PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The goals for the Pens are high, have been for two decades. If they are going to contend this season, the playoffs start now. They aren’t shying away from that.
“If we are going to ultimately make the playoffs and give ourselves an opportunity to contend for a Stanley Cup then we have to bring a certain level of urgency to our game now,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “We can’t let any opportunity slip by.”
That includes what they are facing this month. There is a road here to make a run, seventh-place Minnesota and third-place Winnipeg Friday and Saturday. Then four straight home games before a Western road trip. They will enter into March where they get eight home games.
Pens are currently in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division but have played at least two fewer games than everyone in front of them, including four less than the Flyers who sit in third.
“We have games in hand, but the only reason it matters is if you win them,” said forward Jake Guentzel.
“We have some games in hand,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to try to take advantage of them. Those are great opportunities. The only way they are opportunities is if we have success. We have to win games so we can grab points and gain numbers in the standings. I think it’s important we understand the big picture.”
Tuesday was a good start, while not the cleanest game, it showed they can have success in a low-event, few turnover match-up finishing a 3-0 win over the Jets.
“It’s big to get a little bit of confidence,” said forward Bryan Rust. “That was something we acknowledge and know we needed. It was something that was big for us. We know that we have games in hand and a lot of teams in front of us. We got to win as many games as we can.”
“It’s just a question of finding some chemistry, maybe going back to playing a little more simple, shooting pucks,” said Pens alternate captain Kris Letang. “We shared the wealth and we got rewarded.”
“The details of our game, the attention to detail, the way we played with energy the beginning of every period, trying to have a good start. It’s something we should do moving forward.”
“We got to defend hard, that’s when we are at our best,” Guentzel said. “That’s how we are going to win. When we don’t have mistakes and give them any offense.”
“There are a lot of things we can build on, our power play was a huge difference in the game,” Sullivan said. “We have a lot of hockey down the stretch. I think our team is at its best when it is playing a lot of hockey because I think we get in a little bit of a routine.”
They must prove that they can keep focus. Sullivan said they discuss it often, they must stay in the moment and focus on the task or opponent at hand, but also understand they’ve dug themselves a hole. He saw that for the most part of Tuesday, but can they continue?
“I think an important aspect to winning in this league is number one, you can’t beat yourself,” Sullivan said. “Number two, you have to be hard to play against. When I think about this group that we have, being hard to play against is just being stingy. Having numbers back and being positionally sound, having good sticks and closing on people and taking time and space away. Using our quickness and our skillsets to win pucks. I think this group is very capable of that. I think when we are, the results speak for themselves.”
“We still have the ability to have a quick strike offense. We can create offense different ways. At the end of the day, if we are going to get to where we want to go, we have to keep the puck out of our net. We’ve got to be hard to play against. We can’t beat ourselves.”
Sitting in seventh place in an eight-team division much of the season, the Pens are moving up. There is an opportunity to continue that move. They’ve shown flashes of it. How often can they replicate it?