Kovacevic: Power-play breakthrough needs to be made of sticky stuff

Any solutions to these Penguins' perplexing power-play slump, as I'd been pretty much pleading for a month, would always be seeded in simplicity: Someone needed to screen. Someone needed to shoot. And someone, anyone, by any sentient means conceivable, needed to score.

As no less an authority than Erik Karlsson had worded it for me over the weekend, "We have to break through. We have to. And we will."

Mm-hm ...

I mean, it kinda took a while, but that singular stroke of simplicity belonged to Jake Guentzel, a minute and 20 seconds into what'd wind up a 4-2 win over the Coyotes on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. And with it, that slump finally found its figurative stake through the heart, pronounced dead at 37 consecutive opportunities -- five shy of the franchise record of 42 set within the expansion season of 1967-68, and 19 shy of the NHL record of 56 set by the defunct Cleveland Barons in 1977-78 -- not to mention the 13 games and 30 days that were spanned.

Just in case anyone wondered why Guentzel might've looked even more excited than any of the 17,068 on hand, as I'd affirm:

“Yeah, it felt good, that's for sure," he'd beam back through that baby-boy smile. "Long celebration.”

And did he like what he saw of the power play even setting aside converting not once but twice in five opportunities?

“Oh, for sure. What we did out there tonight, that’s what we’re trying to do. Trying move the puck a little bit more, and especially shoot the puck as much as possible. You've just gotta shoot the puck. Nothing breaks coverage down more than shooting the puck. Both goals kind of came from that, and we’ve got to learn from it.”

The other power-play example, Jeff Carter's second goal of the game at 4:23 of the third period, plus the tiebreaker, plus the winner, definitely came from what Guentzel described:

Lars Eller seeks out Carter in front, doesn't like the lane, bends back toward Reilly Smith, who softly sets up Kris Letang's foot-high, eminently deflectable blast  ... and Carter shows a resurrected deft touch with the shaft to do the actual deflecting deed.

Even more than Guentzel's goal, this was Exhibit A of what'd been the collective focus of coaches and players over the previous handful of practices.

“Honestly, I think the big thing tonight was, if you look at it, we were simplifying and we were shooting pucks," Carter would observe, essentially echoing Guentzel's remarks across the room. "When things aren’t going your way, you tend to force plays. If you simplify and you shoot and you go to the net, good things happen.”

Big grin from the big man with that.

"I thought it looked pretty good tonight," Mike Sullivan replied when I asked for his broad assessment of the power plays. "I thought they made good decisions. There was pretty good execution. It's a little bit of a different scheme than we've had all year, and these guys have been working at it the past few days. I think they believe in it. As I've been saying all along, the care factor's high with these guys. It means a lot to them. They understand the responsibility they have with the power play. So, to see these guys get rewarded tonight, for me, is terrific. And hopefully, it'll give us something to build on."

He paused and offered a smile -- albeit a small one -- of his own, then added, "It should give us a little confidence. Hopefully, we won't be squeezing our sticks quite as hard."

It won't take long to gauge any residual impact, or lack thereof, as there's another faceoff Wednesday night in Montreal. Not to mention Saturday night in Toronto. Not to mention the other 50-plus games that follow over the relentless regular-season schedule.

Let up, or lapse back to the perimeter-based, pensive approach seen through most of these first two months, and this bunch will be a solid bet to skip the Stanley Cup playoffs for a second spring in a row.

But stick with the simplicity, at least as a firm foundation for "something to build on," per Sullivan's quote just above, then there's a legit chance that a lot of the underlying positives to how these Penguins have performed to date -- a top-three goaltending tandem in Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic, exemplary five-on-five metrics, dependable penalty-killing when everyone's healthy -- could morph into so much more.

Which is where I'll opt to rewind to the Guentzel goal and ask, upon pressing play on the 25-second clip below, to never take the eyes off Puustinen, little No. 48 who's lined up on the inside hash for the left-circle faceoff:

In order, Puustinen, whose principal role on the top power-play unit in all five days he's been part of it is to play a trigger role from the left dot, akin to his childhood idol Alexander Ovechkin, instead does all this:

• He plants himself near the crease in case Sid's successful faceoff resulted in an instant chance.

• He drifts back into the high slot when the puck reaches Karlsson, facing Karlsson for a possible feed there, precisely as I'd laid out the plan in Drive to the Net a couple days ago.

• When Karlsson's attempt doesn't connect, Puustinen glides lower into the slot and, with a Karlsson blast, tries for a tip.

• When Karlsson's shot misses to the left, he darts to those boards to support Sid on the retention effort. Smartest move of the entire sequence, and that's saying something. Because when Sid can't get a smooth handle on the nasty carom, Puustinen's there to settle the scene.

• Sid slides below the goal line and, before Arizona's box can reconstruct, Puustinen feeds low to the captain, who does the rest.

This is Puustinen's third NHL game, my friends. But this is also why I've been so annoying for so long about promoting him to Pittsburgh and allowing him to show some of this at the top level. He might not make it. He might have his 5-foot-9 pounced into oblivion. He might be superseded by the likes of Rickard Rakell and/or Bryan Rust once they're back. And yet, there's no damage in deepening the roster to include someone who just casually shows hockey IQ like this.

That's all next-level, I know, but that'll be needed, too. Add one or two Puustinens into the scene, maybe alongside a blossoming Drew O'Connor or Radim Zohorna or John Ludvig, depending on who seizes their respective moments, and everything ... solidifies. The foundation of simplicity expands and grows.

I'm probably sounding hokey now, so I'll slow down here and remind that I've been preaching for months a general tenet for these Penguins that, if they'd get the goaltending, if they'd defend as if they meant it, and if they'd have a dangerous power play that'd scare opponents, they'd compete with anyone in the Eastern Conference and, in fact, contend.

How close is this?

I brought this up with Carter:

“We’ve got a lot of guys in here who've been around for a while," he'd begin. "That really helps, I think. Just keeping everybody calm."

That's where he shook his head slightly.

"There’s been a lot of talk about our power play, our play as of late and not winning games. Look at the standings. We’re still right there."

They really are:

NHL

Just four points back of the final wild card.

"Look at the big picture, and it’s all about ‘stick with it’ " Carter continued, referring to part of my question. "We’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, but it’s not that big. Stick with it. We’ve got a lot of hockey left. See where it goes.”

Maybe follow the Finnish kid. Wherever he goes.

THE ESSENTIALS

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

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Jeff Carter, Penguins RW
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins LW
3. Lawson Crouse, Coyotes RW

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Penguins: None

• Coyotes: None

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Drew O'Connor
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Valtteri Puustinen
Radim Zohorna-Lars Eller-Vinnie Hinostroza
Jansen Harkins-Jonathan Gruden-Jeff Carter

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph-John Ludvig

And for André Tourigny's Coyotes:

Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Jason Zucker
Matias Maccelli-Nick Bjugstad-Lawson Crouse
Michael Carcone-Alex Kerfoot-Liam O'Brien
Milos Kelemen-Logan Cooley

J.J. Moser-Matt Dumba
Juuso Valimaki-Troy Stecher
Travis Dermott-Josh Brown
Michael Kesselring

L'HORAIRE

Un voyage de deux matchs au Canada débutera sérieusement mercredi contre les Canadiens, à 19 h 08, à Montréal. Taylor Haase fera un reportage depuis La Belle Province.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE FEED

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