PENGUINS

The Penguins are playoff-bound. Now ... who starts in Game 1 of the playoffs?

Signs sure point to Stuart Skinner. The Penguins have given him consecutive starts based on merit -- as in, not injury-related or schedule-related -- twice in the last two weeks. He started on March 28 against the Stars two days after a win over the Senators, and he earned an April 2 start against the Lightning two days after a win over the Red Wings.

Still, it'd be silly to assume that the other goaltender in their season-long rotation won't see games in the playoffs. And while Arturs Silovs hasn't been at his best as of late, could he step up in the playoffs?

Silovs had a good regular season last year with Abbotsford in the AHL, going 14-5-2 with a .908 save percentage, 2.41 goals-against average and zero shutouts in 21 games. In the playoffs? He went 16-7 with a .931 save percentage, 2.01 goals-against average and five shutouts on the way to winning a Calder Cup and being named playoff MVP.

What changed for him once the postseason started?

"It's a different atmosphere," Silovs told me of that run this week. "It's more meaningful games. That's what you worked the whole season for. It's mental, like a switch. You want to give everything in those games, because every game counts there. I don't want to give anything easy for the opposition. You give your everything."

Silovs gave that Abbotsford team in front of him credit too, saying they "defended hard," and that they were especially good at maintaining momentum in the second halves of games. 

Silovs said he feels "pretty good" about where his game is at going into the postseason now, adding that the back-to-back wins over Florida gave him confidence and made him feel like he's in more of a "flow." That made me ask if the goalie rotation the Penguins have been using makes it hard at times to find that flow.

"Switching every back and forth, it's not easy, you know?" he said. "Sure, it's like, you can prepare for something more, but I think when you feeling it, you want to play more. But it is the way it is. You control what you can control, and just keep doing the best for when you get an opportunity."

MORE PENGUINS

• Sergei Murashov has some Russian writing in Sharpie on his glove, and he said it just translates to "here and now" -- a reminder to stay in the moment. -- Taylor Haase

• Congratulations to Connor Clifton, who finished sixth in the media good guy award voting. He said, "I probably would have done better if there were more reasons to talk to me." He's not wrong! -- Taylor Haase

PIRATES

• Chris Truby has played a significant role in the defensive growth of a number of young players on the Pirates’ major-league roster, including Konnor Griffin, who sang Truby’s praises prior to making his MLB debut last week. 

Nick Gonzales, who has now transitioned over to a more regular role at third base with Jared Triolo on the injured list, has reaped the benefits of Truby’s guidance, too. Gonzales told me earlier this week that Truby has held him accountable more than any coach he’s ever had. He said he’s pushed him every day in an effort to ensure that Gonzales is on top of his defensive work and improving the skills necessary to succeed on the left side of the infield. 

“He’s holding me to a standard that is really high and I'm a better infielder for it,” Gonzales told me. “I'm thankful for having him pushing me. I think the strides we've made over there are big and it'll only help me throughout my career being able to play second, short, and third. I'm excited for it and I'm excited to keep working at it. Obviously, it's pretty new and there’s still got a lot of room to improve, but happy with it so far.” 

When it comes to the adjustment to playing third base, Gonzales told me he sees no issues with the longer throw. He said he’s confident in his arm strength and his ability to be able to make the throw when necessary. He did say the internal clock is a little off for him sometimes, though. 

“It's just the ball gets to you a little faster and your initial first step is a little bit different,” Gonzales said. “Other than that, it's playing the game and just knowing where to be. From not being out there so much, kind of just having the experience to know where I go in certain plays and then what I do with the ball.” -- José Negron in Chicago

• It wasn’t the start to the season that Spencer Horwitz wanted. He’ll be the first to admit that he was a little overly excited to start the season, especially after making an opening day roster for the very first time. Horwitz went 1 for 12 with four strikeouts in his first four games, but has found better results over his last seven, hitting .333 (6 for 18) with two RBIs, three runs scored, six walks and four strikeouts. 

Through it all, Horwitz said he’s worked to stay level-headed. He said he feels great mechanically and he’s feeling healthy. In his own words: “Nothing has changed in the past few days besides just settling in.” Those last few games have reassured Horwitz that he’s doing the right things off the field. As long as he keeps that level head, he thinks he’ll continue to produce consistent results moving forward. -- José Negron

• It’s interesting that guys aren’t shying away from talking about the postseason, even this early in the season. I asked Horwitz about the challenges associated with having to bounce back from tough losses and find ways to win games consistently. His response immediately centered on what the Pirates could expect in October. 

“In the postseason, you’ve got to find different ways,” Horwitz told me. “You’re going to run into great arms, and you’ve got to scrap together good at-bats, you’ve got to have good pitching, you’ve got to have a strong bullpen, good defense and you’ve got to find a way to win the game.”

It’s still very early in the season, yes. But not a bad attitude for guys on this team to have. -- José Negron

• From the very beginning of the season, Don Kelly got the sense that these Pirates would be a difficult team to play against. He saw the punch they took on opening day in New York and praised the fight they showed in refusing to back down. 

“To me, that showed a lot of metal,” Kelly said. “And to continue to fight in New York after losing game two, win game three in extra innings, go into Cincinnati and continue to show that resilience, it's been really impressive. It hasn't changed. The guys in the clubhouse haven't changed. The identity, how they go about it, the fight that they've shown. Paul Skenes hasn't changed. Nobody in that clubhouse changed through probably one of the toughest games personally that I've seen because you're talking about a guy that expects to go out and dominate. The team expects him to. Everybody does. Nothing shook them. It was really cool to see how we were able to fight through that.” 

That certainly won’t be the only time the Pirates go through a challenging stretch over the course of this 162-game marathon. But the expectation in that clubhouse is to fight, regardless of the situation. The Pirates have fought, up to this point, to win close ballgames that they need to, compiling a 3-0 record in one-run games thus far. It’s that continued fight that will lead to this group earning the respect Kelly speaks to all the time. 

“You talk about going into New York against a really good team and I think that the team, personally, showed me a lot of what we’re made of,” Kelly said. “Need to continue to do that every single day and following the process that we’ve laid out. So to get off to a good start is great. It’s just something that we need to continue to build on as we go through the season and knowing that throughout 162, there’s going to be good times and there’s going to be some times that we need to really bear down and fight our way through it.” -- José Negron

STEELERS

• Omar Khan has done quite a bit of work to revamp the secondary this spring. Joey Porter Jr., Jamel Dean and Asante Samuel Jr. will be the primary cornerbacks. DeShon Elliott and Jaquan Brisker are the two primary safeties, and Jalen Ramsey is able to line up just about anywhere. In addition, there's a decent chance the Steelers add another safety in the draft, maybe even as early as the first round if the right guy fell to them, such as Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who visited with the Steelers on Thursday.

So, the biggest question that remains is how will this secondary be deployed? Mike McCarthy has stated multiple times about keeping the 3-4 front intact, sticking with the tradition set forth in the early 1980s and revolutionized by Dom Capers and Bill Cowher in the early 1990s, which was then carried forward for Mike Tomlin's entire 19-season tenure. However, McCarthy has been very quiet on what coverages the Steelers could favor.

With Patrick Graham as his defensive coordinator, he brings plenty of experience using both single-high and two-high safety coverages. From a few conversations I've had on the inside, we could very well see the Steelers veer away from the heavy Cover 3 usage we saw under Tomlin and go to more of a two-high dominant look. That could mean much more Cover 2 or even a healthy dose of Cover 4, which has become a predominant coverage in today's NFL.

Of course, nobody on the South Side is giving away everything with how the Steelers will play defense. So, specifics of what this defense will actually look like is nearly impossible to learn.

However, one thing is certain: McCarthy may want to preserve some of the ways the Steelers have played defense in the past, but this will not be running back the same stuff we've seen in recent years. For better or worse, from everything I've learned, there will be schematic differences on this defense under Graham. -- By Chris Halicke in Pittsburgh

• One of the reasons the Steelers have made so many changes in the secondary this spring, especially at cornerback: I heard this week that Khan has not been pleased with the play at cornerback over the past few years. Outside of Porter, Khan's been underwhelmed. Thus, you saw him go get Dean in free agency. The fact that they went and got Darius Slay last year and Patrick Peterson a couple years before that, all while there were younger cornerbacks on the market, that has lot more to do with who the head coach was at the time. -- Chris Halicke

• Nothing new to report on the Aaron Rodgers front, except I have no reason to believe him wanting a salary upwards of $30 million is the holdup. From everything I've been told, money is the least concern in Rodgers not signing yet. Pretty much, the Steelers are waiting for him to say he's coming, then the contract will be drawn up. -- Chris Halicke

• Wide receiver is a major priority for the Steelers in this year's draft, perhaps the top priority. Ideally, they'll get their guy in the first round. But, based on the confidence the front office has in the way the draft will fall, they will end up with at least one receiver before Day 2 of the draft is complete. Again, they'd prefer it to be in the first round, but they have to be open to however the board falls. Should it fall a certain way in which a receiver isn't taken in the first round, you can almost guarantee one of the four picks the next day will be a receiver. -- Chris Halicke

• Ending on one fun little thing I learned this week about last year's draft. Despite all the talk about Shedeur Sanders to the Steelers, they wound up having a fourth-round grade on him. He was available to them in the fourth round, but they wound up taking Jack Sawyer at 123rd overall. The Steelers never had a chance to revisit the chance to take him since the Browns selected him 21 picks later. Also, that pre-draft visit with him did not do Sanders any favors in the Steelers' process. -- Chris Halicke