Kris Letang insisted, passionately to the point of it being peculiar had it been anyone else, that he took nothing off that shot.
Which is fine. Let him think that.
Because what matters most to these Penguins right now, at least from this perspective, is that the power play stops being their primary liability. And the best way for that to happen, as Mike Sullivan eloquently explained to me Tuesday night after this striking 6-3 victory over the Avalanche at PPG Paints Arena, is to let everyone do what they do best.
Meaning the same five guys. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and that one, same defenseman.
"You know, it's a tough call," Sullivan began his reply to my question about yet another short-handed goal allowed here, a remarkable fourth in nine games, an NHL-worst seventh on the season. "This power play, this group of five have been together for a long time. And they've been one of the top power plays in the league for three-plus years."
This is true, of course. In 2017-18, they converted at 26.2 percent, No. 1 in the league, No. 1 in franchise history and among the most proficient in hockey history if accounting for era differences.
"Their numbers were off the charts," Sullivan continued. "And we gave up three goals-against."
All season. Not in a week. This also is true.
"And the scheme hasn't changed. So, as a coaching staff, we walk that line. It's still early in the season. Do we still show faith in this group?"
Oh, they showed it, all right. And was it ever rewarded.
A 3-0 romp through one period turned into a tie the next on this latest short-handed goal, by Colorado's Matt Nieto at 13:17 of the second:
What would seem to stand out in this sequence, as has been the case on a couple of these shorties, is Letang getting his point shot blocked at the other end seven seconds earlier by fourth-liner Gabriel Bourque. And it might stand out all the more since Letang's taken criticism on this count for a long time, but especially of late, with some of that from inside the organization.
Not this time.
"I think there are times when we don't have a defensive conscience, and those goals can be avoided, so they're frustrating," Sullivan observed when I brought this up. "Take a look at the goal tonight ... Tanger takes a shot, hits the guy in the shinpads, and they get a fortuitous bounce that ends up in a two-on-one. Phil really tracks hard back to make it a two-on-two and, you know, it goes in the net."
Suffice it to say, Letang wasn't exactly eager to take more criticism on this front:
I can respect that. As he'd proceed to explain to me after that group interview was done -- he wasn't about to let it go -- there are real, live NHL players making really big NHL salaries to block those shots. He rattled off names, like the Lightning's Ryan Callahan, who excel at it. He rattled off recent instances, including glaring ones over the past week in both Winnipeg and Denver, where it might have looked like he erred.
He was adamant that wasn't the case.
"People seem to think I'm just shooting right into someone. I'm not. I'm trying to make the best play."
Which, again, is fine. Let him think that. Let him believe it to the depths of his soul. Let him even be right.
Because what matters most, to further repeat, is that the power play -- these four forwards, this one defenseman -- figure stuff out on their own. They're that skilled. They're that smart. They're that experienced.
That's why, when the Penguins got the first power play of the third period, in a setting where it could make the difference, for better or worse, Sullivan initially thought to a conversation he'd had during the preceding intermission with Mark Recchi, Jacques Martin and Sergei Gonchar ... then turned to his own old-school hunch mechanism.
"We talked about it between periods: Do we go with two defensemen here, just for a while to settle things down?" Sullivan recalled. "And when we got the power play, my gut instinct was to throw them back out there. Because ... well, when they're on, they're good. They're as good as any power play in the league."
He paused and gave me one of those trademark authoritative glares.
"And I believe in them. That's why I tend to stick with them. Because I believe in these guys. I believe that, when they play hard as a power-play unit, there's no better group in the league."
Here's guessing no one on the Colorado side would argue after what followed just 25 seconds later:
Yowza.
That was Kessel, the fourth forward who might have been benched for the still-mythical second defenseman, dishing back to Letang. And that was Letang -- whether he denies it or not -- picking his chin up, scoping the lane and spotting Patric Hornqvist in front, where he'd scoop up the rebound and bury it around Semyon Varlamov for the start of his supernatural hat trick.
"Yeah, that felt great," Hornqvist would acknowledge. "Our power play hasn't been good lately and ... and we just needed to simplify the game. We've been together for so long, and we know how to be successful: Just do what you're good at."
Right. Like getting the puck through traffic.
"I didn't do anything differently," Letang again insisted when I raised it one final time. "I just had a little more time, saw Horny there and shot it through."
Whatever works.
• I interrupt this column, already in progress, to alert the public that Ryan Reaves is, indeed, a giant among men for his heard-round-the-hockey-world embarrassment of Tom Wilson out in Las Vegas very late on this same Tuesday night.
Every NHL team except for the one based in Washington should pass a collection plate around their respective locker rooms first thing Wednesday to contribute a portion of their paychecks to Reaves. Because no matter what anyone thinks of the nature of his hits, he did every single player in the league an immense favor. And sadly, he did more than the NHL or NHLPA ever will about its chief miscreant.
• Back to regular programming: An angry Letang always has been the most effective Letang. He'll occasionally dive into the dumps, but then he'll emerge with a move like this to set up Jake Guentzel's opening tap-in:
And yeah, that was old friend Ian Cole getting undressed there.
• I wrote it last week from Denver, and it's worth a second calling: There isn't a better line in hockey than Gabe Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Both there and here, those three were operating at will most of the evening, simply overpowering with size, skill and speed. Rantanen himself was inches away from padding his NHL scoring lead by who-knows-how-many points. And he'd have been padding it on MacKinnon!
• Trade evaluations don't come with expiration dates. Never forget, when assessing Jim Rutherford's various moves over the years, to remember the one that most changed the course of the franchise: Hornqvist is the best in the world at what he does, and James Neal is currently bombing in Calgary -- three goals, with none in the past full month, over 28 games -- and playing for his fifth employer in a dozen NHL seasons.
• Rutherford's latest acquisition, Marcus Pettersson, acquitted himself in an encouraging debut. Reminds a lot of Kjell Samuelsson, with that effective reach, except that he's a lefty. It'll be fun to see how this plays out, especially since the defensive corps is right back to being all lefties but for Letang.
• For anyone lightly dismissing Dominik Simon's lower-body injury that knocked him out in the first period, a reminder: Riley Sheahan took his place on the Crosby line.
• It had to be at least slightly encouraging to see Derick Brassard put home his first in forever, not to mention whisking near the crease to do so:
Good for him, better for Olli Maatta with the sharp look.
Look, Brassard is exactly what he is, as is almost every athlete into their 30s. But the biggest benefit the Penguins could cull from his play in the near-term future would be to squeeze some goals out and enhance his value as 'trade material.'
• Just for fun: In the three games in which Brassard has scored a goal this season, the Penguins' collective output was seven, five and six goals. The one game in which he had multiple points, three assists, was the 9-1 massacre in Calgary And his only other assist -- and there's been only one other -- came the previous night when the team scored six in Edmonton. Small wonder no one can ever remember any of his production.
• That was quite the swing of emotions for Cole in the first period. A few minutes after the Letang episode in the first, he was visibly moved by the Penguins' expected video tribute for a two-time champion -- even managed a smile with his fist-pump to the roaring crowd -- then on the ensuing faceoff, he effectively blocked a shot before dropping to minus-2 on Malkin's redirect.
• Malkin's goal was his first of the five-on-five variety since Oct. 30. For real.
Maybe more important, he did this magnificent thing in the first period:
Want to know what makes this one of the top 101 NHL players of all-time?
It's that right there. It's the fluidity. That's a loose puck in the Pittsburgh slot, a perilous location under any circumstance. But he calmly pokes it through the legs of the Avalanche's Colin Wilson -- watch Wilson's reaction at least 10 times, by the way -- then seamlessly retrieves it at the other end as if this were some routine stickhandling maneuver, then -- and this is the best -- turns right up ice in the same motion.
No one on this particular planet does that better.
Never take them for granted, Pittsburgh. Any of them.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Avalanche, PPG Paints Arena, Dec. 4, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
