CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Ron Hextall acknowledged during his press conference Sunday that the Penguins' bottom six forwards just haven't been strong enough for much of this season.
"I think it’s fair to say the chemistry there hasn’t been like we had hoped it would be," Hextall said. "There’s times where we’ve had some chemistry down there, but over the course of the year, the chemistry hasn’t been that great."
One of those times that the fourth line did show chemistry was when Ryan Poehling, Teddy Blueger and Josh Archibald were all healthy and together. That hasn't been too often -- Blueger missed the first month of the season with lower-body injury, and Poehling was in and out of the lineup for much of December and the first three weeks of January with a nagging upper-body injury. Archibald has been sidelined since Dec. 18 with a lower-body injury sustained in the Penguins' game in Raleigh, N.C.
Hextall named the loss of Archibald specifically as something that really hurt the makeup of that bottom six.
"When Josh Archibald goes out of the lineup, that hurt us," Hextall said. "Archie's a gritty guy, a high-energy guy. When he's played with Ryan Poehling and Teddy Blueger, they go out there and they create a lot of energy for us. They might not score, but they have O-zone time, they create energy for us. Sid's line follows up and the building's rocking, and all of a sudden, we score a goal."
All signs are pointing toward Archibald making his return to the Penguins' lineup Tuesday night against the Avalanche against PPG Paints Arena, and that effective fourth line being reunited.
Archibald has been full-contact for the Penguins' last two practices out of the All-Star break. He's been taking regular line rushes on the fourth line with Poehling and Blueger, and has been a regular participant in the penalty-kill work, both indications that his return is imminent. While nothing is official yet, Archibald said that he feels "real good" after the Penguins' practice in Cranberry on Monday.
"If I get the call to play tomorrow, I'll be ready," he added.
Poehling, Blueger and Archibald have played 14 games together this season. As the fourth line, they were deployed in more of a defensive role, only seeing 19.64% of their faceoffs come in the offensive zone. Despite starting their shifts in their own end more often than not, their results together at five-on-five have been strong. The Penguins' unblocked shot attempts have been fairly even, taking 70 and allowing 74. The same goes for shots on goal by a ratio of 55-54. They've been strong in getting shots off from and defending the high-danger areas of the ice, controlling 61.76% of all high-danger shot attempts (21-13). They've outscored opponents 4-1 at five-on-five, with three of their goals for coming from high-danger areas of the ice.
When Archibald is on the ice, the high-danger areas turn into a black hole for opposing offenses -- other teams aren't getting much off from there. The blue areas of this defensive chart show areas where opponents get unblocked shot attempts at a rate below league-average, and the red shows where opponents get unblocked shot attempts at a rate higher than league average. With Archibald, opponents' expected goals against drop 23% compared to league-average:
HockeyViz.com
Archibald brings a little grittiness to his game too -- his 109 hits this season rank No. 2 on the team behind Jason Zucker's 128. His rate of hits is 21.28 per 60 minutes of ice time, more than double that of any other in the Penguins' regular lineup.
"I think that's a big part of my game -- being physical making hard on other teams defenseman," Archibald said.
Mike Sullivan described it as Archibald having a little "reckless abandon."
"He plays with an edge, he plays on the edge, and I think that's what makes him effective," Sullivan said. "His foot speed, his physical play, his ability to put our opponents under pressure forces a lot of turnovers, helps us create momentum. That's the type of player that he is. So when he's bringing some juice, I think that that's contagious for our group."
Another area where the Penguins have missed Archibald is his ability to draw penalties. He draws 2.73 penalties per 60 minutes of ice time, the best rate on the entire team by nearly one full penalty. That's also a rate that ranks fourth in the entire league among players who have played a minimum of 200 minutes this season.
I asked Archibald what has him so effective at drawing penalties this season.
"Just getting into the head of the other team a little bit," he said. "But also if you're using your speed and not stop moving your feet, you don't take some of those penalties. It's been good so far. Hopefully I can help the team out that way."
Archibald said that he's "anxious" for his return. Whenever it does come, he's looking to bring those same elements that had the Penguins' fourth line so effective earlier in the season.
"Obviously, the first couple shifts you just have to get out there, get calmed down," he said. "But just bring my speed, tenacity, but get in on forechecks and make it hard for the other team. Just wear them down."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• If Kasperi Kapanen is activated from injured reserve and Archibald is activated from long-term injured reserve, it likely means that Drew O'Connor is getting sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in order to clear the necessary cap space and a roster spot. He's the only skater exempt from waivers, and no new players were put on waivers on Monday.
• With Kapanen also participating in line rushes and power play work, it's looking like Kapanen will also be ready to return Tuesday.
• The lines and pairings were the same as in Sunday's practice:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
(Danton Heinen, Drew O'Connor)
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel/Mark Friedman
• Tristan Jarry and Jan Rutta skated on their own prior to practice. Rutta isn't even eligible to return until Feb. 14 at the earliest because he's on long-term injured reserve.
• The first power play unit was Kris Letang, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Jake Guentzel. The second power play unit was Jeff Petry, Kapanen, Jeff Carter, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust
• It was a longer-than-usual practice, with the formal session lasting 68 minutes and most players staying on the ice well after practice ended for individualized work. Over half of that was devoted to five-on-five work, plus small-area skills drills at the start and 15-20 minutes of special teams work at the end.
• Malkin is sitting at 1,196 points, four away from another big milestone. Crosby talked about what that number means to him: "I think it just shows a lot of consistency. It's a big number. To get to it, you've got to put up points every year and be consistent. I think it just reflects that. You look at that he's had a couple of long-term injuries on top of that. It could easily be more. I think it just shows the player that he's been over the years and still producing at a high rate, even at his age. I think it reflects all that."
• Crosby on how the Penguins can find more consistency coming out of the break: "Every game is different. It takes different things, whether it's special teams or or scoring first, not scoring first, lead, no leads, a lot of things can happen. I think you have to just understand what your game looks like, and believe in it, and go out there and play it. And I think regardless of how the game goes, we have to be committed to a certain game. playing a certain way. And it's just a matter of doing that."
• Dustin Tokarski and Crosby spent a lot of time chatting before practice as well as during the brief Zamboni break midway through practice, and Crosby was seemingly laughing the whole time. I asked Tokarski what they were talking about.
"He's such a great teammate," Tokarski said. "He was just having some fun with me about one of my methods of stopping the puck down at the other end, he was laughing at it. He's a lot of fun. It was a good practice and high-tempo out there but it's good to have a few laughs as well. Anytime you can have a little chat with him it's awesome as a hockey player, but also as the person as well."
• Tokarski and his wife Linea welcomed their third daughter Reese on Jan. 27. The two already had 20-month old twin daughters Eilee and Wynn. Tokarski's family is still in Wilkes-Barre while he's recalled, and he said his wife is a "trooper" through it all. His daughter was born at about 3:30 in the afternoon that day, and Tokarski was back in the car to Pittsburgh at about 6:30 a.m. the next day for the Penguins' game against the Sharks that night. He got to go back with his family during the All-Star break, and is now back up in Pittsburgh as the break ends.
"It's been a pretty crazy week," he told me. "But it's been pretty fun too."
• Players had their Super Bowl picks written on the whiteboard in the locker room, and the picks were pretty evenly split. Of note, Crosby and Letang picked the Chiefs, while Malkin picked the Eagles. Both former Flyers -- Carter and Mark Friedman -- picked the Eagles.
• The North American Hockey League (the tier-II junior league in the U.S.) is having its top prospects tournament at the Lemieux Complex this week, with players divided into four teams representing the four divisions. Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci's 20-year-old son Ryan, who captains the Johnstown Tomahawks, is one of the players invited.
