Shirey: Pettersson-Letang pairing riding dominant stretch at perfect time taken at PPG Paints Arena (Penguins)

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Kris Letang waves to the crowd as the first star of the game Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.

Just as they needed it most, the Penguins have put together a strong 7-1-1 stretch over their last nine games. They aren't out of the woods, but they've postured themselves nicely to eventually secure a spot in the postseason.

As so, now's the time to really hammer down personnel combinations that will set them up for success down the stretch and into the big dance. Although he's stabilized his game following early-season woes, it became more and more apparent that the Penguins were merely getting by with Brian Dumoulin on the top pairing, rather than excelling.

Kris Letang, turning 36 next month, has really settled into the season after a slew of adversity, but even he was struggling to drive strong results -- the kind of results needed from the top pairing -- alongside Dumoulin at this stage of his career.

After the Penguins fell behind by multiple goals to the Blue Jackets last Tuesday, Mike Sullivan opted to change his pairings mid-game, bumping Marcus Pettersson up with Letang and dropping Dumoulin down with Jeff Petry on the second pairing.

Three and a half games later, he hasn't looked back.

Pettersson has arguably been the Penguins' best and most consistent defenseman all season. While his defensive impacts aren't quite at the league-best level he provided a season ago, they're still very strong. More importantly, his impact toward generating quality looks on offense has skyrocketed, making him one of the more well-rounded play-drivers from the back end around the league.

That said, Pettersson and Letang were tried together as a pairing earlier in the season and the results weren't great. Here's how the Penguins fared with the two of them on the ice at 5-on-5 from the start of the season all the way up until the start of last Tuesday's game:

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Through 305 minutes together, they were outscored, 16-12, while being outshot to a degree that simply wasn't going to cut it for a top pairing on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Even after adjusting for the quality of looks going both ways, they were roughly breaking even -- still not good enough.

After a while, the experiment was abandoned. Pettersson was reunited with Petry and Dumoulin jumped back up with Letang. It made sense as, at the time, Pettersson and Petry had formed one of the best pairings in the league at controlling play. Even considering Dumoulin's shortcomings, there wasn't much of a reason not to go back to it after an extended sample showing Pettersson and Letang weren't anything special together.

The problem is that Pettersson and Petry's effectiveness together has dwindled ever since. The two of them managed to put together a nice stretch in which they both put up a considerable number of points for defensemen, but the on-ice results were nowhere near what they'd previously shown to be capable of. The top pairing's results didn't improve, either.

Eventually Sullivan had enough of the status quo from both pairings and, as mentioned, once again went with Pettersson-Letang and Dumoulin-Petry midway through last Tuesday's game. He then said the following day that the changes were brought about "because we're not satisfied with where we're at."

The sample isn't large enough to set anything in stone going forward, but I have to imagine he's satisfied with what he's getting out of his top pairing since then.

Take a look at the Penguins' results across 61 minutes with Pettersson and Letang on the ice at 5-on-5 over the last four games (in which the team went 3-0-1):

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Plus-five in goals? Plus-32 in shots on goal? In just 61 minutes? That's ... utter domination. Plain and simple.

Three of the four games included in this snapshot were against the Blue Jackets, Islanders and Flyers, so that's important to bear in mind here, but the two of them were just as dominant together against the Rangers Sunday.

Working together in unison to shut down the Rangers' attack before swiftly sparking the Penguins out of the defensive zone -- like you'll see in the clip below -- was a major component of their 80% share of on-ice shots and 87.8% share of expected goals at full-strength:

This is one of the best stretches any Penguins pairing has put together at full-strength all season. It certainly helps that Letang's playing some of his best individual hockey of the season.

We're dealing with an incredibly limited sample here after a much heftier sample showing middling results between the two, so like I said, nothing's set in stone. The season's certainly not saved because of this lone development, but it's just that: A development -- and an immensely positive one, to boot.

Pettersson and Letang won't be able to maintain this mini run of dominance forever, but I have a feeling they'll settle in comfortably above what they previously showed together.

I had a really tough time envisioning sustainable success with Dumoulin in such a prominent role on the top pairing. Don't undervalue what it could do for this team to have its top pairing performing at such a strong level for the stretch run after so many inconsistencies throughout the season.

• I really don't love the idea of the Dumoulin-Petry pairing, but they, too, are enjoying a strong stretch together. They've shared the ice for 54 minutes at 5-on-5 over the last four games. During that time, the Penguins are plus-three in goals with a 63.8% shot share and 69.1% expected goals share. Uh, wow. Majority of that coming against weaker opponents or not, that's another welcome development. I'm less convinced their results will stay quite as strong over time, though it's not out of the question considering Petry likes to have the puck on his stick in addition to being the one to get it up ice from the back end -- two areas in which Dumoulin's struggles are quite apparent.

• If you happened to miss it, I tracked Alex Nylander's zone exits and entries at 5-on-5 from his Penguins debut against the Blue Jackets. He had a 100% success rate at both blue lines, meaning he didn't fail to get the puck out of the defensive zone or into the offensive zone on any of his attempts. Even better, all four of his defensive-zone exits were with possession, meaning he put himself in good spots to carry it out. Only three of his eight successful offensive-zone entries were carries as opposed to dump-ins, but Sullivan was pleased that he was willing to put the puck behind the opposition's defense and hunt it down rather than trying to do too much when nothing's there. I have not tracked his transition work since then for hard confirmation, but he at least appears to be contributing in similar fashion.

• Anyone convinced that, if nothing else, Nylander hasn't earned himself an extended look in the NHL? If that's the case, I can't even fathom the galaxy-braining it must have taken to get there. He's yet to even reach the 40-minute mark at 5-on-5, but the Penguins have already deposited four goals and registered 30 shots on goal with him out there. They're not out there going chance for chance, either, as they boast a stellar 70.3% share of expected goals in that time. Don't forget, he's already 25. The player he is right this second likely isn't that far off from the best he can become. The Penguins would be wise to lean into that and not coddle him regarding the way he's deployed. So far, so good.

• OK, last note on Nylander, I promise. His offensive skills are well known, and you probably know by now how impressed Sullivan has been with his defensive work and off-puck details. One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I'm starting to pick up on is that he's shown flashes of excellent play along the boards. Not only has he been engaging physically to properly gain inside positioning, he's been doing a phenomenal job of improving the condition of the puck when up against the wall. What I mean by that is, he's been turning unfavorably placed pucks on the perimeter into plays that establish or extend possession. Quite frankly, I'm gobsmacked at how polished his overall game is.

• Might we see the first 100-point season from Sidney Crosby since 2018-19 and, perhaps, his last? With four points in the next three games, he can match the 84 points in 69 games he posted a year ago. He's currently on pace for 99 points over a full season and hasn't missed a game yet (yes, I knocked on some wood). Regardless of whether or not he reaches 100 points, much of the success he's found this season can be attributed to the 2.75 points per hour he's generating at 5-on-5. That's his highest mark since 2018-19 and second-highest mark since 2012-13 when he went absolutely bananas and put up 4.19 points per hour at full-strength. He's 35 years old, folks. Don't forget to soak this in.

• You're not going to believe this, but Evgeni Malkin's played 27 games since Jan. 8. Among those games, he has three -- yes, three -- one-point performances. Without further context that's incredibly misleading, because he has 13 (!) multi-point performances in that same span, five of which were three points or more. All of it adds up to 35 points. Again, don't forget to soak this in.

• You might not believe this, either: Jason Zucker's 21 goals during 5-on-5 play not only rank first on the Penguins (two more than Crosby), they rank 10th among all NHL skaters (one behind Tage Thompson). The man is absolutely earning himself a future contract with comparable annual value to the one he's on now ($5.5 million AAV), but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not the Penguins should be the team to give it to him. His injury history is a massive concern that will always be looming no matter how well he's performing. This coming from the guy who continued pumping his tires for two years amid many calling for him to be dealt in the name of cap space.

• No points for Bryan Rust in his last five games and just one in his last seven. Two goals in his last 14. He's back up on the first line with Crosby and Jake Guentzel for now, but if his production doesn't pick up, a swap with Rickard Rakell on the third line might be in order.

• After blistering home a one-timer on a 5-on-3 power play Sunday, Rakell is now tied with Malkin for the team-lead in power-play goals with nine despite the lowest ice-time total of all four forwards on the top unit. And somehow I'm still over here left feeling they could utilize his shot a bit more with the man-advantage. Really, though, he's out there with the top unit to serve as support for the big guns, hunting pucks down, winning battles and making it difficult for opposing penalty-kills to clear the zone.

• There's both good news and uninspiring news on the Mikael Granlund front. On a positive note, his porous defensive impacts from the past few seasons haven't been much of an issue, as the Penguins are doing a good job limiting quantity against and an even better job limiting quality against with him on the ice at 5-on-5. I'm not certain it will stay that way, as he still seems to get lost in coverage from time to time, but the results are the results. The uninspiring news is that, despite the nifty passing ability he's displayed since the trade, it's not turning into many chances. As you might recall from my Drive to the Net analysis of his game the night he was acquired, that's nothing new. He's an upgrade over some of the options previously available in the bottom six, but they'll need more from him offensively at that $5 million per season price tag.

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