RALEIGH, N.C. -- After Penguins practice on Saturday, Mike Sullivan mentioned that he wanted to see Kasperi Kapanen leverage his speed a bit more.
Kapanen set the ice ablaze in his first few games back in the lineup from being a healthy scratch for much of November, but cooled off a bit and was far less noticeable in the following handful of games.
Although, in the Penguins' 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes here at PNC Arena on Sunday, Kapanen got back to showing why he can be oh so dangerous.
Here he is swooping in on an errant drop pass before racing up the ice and setting up Brock McGinn for a goal off the rush during the third period:
"It’s a really good play," McGinn said. "He’s so highly skilled and he draws players to him. I was just able to get open and he made a good play to me."
I won't sit here and tell you that isn't a gift that fell right into Kapanen's lap, but he also deserves credit for positioning himself in a manner to be able to take advantage of it.
The first part of the sequence just goes to show how engaged he was in this one.
We've all seen Kapanen be a little late coming back to his own end, and even then, there wasn't always a whole lot of intent or purpose behind it. Here, though, he's back-tracking just slightly in between the faceoff dots, which is a lot different than if he were to have been coming back on the perimeter.
It's really subtle, but Kapanen did an awesome job of receiving the puck a bit out to his side rather than right in front of him. This allowed him to cut up the ice in one motion, and also meant that he wouldn't have to compromise speed or momentum by over-stickhandling to get the puck in an optimal position.
He then used his wheels to push the pace against the Hurricanes defender coming off the bench, while also dragging Jaccob Slavin out of the lane that McGinn was rushing into.
As fast as he is, it was unlikely that he'd make it to the net with the puck still on his stick with both defenders converging on him. He has been much better about not pulling up and passing when he has a full head of steam, but it was absolutely the right call here. As soon as Slavin was within reach, Kapanen stopped on a dime, then completely changed his body positioning to make a clean pass while also protecting the puck.
After the dish, a hard shot from McGinn and a little puck luck put the Penguins out front.
It's becoming apparent as ever that Kapanen's as streaky as they come, but when he's on ... look out.