Drive to the Net: It's all about a straight-ahead approach now
"That's a pretty nice bounceback," Mike Sullivan was telling me after the Penguins really did bounce back to beat the Islanders, 3-2, tonight at PPG Paints Arena, this less than 24 hours after falling flat to the same opponent up in Elmont, N.Y. "This was how we need to play."
He couldn't have been more correct. On both counts, actually.
Michael Bunting came up big again with a goal and an equally slick assist. The defensive corps, missing half its six members and debuting 26-year-old AHL journeyman Nate Clurman, stifled New York's dangerous top forwards. Alex Nedeljkovic made another case for No. 1 goaltender by stopping 29 of 31 shots and not resembling at all the guy he should be replacing.
And yeah, there was this, as well:
Sidney Crosby got a standing ovation from the home Pittsburgh crowd when his milestone was announced 🥹 pic.twitter.com/xZaWxQMksP
Not so much that Sidney CrosbysurpassedMario Lemieux as the franchise's all-time assist leader with 1,304 upon fabulously setting up Bunting's score with a no-look beauty:
We all knew that was coming. Meaning, we knew it for years.
But no one could've known was that the capacity crowd of 18,357 would respond as it did, standing and roaring upon Ryan Mill's announcement at such a level that an imminent faceoff had to be halted, first by the Islanders' Bo Horvat respectfully backing out, then Blake Lizotte doing likewise. And once the home team's bench rose up, so, too, did Sid for a humble wave of the right arm.
Trust me, this one moved him. Not all of them do. This one did. Because this one was Mario. And to feel what he felt from the same city that once served up the same adulation for the greatest athlete we'll ever see ...
"Just definitely appreciate it," Sid would say of the crowd's reaction. "I've had some special moments here at home over the years. To get that kind of reception, to be up in the game and that sort of thing ... it means a lot."
Again, loved it.
But I'll be honest, lame as it'll come across, that I loved this almost as much:
Cody Glass tracks back to center red to re-collect the puck, serves Phil Tomasino for the re-entry, sees it back on his blade, then whips a wrister on Marcus Hogberg.
In each event, the Pittsburgh player has a choice between executing something east-west or north-south. And by north-south, I mean straight-ahead. And by straight-ahead, I mean whatever happens to represent the straightest possible line between possession and the opponent's goaltender. No hesitations. No pauses. No curling away. No silly tries at threading needles that don't need to be threaded. Nothing at all passive.
I know, right?
I feel like Phil Collins in that I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, except that it's really only been about half a decade.
I'd been picking up signs of this on and off the ice for weeks now, seemingly coinciding with the Penguins' increasingly compelling 10-4-1 surge that's carried them within a point of the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot. I'd heard more and more usage of the term 'straight ahead' from Sullivan in particular but also his players, and that's a new one in this little world. And yeah, I'd started to see it in action, if only sporadically.
But this game, maybe more than any of the first 38, brought it to center stage. The shots were 40-30 in the Penguins' favor, the shot attempts 70-66, the high-danger chances 17-14 and, far less tangibly, they never stopped looking aggressive and -- sit down for this one -- fast.
I raised the subject afterward with Glass, who might've had his most complete game in a Pittsburgh sweater -- when he was on the rink, the Penguins outshot the Islanders, 13-3, and out-chanced them, 17-4, plus his assist, plus an 8-3 night on faceoffs -- and he didn't disappoint.
“I think, especially in these types of games where you’re going against a defensive-minded team, where they step up and they have really good D corps that can make you pay on transition, I think just putting it behind them and forechecking them, we're making it super-easy on ourselves," he began. "We got away from that last game and I felt like we did a really good job today of just making it easy. We chased down pucks, turned it over and, low to high, we made it very easy. It’s almost as simple as that."
I'll offer my own assist in explaining: When the Penguins don't like what they see in moving up ice, rather than hemming and hawing, they're to keep churning, even if that means chipping the puck behind the defense and chasing it down. This way, the skating never stops.
Is that, I followed up, the way they need to play against everyone, not just the Islanders?
“One hundred percent," Glass replied without hesitation. "Obviously, they had two six-on-five goals, but five-on-five, I thought we did a really good job of limiting their chances. And you know, it was a lot of fun to play."
Fun?
"I think we all enjoyed how hard we played defensively, but we're also a quick team, and we want to make it hard on their defensive corps, put pressure on them, make it hard."
Quick?
"Oh, for sure. We've got speed in here. We need to use it."
Hm. Not exactly how most would think of the NHL's oldest team, but I've maintained for a while now that speed's not their problem.
I finally brought this up, and pointedly so, with Sullivan, too. He didn't disappoint, either.
"What I mean by a straight-ahead game is just that," he began. "Today's NHL is so much about speed in all of its forms. Not just foot speed. It's team speed. It's mind speed. It's just the pace at which you play the game. When we start to play a possession game at the expense of playing straight ahead and playing north-south, I just don't think it sets us up for success. It gives our opponents more opportunities to pressure the next pass, and all it takes is one bobble, one errant play, one imperfect play, and all of a sudden we’re on our heels."
Second assist time: He wants to see a heck of a lot less of the pull-ups, the lateral nonsense, and the resultant leaks that hand the opponents all those odd-man breaks.
"We're trying to find that sweet spot," he'd proceed. "Certainly, we don’t want to take the stick out of our players hands. We think we have some special players that can do pretty cool things with the puck. But we also have to understand the formula for success, and that's the conversation that we have with our guys constantly. We’re trying to hold them accountable to that standard because I don't think I'm saying anything that they wouldn't say themselves: That this gives us the best chance to win."
Next complaint I pick up from the room will be the first. And it'd be stunning. Ask any hockey player at any level, and they'll attest that they'd always rather skate, skate, skate.
"We've got to be willing to play a straight-ahead, more resolved game, preferably with the puck," Sullivan concluded. "But if we don't have it, we can't play with it. We've got to be willing to put it behind teams and establish the puck pursuit game. And we can create offense every bit as good that way as we do when we have the puck. Sometimes, when you put your opponents in vulnerable positions, you get the puck back in advantageous positions. That's the sell, and it's the ability to create offense in different ways.”
He grinned when he noticed my laughing at his reference to having to "sell" his players on the concept. As if, quite possibly, it might've taken a little longer than hoped to achieve that.
Listen, I won't take this any further. For all I know, they'll lapse right back into the Saturday Penguins come New Year's Eve in Detroit, and the Sunday Penguins will have been a passing fling. But I'll put this forth without a flinch: This is the how.
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5:17 am - 12.30.2024UptownDrive to the Net: It's all about a straight-ahead approach now
He couldn't have been more correct. On both counts, actually.
Michael Bunting came up big again with a goal and an equally slick assist. The defensive corps, missing half its six members and debuting 26-year-old AHL journeyman Nate Clurman, stifled New York's dangerous top forwards. Alex Nedeljkovic made another case for No. 1 goaltender by stopping 29 of 31 shots and not resembling at all the guy he should be replacing.
And yeah, there was this, as well:
Loved it.
Not so much that Sidney Crosby surpassed Mario Lemieux as the franchise's all-time assist leader with 1,304 upon fabulously setting up Bunting's score with a no-look beauty:
We all knew that was coming. Meaning, we knew it for years.
But no one could've known was that the capacity crowd of 18,357 would respond as it did, standing and roaring upon Ryan Mill's announcement at such a level that an imminent faceoff had to be halted, first by the Islanders' Bo Horvat respectfully backing out, then Blake Lizotte doing likewise. And once the home team's bench rose up, so, too, did Sid for a humble wave of the right arm.
Trust me, this one moved him. Not all of them do. This one did. Because this one was Mario. And to feel what he felt from the same city that once served up the same adulation for the greatest athlete we'll ever see ...
"Just definitely appreciate it," Sid would say of the crowd's reaction. "I've had some special moments here at home over the years. To get that kind of reception, to be up in the game and that sort of thing ... it means a lot."
Again, loved it.
But I'll be honest, lame as it'll come across, that I loved this almost as much:
OK, so big whoop, huh?
Cody Glass tracks back to center red to re-collect the puck, serves Phil Tomasino for the re-entry, sees it back on his blade, then whips a wrister on Marcus Hogberg.
Simple save. Not much to see.
In isolation, anyway.
Now watch this one:
And this one:
And one more that wound up with arms up:
Don't skip these. I'll tell Santa or something.
In each event, the Pittsburgh player has a choice between executing something east-west or north-south. And by north-south, I mean straight-ahead. And by straight-ahead, I mean whatever happens to represent the straightest possible line between possession and the opponent's goaltender. No hesitations. No pauses. No curling away. No silly tries at threading needles that don't need to be threaded. Nothing at all passive.
I know, right?
I feel like Phil Collins in that I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, except that it's really only been about half a decade.
I'd been picking up signs of this on and off the ice for weeks now, seemingly coinciding with the Penguins' increasingly compelling 10-4-1 surge that's carried them within a point of the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot. I'd heard more and more usage of the term 'straight ahead' from Sullivan in particular but also his players, and that's a new one in this little world. And yeah, I'd started to see it in action, if only sporadically.
But this game, maybe more than any of the first 38, brought it to center stage. The shots were 40-30 in the Penguins' favor, the shot attempts 70-66, the high-danger chances 17-14 and, far less tangibly, they never stopped looking aggressive and -- sit down for this one -- fast.
I raised the subject afterward with Glass, who might've had his most complete game in a Pittsburgh sweater -- when he was on the rink, the Penguins outshot the Islanders, 13-3, and out-chanced them, 17-4, plus his assist, plus an 8-3 night on faceoffs -- and he didn't disappoint.
“I think, especially in these types of games where you’re going against a defensive-minded team, where they step up and they have really good D corps that can make you pay on transition, I think just putting it behind them and forechecking them, we're making it super-easy on ourselves," he began. "We got away from that last game and I felt like we did a really good job today of just making it easy. We chased down pucks, turned it over and, low to high, we made it very easy. It’s almost as simple as that."
I'll offer my own assist in explaining: When the Penguins don't like what they see in moving up ice, rather than hemming and hawing, they're to keep churning, even if that means chipping the puck behind the defense and chasing it down. This way, the skating never stops.
Is that, I followed up, the way they need to play against everyone, not just the Islanders?
“One hundred percent," Glass replied without hesitation. "Obviously, they had two six-on-five goals, but five-on-five, I thought we did a really good job of limiting their chances. And you know, it was a lot of fun to play."
Fun?
"I think we all enjoyed how hard we played defensively, but we're also a quick team, and we want to make it hard on their defensive corps, put pressure on them, make it hard."
Quick?
"Oh, for sure. We've got speed in here. We need to use it."
Hm. Not exactly how most would think of the NHL's oldest team, but I've maintained for a while now that speed's not their problem.
I finally brought this up, and pointedly so, with Sullivan, too. He didn't disappoint, either.
"What I mean by a straight-ahead game is just that," he began. "Today's NHL is so much about speed in all of its forms. Not just foot speed. It's team speed. It's mind speed. It's just the pace at which you play the game. When we start to play a possession game at the expense of playing straight ahead and playing north-south, I just don't think it sets us up for success. It gives our opponents more opportunities to pressure the next pass, and all it takes is one bobble, one errant play, one imperfect play, and all of a sudden we’re on our heels."
Second assist time: He wants to see a heck of a lot less of the pull-ups, the lateral nonsense, and the resultant leaks that hand the opponents all those odd-man breaks.
"We're trying to find that sweet spot," he'd proceed. "Certainly, we don’t want to take the stick out of our players hands. We think we have some special players that can do pretty cool things with the puck. But we also have to understand the formula for success, and that's the conversation that we have with our guys constantly. We’re trying to hold them accountable to that standard because I don't think I'm saying anything that they wouldn't say themselves: That this gives us the best chance to win."
Next complaint I pick up from the room will be the first. And it'd be stunning. Ask any hockey player at any level, and they'll attest that they'd always rather skate, skate, skate.
"We've got to be willing to play a straight-ahead, more resolved game, preferably with the puck," Sullivan concluded. "But if we don't have it, we can't play with it. We've got to be willing to put it behind teams and establish the puck pursuit game. And we can create offense every bit as good that way as we do when we have the puck. Sometimes, when you put your opponents in vulnerable positions, you get the puck back in advantageous positions. That's the sell, and it's the ability to create offense in different ways.”
He grinned when he noticed my laughing at his reference to having to "sell" his players on the concept. As if, quite possibly, it might've taken a little longer than hoped to achieve that.
Listen, I won't take this any further. For all I know, they'll lapse right back into the Saturday Penguins come New Year's Eve in Detroit, and the Sunday Penguins will have been a passing fling. But I'll put this forth without a flinch: This is the how.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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