• Press play on the clip of the Penguins' power play below for about a minute and pay the closest possible attention, if only because there'll be a quiz in the subsequent paragraph:
OK, pencils down, please ...
1. Who were the point men?
2. What was Evgeni Malkin's designated role?
3. Which wingers were aligned on which sides?
The answers ...
1. Trick question. (Sorry.) Only Erik Karlsson was on any point, and it was center point.
2. Oh, please. He's all over creation. Just how he likes it.
3. N/A, really. Anthony Mantha hovers mostly near the net-front, but Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust bounce from side-to-side, up-and-down ... until Rust himself hits the net-front to bury the rebound Sunday, part of beating the Golden Knights, 5-0, Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
Want to try again?
Fine, here's the other power-play goal that day:
1. Who was the appointed carrier on the rush? You know, the old Phil Kessel role.
2. Where was Mantha, the clear net-front priority on the previous power play, this time?
3. Where was Geno, the right half-wall guy earlier, this time?
The answers ...
1. Ha! Why wait? Why the now-common drop pass? Karlsson just barrels into the Vegas zone
2. Uh, the right edge of the umbrella formation? Yeah, nowhere near any blue ice.
3. Again, wherever he wanted. All the way across on the left half-wall to support Rust.
Get the picture?
Think of it as an amorphous, amoeba-like approach.
The maestro sure gets it.
"Our power play always changes, from game to game," Karlsson was telling me in advance of the Penguins' game tonight against the Bruins -- 7:08 p.m. faceoff-- here at TD Garden. "I think every goal, there’s not a certain type of goal that we score more of than others. It’s a mix of everything, and I think we’ve done a good job in realizing that. Then, obviously, the feeling when we get the power play is positive, no matter what happens, even if we’re going through a slump or anything. We know that we have a good group and everyone is feeling involved."
It shows. Check out all the names I rattled off above, and then realize that I've yet to mention Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Kris Letang and ... uh-huh, him, too. From there, check out the NHL-wide statistics that have the Penguins third in the league with a 26.8% power-play conversion rate.
One would imagine this has a ton to do with coaching, specifically Dan Muse and, of course, power-play specialist Todd Nelson. And, to a degree, it does.
Rewinding to the opening day of training camp last September, Muse strikingly sent out the most predictable quintet possible -- Sidney Crosby, Geno, Rust, Rakell, Karlsson -- for his first power-play drill. As if to send a message that they'd earned such trust at the outset.
Trust me: Based on conversations I had at the time, it was received.
Nelson then put into motion general strategies and philosophies he wanted to see, regardless of who'd be executing them, regardless of any labeled roles. For instance, if there'd be trouble on one side of the attacking zone, he didn't want everyone else on the other side waiting or watching. If there wasn't anyone in front, someone still had to get there. And, oh, yeah, if no one was shooting, they'd soon be bumped out altogether.
A man-advantage isn't a man-advantage without utilizing it.
As for the particulars, there apparently aren't many, though that shouldn't be construed, Karlsson cautioned me, that the coaches are offering carte blanche.
"I think that we’ve found a way throughout the season to generate different ways," he'd say. "We’re not just sticking with, ‘This is what works. We’re going to do this all the time.’ And then it dries up and we try to keep doing the same thing. I think we find ways to score different types of goals, depending on how we’re feeling that night, how they're killing, and how the game is going. So, I think our adaptability, especially with the players and weapons that we have, is pretty vast and we’re using all of that. I just find that it’s probably hard for the other team to read what we’re actually doing."
Right. How can the opponent prepare if even the Penguins can't be certain what they'll do?
Don't dare underestimate any of this, especially not for as long as Sid's out. And so far so good in that regard, as there've been four power-play goals since the Olympic break.
"The power play's going to be huge for us without him," Rakell told me. "And we all have to chip in. Right now, we’re just relying on everybody doing their job and playing their position as best as they can and getting pucks to the net, creating rebounds, creating scrums and then just take it from there. I feel like we’ve been dangerous off the rush, too, getting some good looks. So, just try to take advantage."
PENGUINS
• Getting word that criminal charges are being contemplated out of Columbus against Kyle Dubas over the Chinakhov trade. Extradition to the Hague hasn't been ruled out.
• There's been an expectation that Geno and Dubas would meet early this week, as I originally reported Saturday from New York, where Geno spoke exactly that to exactly two reporters, one of them being me. I'll reiterate that expectation now. Yesterday was a travel day for the team, and today's a game day. If/when there's something new of note, I'll have it.
• The Bruins are fresh off a 3-1 loss Sunday in Philadelphia, now 33-21-5 and clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Still, Don Sweeney, their general manager, met with reporters here yesterday and pledged to try to give his team a "bump" by the Friday trade deadline because "they've earned that."
• To reiterate, Dubas has made known he won't comment on anything until after the deadline.
• Hard to argue against a 2-0-1 emergence from the break, but some stuff up front's got to change sooner rather than later. Among them:
1. Rakell isn't clicking at center.
2. Avery Hayes seems miscast in a top-six role.
3. Faceoffs without Sid have been even more disastrous than anyone could've imagined.
My solution for this might not be popular with that portion of the fan base that faults Kevin Hayes for pretty much everything under the sun, but here goes:
1. Activate the latter between Mantha and Justin Brazeau. Biggest line in hockey.
2. Promote Kindel to the top line between Rakell and Rust.
3. You're welcome.
• Further proof that perception towers above reality: It's wholly accepted, it seems, to refer to Rakell as slumping ... when he's scored five goals in his past dozen games. That'd be a 34-goal pace over a full season. Chinakhov's got eight goals in the same stretch, and we're sharpening tools to carve his statue. I mean ... yikes.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. I'll be here tonight, obviously, then back home for three straight: Sabres, Flyers and these Bruins again. Every game means every game.
THE ASYLUM
Grind: This power play's potency = spontaneity?
Good Tuesday morning!
• Press play on the clip of the Penguins' power play below for about a minute and pay the closest possible attention, if only because there'll be a quiz in the subsequent paragraph:
OK, pencils down, please ...
1. Who were the point men?
2. What was Evgeni Malkin's designated role?
3. Which wingers were aligned on which sides?
The answers ...
1. Trick question. (Sorry.) Only Erik Karlsson was on any point, and it was center point.
2. Oh, please. He's all over creation. Just how he likes it.
3. N/A, really. Anthony Mantha hovers mostly near the net-front, but Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust bounce from side-to-side, up-and-down ... until Rust himself hits the net-front to bury the rebound Sunday, part of beating the Golden Knights, 5-0, Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
Want to try again?
Fine, here's the other power-play goal that day:
1. Who was the appointed carrier on the rush? You know, the old Phil Kessel role.
2. Where was Mantha, the clear net-front priority on the previous power play, this time?
3. Where was Geno, the right half-wall guy earlier, this time?
The answers ...
1. Ha! Why wait? Why the now-common drop pass? Karlsson just barrels into the Vegas zone
2. Uh, the right edge of the umbrella formation? Yeah, nowhere near any blue ice.
3. Again, wherever he wanted. All the way across on the left half-wall to support Rust.
Get the picture?
Think of it as an amorphous, amoeba-like approach.
The maestro sure gets it.
"Our power play always changes, from game to game," Karlsson was telling me in advance of the Penguins' game tonight against the Bruins -- 7:08 p.m. faceoff -- here at TD Garden. "I think every goal, there’s not a certain type of goal that we score more of than others. It’s a mix of everything, and I think we’ve done a good job in realizing that. Then, obviously, the feeling when we get the power play is positive, no matter what happens, even if we’re going through a slump or anything. We know that we have a good group and everyone is feeling involved."
It shows. Check out all the names I rattled off above, and then realize that I've yet to mention Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Kris Letang and ... uh-huh, him, too. From there, check out the NHL-wide statistics that have the Penguins third in the league with a 26.8% power-play conversion rate.
One would imagine this has a ton to do with coaching, specifically Dan Muse and, of course, power-play specialist Todd Nelson. And, to a degree, it does.
Rewinding to the opening day of training camp last September, Muse strikingly sent out the most predictable quintet possible -- Sidney Crosby, Geno, Rust, Rakell, Karlsson -- for his first power-play drill. As if to send a message that they'd earned such trust at the outset.
Trust me: Based on conversations I had at the time, it was received.
Nelson then put into motion general strategies and philosophies he wanted to see, regardless of who'd be executing them, regardless of any labeled roles. For instance, if there'd be trouble on one side of the attacking zone, he didn't want everyone else on the other side waiting or watching. If there wasn't anyone in front, someone still had to get there. And, oh, yeah, if no one was shooting, they'd soon be bumped out altogether.
A man-advantage isn't a man-advantage without utilizing it.
As for the particulars, there apparently aren't many, though that shouldn't be construed, Karlsson cautioned me, that the coaches are offering carte blanche.
"I think that we’ve found a way throughout the season to generate different ways," he'd say. "We’re not just sticking with, ‘This is what works. We’re going to do this all the time.’ And then it dries up and we try to keep doing the same thing. I think we find ways to score different types of goals, depending on how we’re feeling that night, how they're killing, and how the game is going. So, I think our adaptability, especially with the players and weapons that we have, is pretty vast and we’re using all of that. I just find that it’s probably hard for the other team to read what we’re actually doing."
Right. How can the opponent prepare if even the Penguins can't be certain what they'll do?
Don't dare underestimate any of this, especially not for as long as Sid's out. And so far so good in that regard, as there've been four power-play goals since the Olympic break.
"The power play's going to be huge for us without him," Rakell told me. "And we all have to chip in. Right now, we’re just relying on everybody doing their job and playing their position as best as they can and getting pucks to the net, creating rebounds, creating scrums and then just take it from there. I feel like we’ve been dangerous off the rush, too, getting some good looks. So, just try to take advantage."
PENGUINS
• Getting word that criminal charges are being contemplated out of Columbus against Kyle Dubas over the Chinakhov trade. Extradition to the Hague hasn't been ruled out.
• There's been an expectation that Geno and Dubas would meet early this week, as I originally reported Saturday from New York, where Geno spoke exactly that to exactly two reporters, one of them being me. I'll reiterate that expectation now. Yesterday was a travel day for the team, and today's a game day. If/when there's something new of note, I'll have it.
• The Bruins are fresh off a 3-1 loss Sunday in Philadelphia, now 33-21-5 and clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Still, Don Sweeney, their general manager, met with reporters here yesterday and pledged to try to give his team a "bump" by the Friday trade deadline because "they've earned that."
• To reiterate, Dubas has made known he won't comment on anything until after the deadline.
• Hard to argue against a 2-0-1 emergence from the break, but some stuff up front's got to change sooner rather than later. Among them:
1. Rakell isn't clicking at center.
2. Avery Hayes seems miscast in a top-six role.
3. Faceoffs without Sid have been even more disastrous than anyone could've imagined.
My solution for this might not be popular with that portion of the fan base that faults Kevin Hayes for pretty much everything under the sun, but here goes:
1. Activate the latter between Mantha and Justin Brazeau. Biggest line in hockey.
2. Promote Kindel to the top line between Rakell and Rust.
3. You're welcome.
• Further proof that perception towers above reality: It's wholly accepted, it seems, to refer to Rakell as slumping ... when he's scored five goals in his past dozen games. That'd be a 34-goal pace over a full season. Chinakhov's got eight goals in the same stretch, and we're sharpening tools to carve his statue. I mean ... yikes.
• Be sure to take my goaltending poll this morning.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. I'll be here tonight, obviously, then back home for three straight: Sabres, Flyers and these Bruins again. Every game means every game.
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