There wasn't a single thing that mattered more to the Penguins this past offseason than re-signing Kris Letang, and through two games of the 2022-23 season he's already proving why that was the case.
Regardless of the fact that the best alternatives to Letang on the open market were ... John Klingberg, P.K. Subban (now retired) and Josh Manson, keeping Letang in the same locker room as Sidney Crosby was always going to outweigh anything else.
It does help, however, that Letang is far and away the best of the players mentioned, or that Letang is still one of the best defensemen in the NHL period.
Although it was Crosby powering the Penguins to a second consecutive 6-2 victory to start the season with his second three-point performance in as many games here at PPG Paints Arena Saturday night, Letang had an utterly dominant performance of his own in all areas of the ice that steadied the entire team from the back end.
At a glance, the lone assist Letang picked up on the night on Jake Guentzel's second goal of the season -- along with a single shot on goal, a single hit and a single takeaway -- wouldn't lead you to believe he was lighting the world on fire, but the Penguins' results when he was out on the ice suggest otherwise.
Letang logged 18:04 time-on-ice at 5-on-5 against the Lightning. During that time, here's how the Penguins fared:
2 goals
0 goals against
25 shot attempts
15 attempts against
88.6% share of expected goals
Now let me put that last figure into perspective for you, because the percentage alone doesn't really do the feat justice. The Penguins generated 2.3 expected goals with Letang on at 5-on-5 to just 0.3 for the Lightning, per Natural Stat Trick. The only Penguins who were on the ice for fewer expected goals against than Letang were all three members of the fourth line, who all played nine fewer minutes.
In a nutshell, Letang played more than anyone else, yet he was on the ice for the least amount of Lightning offense aside from a trio of forwards who didn't play all that much ... all while going against the top line of the Lightning more than any other.
"I just think he’s picked up where he left off last year," Mike Sullivan told me following the game. "He’s playing a calculated game. He’s just taking what the game gives him. We rely on him so much on both sides of the puck. He’s defending hard when we need him to, he’s quarterbacking the power play up top. … He’s playing a smart hockey game on both sides of the puck. When he does that, I think he’s an elite defenseman. He has the ability to play a lot of minutes because of his fitness level. We just rely on him in so many situations, and I think he continues to play at a high level."
The Penguins have always used Letang as a workhorse in all situations. That goes for the penalty kill as well, but at 35 -- and even though his conditioning is superb -- the Penguins are keeping his short-handed usage to a minimum so that they can leverage his impacts even further on the power play and during even-strength play. This is thanks to newcomers Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta, along with Marcus Pettersson taking on a larger role on the penalty kill.
The Lightning had four separate power-plays throughout the game, and Letang was out there for just 48 seconds across the four power-plays. Letang spent only 37 seconds on the kill Thursday night against the Coyotes.
The Penguins aren't limiting Letang's minutes overall, they're managing them. Not having to grind out tough shifts, even if only for several minutes throughout the game, is keeping Letang fresh and at his highest performance level. Instead of Letang needing to rest when the Penguins get back to full-strength, the Penguins are able to send him out right away, typically with either of the top two forward lines.
"He’s playing great," Brian Dumoulin told me. "He’s just been playing really, really diligent with the puck, he’s been making some really great reads, being a force in both ends."
Something good seemed to happen every time the puck touched Letang's stick. And he was absolutely solid as a rock in transition defense -- including a great play to knock the puck away from Brandon Hagel before he could break in all alone on Tristan Jarry -- as well as clearing traffic around his net.
"Yeah, he’s been working at it," Dumoulin said of Letang's defensive work. "He’s the type of guy that he can play that, he can play those top guys and play hard in both ends. Obviously when we’re playing in the offensive zone, it gives us more juice to play in the defensive zone and I thought we’ve had some really good extended shifts down there and created some chances. That always helps too."
This is a massive deal because, quite frankly, Letang hasn't graded out all that well defensively the past couple seasons. That's obviously fine because of the minutes he eats and what he brings offensively, but if the defensive impact he's currently displaying persists, it's going to come with an even larger degree of domination because the Penguins will be spending that much more time in the offensive zone when he's on the ice.
Bear with me through some more stats, because this is just too good not to share: Letang's game score (a statistic that aims to provide one value for a single-game performance that includes individual and on-ice metrics) against the Lightning was 5.37, per HockeyStatCards. That's the second highest mark in a game by any skater so far this season. His average game score through two games is 4.64, which leads the league by a significant margin.
Granted, one game was against that Coyotes roster, and the other was against a team on the second night of a back-to-back, but, uh, it's not like he's the only player across the league who is or will enjoy those luxuries.
Letang isn't just picking up where he left off last season. He's improving upon it. That's nearly unheard of for someone his age. Such domination likely won't hold up to the point that he's the very best defender in the league for the entire season (Cale Makar still exists), but make no mistake, there are only a handful of defenders, at most, you'd rather have than the current version of Letang the Penguins are getting.
There's a long way to go, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Letang surpasses his career-high assist- (58) and point-total (68) from a season ago. With the way he and the rest of the Penguins are chugging along, don't count it out.
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Jason Zucker and Philippe Myers battle for the puck during the first period Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Crosby once again kicked off the scoring for the Penguins, and was it ever a thing of beauty or what?
Crosby also picked up a secondary assist on Guentzel's goal and a primary assist on Bryan Rust's power-play goal in the third period:
That's now two goals and four assists for Crosby through two games. His six points are tied with Artemi Panarin for the NHL lead. Sure, it's just business as usual for the captain, but this man is 35 and playing like he's 25!
We are witnessing something truly special. Enjoy every second of it. Seriously. There's going to come a point in the not-so-distant future that you'll wish you could watch him play just one more time.
Crosby's three-point night brought him to 1,415 points for his career, passing Doug Gilmour for sole possession of 19th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list. There's a very real possibility he ends up in 15th place by the end of the season. He'll need 52 points the rest of the way to get there.
• Guentzel had himself a night, as well. He picked up the primary assist on Crosby's tally on top of his own goal, giving him his second two-point game of the season. He also recorded a game-high 12 shot attempts and nine scoring chances. I'm of the opinion he looks a step quicker this season. Taylor Haase has more on that here.
• Let's take a second to appreciate Danton Heinen, who is playing for much less than he's actually worth because he loves his Penguins teammates and playing for Sullivan. After racking up two primary assists in the opener, Heinen found the back of the net against the Lightning on a true goal-scorer's goal:
Sullivan lauded Heinen as a "conscientious" two-way player Saturday, and so far he's been a great fit on the third line with Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen. Before Heinen re-signed this offseason, the Penguins' secondary offense figured to be a little sketchy, but his presence has subsided that worry as he provides much needed balance up front, and he can also slide up just fine to the second line in the event of an injury to Jason Zucker.
• Speaking of the third line, it's been great to see Kapanen come out of the gates strong with a goal in the opener, then picking up the primary assist on Carter's goal to put the Penguins up 4-1 in the third period:
Kapanen is picking up where he left off last postseason, the only difference is that the points are there to show for it now. I'm nowhere near ready to say he's turned a corner, but what a massive development it would be if he settles in at a level close to what we've seen through two games.
• It's only been 90 minutes through two games, but the Penguins are playing spectacular defensive hockey at 5-on-5. They aren't allowing the opposition to get shots off anywhere near the most dangerous area of the ice, evidenced by this heatmap from HockeyViz (The more red, the more shot attempts relative to league-average from that area, the more blue, the fewer shot attempts relative to league-average from that area:
HockeyViz.com
This is a big reason why they have been able to generate so much offense thus far.
"Our forwards have done a great job back-pressuring for us and allowing us to read the rush quick and limit their chances, and obviously Jars has been playing great too," Dumoulin said.
• Saying I was concerned about Dumoulin coming into this season would be putting it lightly, but he's been playing considerably better than I expected. It's not all due to Letang, either, as their results together wouldn't be nearly as strong as they currently are.
"It’s huge to come out and have a good start and get on them quick," he said. "Obviously throughout the game it’s crucial for us not to turn pucks over at the blue line … We just tried to wear them down with our puck pursuit."
• Jarry stopped 34 of 36 shots and looked every bit as sharp as his .944 save percentage.
"It’s exciting," Jarry said of the Penguins' 2-0 start. "I think the team gelled well together in training camp. I think we’ve come out to a good start. The guys have done a great job just putting pucks on net. I think over the last two games we almost have 90 shots. They’ve been doing a great job crashing the net, getting rebounds and I think we’ve been rewarded from it."
Jarry now boasts a .938 save percentage through two games.
• The Penguins did surrender another goal while short-handed Saturday, but there's optimism that the unit is trending in the right direction.
"I thought we did a better job tonight," Sullivan said of the penalty kill. "We still gave up a goal, but just from a process standpoint, I thought the guys worked really hard at it. As the game went on I thought we got better at it. A lot of times, when you can have a little bit of success, it breeds confidence, and I think that’s important for our penalty-kill. Just trying to celebrate the little things that help us make progress. I thought the guys did a great job just as far as being active down the ice, putting pressure on the breakout, disrupting some of the timing and the flow, making the entries difficult. We won some faceoffs, we blocked some shots, and then they had a couple of good reads. (Steven) Stamkos scores on a one-timer. He’s an elite scorer and we’ve got to try to do a better job denying that shot, but other than that there was a lot to like."
Jarry shared extremely similar sentiments on the penalty kill.
"When we’re up ice forechecking, getting the puck and disturbing their breakout, I think that helps us," he said. "That puts us in a good mindset when we do get in-zone that we want to be aggressive and we want to be on the puck and we want to get back down the ice."
• Pettersson had a game-high 10 hits. No one else had more than four on either side. He isn't blowing people up, but you can't say he isn't getting involved physically.
• Rickard Rakell blocked four shots, the most on either team. He also picked up his first goal and point of the season to put the Penguins up 6-2 with an empty-netter late in the game.
• P.O Joseph looked much calmer and more composed against the Lightning than he did against the Coyotes. Enough so that he had several shifts with Letang throughout the game after Dumoulin and Jan Rutta were out together on the penalty kill.
• The Penguins' +8 goal differential ranks No. 1 in the NHL right now.
• Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had three takeaways each. No other skater on either side had more than one.
• Sullivan said it best regarding the core following the game.
"They’re hungry to win. There’s no other way to say it. They just have an appetite to win. We see it every day. They’re willing to put the work in, they’re willing to make the sacrifices every day."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Jake Guentzel, Penguins LW
2. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
3. Jeff Carter, Penguins C
THE INJURIES
• Teddy Blueger skated with skills coach Ty Hennes prior to the morning skate, then stayed on for the skate wearing a regular practice sweater. Sullivan said Blueger's status remains day-to-day but added he's "making progress." Blueger has been out for over two weeks with an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn-Ryan Poehling-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Jan Rutta
And for Jon Cooper's Lightning:
Brandon Hagel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Nicholas Paul-Steven Stamkos-Alex Killorn
Ross Colton-Vladislav Namestnikov-Corey Perry
Gabriel Fortier-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Pat Maroon
Victor Hedman-Cal Foote
Mikhail Sergachev-Erik Cernak
Haydn Fleury-Philippe Myers
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice Sunday, 12 p.m., in Cranberry, then fly to Montreal for the game there the following night. I'll cover the practice, and Taylor will fly to Montreal.
THE CONTENT
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