CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- "The goaltender has to be your best penalty killer," has been stated by every hockey coach ever.
And in the Penguins' case, there might even be truth to the adage.
In their past four games, they've surrendered at least one power-play goal in each, yielding six -- on 15 shots -- in 10 total opportunities over that span. If that seems like a lot, it is. Even for the NHL's 16th-ranked (80.3 percent) penalty-killing unit.
The tandem of Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, who have split time in goal during Matt Murray's latest injury, haven't been great in this regard: DeSmith has an .805 power play save percentage while Jarry is at .894.
Sure, Chad Ruhwedel should have never taken a tripping penalty, but the Penguins could have used a timely save from DeSmith in last Wednesday's overtime loss to the Rangers in New York. In that game, the Penguins gave up two power-play goals on three chances, including Mika Zibanejad's game-tying goal late in the third period:
That's just how the Penguins' luck has seem to have gone on the PK the last four games and, not coincidentally, they've gone 2-1-1.
"Just seems like the puck ends up in our net for whatever reason," Tom Kuhnhackl told me after practice Monday. "There's days where your PK is terrible, but you manage to kill it. But there are days where you're doing great, but then there's one lucky bounce and it goes in."
Safe to say that the Penguins will welcome back Murray, their franchise goalie and "best penalty killer," with open arms when he returns. That could be as soon as tomorrow night when the Penguins will visit the Islanders in Brooklyn.
With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Penguins have enough time to correct a few holes in their game before they become habit. There are always natural ebbs and flows over the course of a season with special teams, but the PK is one rut that Mike Sullivan would like to see his team get out of:
Nothing has changed schematically or structurally over the past four games, but Riley Sheahan says they need to get back to being the unit that had been ranked as high as seventh last month.
"We've got to get back to what we were doing that made us a good penalty kill: Pressure a little more, read off each other more, communicate with each other more," Sheahan was saying. "I think those are things that made us good in the past. When you start to take your mind off it, or take your foot off the gas, that's when you make mistakes."
One area where the Penguins could do a better job is in the faceoff circle. Over the past four games, the Penguins haven't been better than 50 percent in any at the dot. While not all faceoffs are equally important, they can be crucial when short-handed.
"Sometimes you win them and I think a lot of them, it's just getting the clears," Sheahan said. "It's hard. Teams pressure. Other teams' guys are jumping off the faceoff and working pretty hard. I think winning the faceoff is one thing, but getting the clears is the other important thing. Sometimes we win the draw and don't get the clear. Sometimes you just lose the draw. It's definitely an issue because it cuts down 30-20 seconds of possession time."
And now the Penguins will once again be without Carter Rowney, who is out "longer term" with an upper body injury. The oft-injured, oft-criticized Rowney has been a regular on the PK and is one of their top shot blockers.
Josh Jooris skated in his spot as the fourth-line right wing in practice and could see some time on the PK, after not seeing a shorthanded shift in his two games last weekend against the Maple Leafs and Stars. Jooris told me that he has been sitting in on PK meetings with Jacques Martin and says that he's ready to go if called upon.
"I've killed most of my career, so it should be second nature now," Jooris said.
With Rowney out, Jooris has an opportunity to possibly solidify a roster spot in the playoffs.
"They told me when they got me at the deadline, they're going to need guys down the stretch for cases like this," he said. "It's definitely unfortunate. Carter's a great kid, been (an) unfortunate up and down year for him. I'm just going to try and play his role and fill it the best way I can."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins practice, Lemieux Sports Complex, March 19, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
