Penguins Room & Analysis: Crosby and the Rookies; One Shift Showed Everything

DALLAS — There’s just a little something plucky and fun about these Pittsburgh Penguins.

Perhaps buoyed by the late-season infusion of youthful energy or hope for the future, the team is doing the unthinkable and stacking wins in the final games of the season. They ended the Dallas Stars’ seven-game winning streak Saturday with a 5-3 win at American Airlines Center.

Last week, the Penguins appeared on the verge of collapse. As the team began to accept its fate at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres skated them out of the barn on subsequent games. Blowout losses and despondency followed.

A day after the gag-inducing loss to Buffalo, general manager Kyle Dubas made the long-awaited call. Dubas recalled Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen, and things haven’t been the same since.

These Penguins are no longer dour and miserable. The weight of the world no longer ensnares the locker room like an unwieldy pressure compounded by bewildering frustration.

Now, the Penguins are kind of fun.

The veterans are taking care of the kids, and the kids are lifting the veterans. Smiles are everywhere.

So far, the Penguins have three of a possible four points on the three-game road trip. Thursday, they nearly ended the St. Louis Blues’ 10-game winning streak before falling in overtime. Saturday, the Penguins surged in the third period and didn’t let up against Dallas.

Crosby netted a hat trick and a four-point game. Bryan Rust scored his 200th career goal, and McGroarty earned his third career point. The line of McGroarty-Crosby-Rust was a plus-3 and shined.

“We did some good things in St. Louis, too (but) we hurt ourselves with a couple of mistakes. I thought we built off of that game and played pretty tight. We were on top of them,” Crosby said. “(They are) a tough team. They’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of firepower. Their D is really good. They limited a lot of chances. And their gaps are good. And we’re able to play their zone.”

Apparently, the Penguins never got the memo that they’re not supposed to be winning games, not when a better draft pick is at stake. Certainly, no matter to the players who are playing a better brand of hockey than they played for months. As coach Mike Sullivan has put a rookie on each of his top two lines, those young players have not only played well but markedly changed the face of the lineup, too.

Crosby has led the brigade, extending his scoring streak to 12 games. As long-time rival Alex Ovechkin garners national attention in his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s goals record, Crosby is reminding everyone that he’s possibly still the best in the world. We’re witnessing vintage Crosby, as he’s doing it with something akin to a bubbly smile, at least in Crosby terms, anyway.

“I just think (Crosby is) bringing a certain effort every night. You know, he’s the heartbeat of this group. He drives the pulse. And when he’s playing on top of his game the way he is, he gives us a chance to win,” said coach Mike Sullivan. “He’s competing on both sides of the puck. His line has been really good.

“He’s been great with the kids. You know he’s done a great job with Rutger on his line and with Ville on the power play.”

The captain, who is 37 years old on paper but playing like 27, is dominating games like it’s 2016. He’s doing it with Rust and McGroarty. Rust is filling the net with his typical gritty play, but McGroarty is keeping pace. It’s not rookie adrenaline but game smarts.

“He’s been great. ‘Kiddo’ works extremely hard. He tends to be in all the right places. And I think that just shows how well he can think the game. Obviously, he made some really nice plays out there tonight.”

See “The Shifts” below.

Penguins Analysis

However, not all is well with the team that peppered the somewhat flat Dallas squad with 76 shot attempts and 40 on goal.

The Penguins have continued to play with effort and energy even as they face not only playoff elimination but the irrelevance of that conversation. Yet, in each game, there are those awkward moments, usually involving mistakes by Penguins defensemen.

The Penguins’ blue line was again problematic Saturday. Kris Letang took a pair of minor penalties while getting beaten for breakaways, including on the first shift of the game. Erik Karlsson ceded a breakaway and subsequent breakaway goal to Evgenii Dadonov when he covered neither Dadonov behind him nor Oskar Back in front of him.

Matt Grzelcyk was also on the wrong side of a couple of decisions that yielded Dallas free runs at goalie Tristan Jarry.

Most of the Penguins’ forwards are playing exceptionally well. The defensemen are decidedly not.

While he didn’t need to make many saves, Jarry had to make too many high-quality saves. Like St. Louis Thursday, Dallas had a few breakaways and odd-man rushes, despite the Penguins’ lopsided 40-23 shot edge. Once again, the Penguins did enough good things.

“I think we just played in their face. I don’t think we were intimidated by them or their lineup. They are a really good team with a lot of really, really good players, and I think all night we played up in their face,” said Rust. “So we were skating, we were moving, we were playing really hard, and I think when we do that, we can be a really, really good team ourselves.”

The Shifts, McGroarty & Koivunen

McGroarty had several high points Saturday, but one play stood out, even beyond a slick assist to Crosby in the third period, in which he quickly tapped a no-look pass to the Penguins captain in front of the net.

The Penguins again suffered an offensive zone turnover in the third period, which led to a Dallas three-on-two. The initial shot was wide of the net but caromed off the back wall with force into the slot. It would have been an easy goal for Miko Rantanen—he’s pretty good, and he had an empty net waiting for him.

However, McGoarty backchecked and tied up Rantanen beautifully, not allowing Rantanen to play the puck. McGroarty nullified what was a sure goal that could have broken the game in the other direction.

Not yet mentioned, Ville Koivunen also showed very well. In fact, he played quite well at both even strength and on the power play.

Koivunen played his first game beside Evgeni Malkin, who returned from injury for his first game since March 23. THE shift for Koivunen was a bit of a game-changer, too.

At the 8:00 mark, Koivunen nearly scored his first NHL goal as he steered the puck around Dallas goalie Casey DeSmith, but he couldn’t turn the puck toward the net, and it glided wide. Undeterred, he smartly popped into free space for a hard one-timer 36 seconds later. The shot off his stick and the save echoed through the arena.

But he wasn’t done. His dogged puck pressure on the wall drew a tripping penalty and a Penguins power play.

But wait, there’s more!

On the following power play (PP1 in place of Kevin Hayes), Koivunen battled at the net until it was time not to be there. In a flash, he backed to the slot for another sharp one-timer that forced DeSmith to make a good toe save. Barely.

Crosby is enjoying the situation. The infusion of youth is rejuvenating the locker room, especially Crosby. He’s leading an enthusiastic bunch, and the results show.