Drive to the Net: Breaking down these new-look D-pairings

Mike Sullivan said earlier this week that the Penguins "simply haven't been satisfied" with the defense pairings they had used to that point.

While the third pairing has had a rotating cast of defensemen, the top two pairings started each of the first 29 games the same way -- Ryan Graves with Kris Letang, and Marcus Pettersson with Erik Karlsson. Going back to training camp, even the informal skates before training camp, those were the pairings.

For Game No. 30 of the season Monday, a 4-3 victory over the Wild at PPG Paints Arena, Pettersson was placed alongside Letang, and Graves alongside Karlsson. And for Game No. 31 Thursday, a 2-1 shootout victory over the Hurricanes at the same place, the same pairings stuck.

How did both pairings look in their debut? Let's take a look.

MARCUS PETTERSSON-KRIS LETANG

Pettersson and Letang were on the ice for a total of 15:57 together at five-on-five. In that time the Penguins controlled more of the shot attempts (17-16), unblocked shot attempts (13-12), high-danger attempts (2-1), expected goals (0.19-.07) and goals (2-1) but were outshot (8-7). That's despite not having just one single faceoff in the offensive zone, but 10 in the defensive zone.

The goal allowed came when both defensemen were tied up in a board battle and a loose puck popped out to Minnesota's Jake Middleton:

The second of the two goals scored was off an odd-man rush that both defensemen played a role in setting up. Letang passed the puck up to Pettersson while taking a hit in his own end, and Pettersson sprung Valtteri Puustinen for the two-on-one with Evgeni Malkin:

Just 15:57 together isn't much at five-on-five, but Pettersson and Letang have seen the occasional shift together this season before Monday, and have totaled 73:47 over the course of the season at five-on-five. Some of that might be when they've gotten stuck out together mid-change, when one player is gassed at the end of a shift and the other is coming on, so the results have to be taken with a little grain of salt. But looking at the season as a whole, the Penguins have six different combinations of defensemen who have played at least 50 minutes together at five-on-five. Here's where Pettersson-Letang rank:

• Shot attempts for vs. against: 46.01%, 5th

• Unblocked shot attempts for vs. against: 45.24%, 6th

• High-danger shot attempts for vs. against: 34.38%, 6th

• Shots on goal for vs. against: 44.71%, 6th

• Expected goals for vs. against: 40.91%, 5th

• Goals for vs. against: 6-5, 2nd

RYAN GRAVES-ERIK KARLSSON

Graves and Karlsson were on the ice together for 15:21 at five-on-five. With that pairing on the ice, the Penguins were on the lesser end of pretty much any metric you look at. They trailed in shot attempts (18-6), unblocked shot attempts (10-5), high-danger shot attempts (2-1), expected goals (0.39-0.36) and goals (1-0). They were on the ice for four offensive zone draws and one in their own end, so they had the easier deployment of the top two pairings.

The goal came when two Wild forwards were left pretty alone in front of the net and Vinnie Lettieri got a deflection:

Graves and Karlsson have seen 57:48 together at five-on-five over the course of the season. Again, a lot of that is the result of overlap during line changes, and those two get stuck out on the ice together for some time. Here's where the Graves-Karlsson pairing ranks among the six combinations of defensemen that have seen at least 50 minutes together this season:

• Shot attempts for vs. against: 42.50%, 6th

• Unblocked shot attempts for vs. against: 47.34%, 4th

• High-danger shot attempts for vs. against: 38.46%, 4th

• Shots on goal for vs. against: 50%, tied 3rd

• Expected goals for vs. against: 42.25%, 4th

• Goals for vs. against: 0-2, 6th

TO SUM UP...

Sullivan used both "OK" and "pretty good" to describe the defense pairings after Monday's win, with the disclaimer that he'd need more time to look things over on film. But given that the pairings were still together in Wednesday's practice, that could be an indication that he liked what he saw on his second watch.

"I didn't think we made as many risky plays with the puck," Sullivan said Monday. "I thought we managed the puck better. We were taking what the game gives us. We weren't leading the rush, we were joining the rush, there's a big difference there."

The difference is the line between playing smart and playing a reckless game. When the defensemen take too many risks offensively -- as two great like offensive defensemen in Letang and Karlsson can do -- then that's when things start to cross the line into being reckless.

That's not to say that the Penguins want to stifle either of those players' offensive games, though.

"We certainly want them to be active and involved," Sullivan said of his defensemen's offense. :It's hard to generate offense in today's game in the absence of it. But we've got to do it, just in a conscientious way. We're trying to wrap more parameters around that so that we have a clearer understanding of what that means and how that applies each and every shift."

Chemistry, Sullivan said, can help with that. One game together was a small sample size between pairings that hadn't spent much time together at all beforehand. It's worth giving the top four defensemen the opportunity to build that chemistry with different partners now to see if the Penguins can find combinations that work better.