CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Training camp is in its final week. The roster is slowly being whittled down to regular-season dimensions. And the exhibition-game schedule has just two entries remaining.
But even as opening night in Tampa next Tuesday gets closer, Mike Sullivan said the Penguins' objectives for the remaining preseason games aren't all that much different than they were earlier.
"I don't think the priorities change," he said after practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Wednesday. "We're still trying to evaluate players and evaluate what we have. But we're also trying to get better in all the details of our game. We're using these exhibition games as an opportunity to accomplish both. Obviously, as we get closer to the regular season, the priority starts to weigh more on trying to prepare the team, from a details standpoint for Game 1."
Evan Rodrigues said those games in Detroit Thursday and Columbus Saturday will provide an opportunity for the Penguins to "just start to do all the little things right, more structure and a little more pace."
One of the details that has gotten a lot of attention during this camp is penalty-killing, and that certainly won't change over the next six days. Not after the Penguins finished with the fifth-lowest success rate in the NHL last season, 77.4 percent.
"That was one of the areas that we thought going into this year we could really improve upon," said Brian Dumoulin, who had a team-high average of two minutes, 45 seconds of short-handed work per game last season.
The challenge of upgrading that has been compounded by the departures of Brandon Tanev and Cody Ceci, and the absence of Zach Aston-Reese after he tested positive for COVID-19. All were integral members of that unit in 2020-21.
Rodrigues suggested that the Penguins would like to be "a little more aggressive" because "I think that's when our penalty-kill is at its best."
Pressuring an opponent's power play without exposing vulnerable areas of the penally-kill requires good teamwork among the guys who are short-handed, and that kind of chemistry can take time to develop. Nonetheless, the Penguins feel they've got some capable newcomers to call upon when they're down a man, including Brian Boyle, Danton Heinen and Drew O'Connor
"These are all guys we think can fill those roles," Sullivan said.
Boyle's short-handed work over the course of his career is part of the reason the Penguins brought him to camp on a tryout, but O'Connor is just a second-year pro and Heinen is something of a penalty-killing novice.
"A guy like Danton Heinen hasn't killed a ton in his career," Sullivan said. "The second half of the season last year, he probably killed more than he ever has. He's a guy who's intriguing for us."
MORE FROM THE PRACTICE
• Dumoulin, on Tristan Jarry, who was heavily criticized for his performance during the playoffs last spring: "He's a great guy, a great teammate. I love playing in front of him."
• After opening the season with games at Tampa Bay and Florida, the Penguins will have an eight-game homestand. All that time without travel will give them more practice time than a club usually gets so early. "We know we're going to have some valuable practice time that's going to allow us address the needs of the team," Sullivan said. "We looked at that when we were building our training camp. ... There obviously are going to be areas where we'll know we need to improve and get better."
• Defenseman Mark Friedman, who was hobbled after blocking a shot Monday night, did not practice. Sullivan said he was given a "maintenance day" because "he's a little sore."
• Sullivan said skills coach Ty Hennes has been on the bench for exhibition games to give him a perspective that might help him when designing drills in the future. "It's a whole different game when you're at ice level, when you're up close to it like that," he said. "Some of the things you see from above ... the game is a whole lot easier from the ninth floor, trust me." He added that no decision has been made on whether Hennes will remain there during the regular season.
• The Penguins used these personnel combinations:
Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evan Rodrigues-Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn-Teddy Blueger-Dominik Simon
Drew O'Connor/Radim Zohorna-Brian Boyle-Sam Lafferty
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-John Marino
Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel
P.O Joseph-Juuso Riikola
• Ninety minutes before the main practice, forwards Filip Hallander, Anthony Angello, Sam Poulin, Nathan Legare, Kasper Bjorkqvist and Michael Chaput and goalie Louis Domingue participated in an hour-long workout.
