Penguins Practice: Possible Good News on Letang; Grinders Get Honest

MORRISVILLE, NC — Forwad Philip Tomasino is still being evaluated for a lower-body injury, but defenseman Kris Letang might make his much-needed return when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

Letang’s injury absence on the blue line forced coaches to use both P.O Joseph and Owen Pickering on the right side–their offside–against the Florida Panthers Friday in the team’s 3-2 shootout loss.

Read More: Panthers’ Sam Bennett Punished for Drew O’Connor Incident

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Letang was a full participant at practice, but nothing was decided regarding tomorrow.

“(Letang) participated in full capacity today in practice. We’ll see how he recovers, and we’ll make decisions accordingly,” Sullivan said.

Letang’s inclusion at practice allowed Sullivan to move Owen Pickering back to his natural left side. Ryan Shea also swapped in on the third pair with Ryan Graves on the left. However, that might have been the fourth pairing as Marcus Pettersson and P.O Joseph skated as what would be the third pairing.

However, as Sullivan rolled the Penguins’ lines without Tomasino, fans might want to take a deep breath. Anthony Beauvillier replaced Tomasino with Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor on the third line.

Penguins Lines

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Cody Glass

Drew O’Connor-Kevin Hayes-Anthony Beauvillier

Matt Nieto-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Defense

Owen Pickering-Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson

Marcus Pettersson-P.O Joseph

Penguins Grinders

The Penguins’ power play has garnered plenty of attention, but the penalty kill and fourth line have also done their job in a way the team has not seen in a couple of seasons.

Working backward, the Penguins’ fourth line, centered by Blake Lizotte with Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari, has started just 14% of its shifts in the offensive zone. However, the Penguins are indeed the defensive specialists, starting 49 shifts with defensive zone faceoffs and another 23 in the neutral zone (just eight in the offensive zone).

The totals are over 14 games and 91 minutes. The stats are from NaturalStatTrick.com.

Remember the Penguins’ epidemic of allowing goals almost immediately after scoring? The fourth line has solved that issue. The shining example of the line’s effect is that despite the rear-facing ice time in 91 minutes, they’ve allowed only one goal.

One.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now talked with all three linemates Saturday as the Penguins practiced at the municipal rink, which is the Carolina Hurricanes’ practice facility, closer to the Raleigh-Durham airport than downtown.

Imagine the reaction from NFL or MLB players if they were forced to practice at a local baseball or football field with small locker rooms because they were on the road, yet that’s routine in hockey.

The line has quietly become the backbone of the team’s defensive evolution. When once earlier this season Sullivan criticized his team for not taking pride in playing defense, now the fourth line is leading the way.

The trio are leading the Penguins top-10 penalty kill and providing the clampdown at 5v5.

“We kind of know where each other’s going to be at — it’s easier to read off each other just being able to play (together) as much as we have,” Acciari told PHN. “And I think we’re going to get a little better at it.”

For the worry about scoring in today’s game, the line has not only given up just one goal, but they’ve allowed just 10 high-danger scoring chances.

Whether the line has developed chemistry on the penalty kill and it’s spilled over to even strength or began at 5v5 and has carried the penalty kill is probably as irrelevant as their individual statistics.

“I think we just are doing a good job playing as a four-man unit (on the penalty kill) and kind of closing time and space for the power play,” Nieto told us. “I think it all starts on rush coverage, and I think we’ve done a good job of making the entries difficult for the power play. Once we’re in the zone, we kind of just wait for a trigger — and then one guy goes, we’re all going. And it’s it’s hard to be successful against that.”

Through the month of December, the Penguins’ penalty killing was nullifying penalties at a rate over 90% (until giving up two power-play goals on New Year’s Eve vs. Detroit).

“I think everyone is on the same page when, when it’s four vs. five, there’s obviously an open guy,” Lizotte said. “We’ve kind of found a way to limit those high-danger chances. I think that’s been key for us.”

Not every Penguins player takes pride in defense, but with a line like that, they don’t have to. Acciari leads the forward with 50 shot blocks. Surely, a few of those have to hurt, and Acciari was humble, if not self-effacingly honest.

“(Shot blocking) is what I’m probably still in the league, and you want to help the team in any way you can.

“There’s some of (the shots) where especially if who’s shooting, yeah, I’ll try to place myself in a spot where it might hurt a little less. You know, just in the moment, I don’t think about it. You just try to do it for the team to kind of go from there.”

They won’t make the highlights, but the line has changed the team’s fortunes by replacing the inexplicable lapses with simple defense. Who knew?