group. He will be put on waivers to be sent down to Wilkes-Barre once healthy. He is on season-opening injured reserve, so his cap hit does not count.
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 Don Granato's Sabres:
Jeff Skinner - Dylan Cozens - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Casey Mittelstadt - JJ Peterka
Zemgus Girgensons - Peyton Krebs - Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin - Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power - Ryan Johnson
Connor Clifton-Erik Johnson/Henri Jokiharju
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins flew back to Pittsburgh after the game. They'll play the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena at 7:08 p.m. on Saturday. There won't be a morning skate, so Mike Sullivan will meet with reporters at 5 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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