PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said all the teams are dealing with mistakes this time of year, it’s just when the Pens have made one recently, it’s cost them. Now they try to get it right against the high-powered Oilers with Tristan Jarry making his second start since his return from injury.
Sullivan spent practice on Wednesday discussing how to recover from mistakes, as they had an optional workout Thursday morning before the 7p faceoff at home Thursday night.
“I think that’s an important part of learning how to win is managing the game at particular moments that have the ability to swing the outcomes,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes it’s just simple plays-cutting your losses and flipping the puck into the neutral zone. It’s responsibilities off a faceoff loss, sensing danger when there is a turnover, line changes. It hasn’t been any one thing, it’s been a number of different things that have cost us at inopportune times. There are things we can control there. We can learn from those experiences.”
“In those critical moments in game, we have to come together,” said Pens defenseman Marcus Pettersson. “Teams are going to have momentum against us, it’s a matter of shortening that period of time. I feel like we’ve been letting it slip to longer periods of time.”
What the Pens head coach has emphasized is not focusing on just the negative.
“There has been a lot of our game that we’ve really liked. We feel like we’ve carried the play for significant periods of time. Even in the third periods, it’s not like we are under siege. This is the conversations we’ve had with the players is its critical moments or breakdowns at the wrong times and they’ve ended up in the back of our net. I would phrase that as game management. That’s the area where I think we can improve and get better. I think that’s an important part of learning how to win is managing the game at particular moments that have the ability to swing the outcomes.”
“I know we are capable. As I said to the guys, we had a film session and I want our guys to understand we are doing a lot of good things too. We generated a significant amount of scoring chances in the last handful of games. We didn’t get the result and that’s important, we have to find ways to do that. We are capable of bringing our team game to another level.”
“We are frustrated,” Pettersson said. “We are competitive guys and we want to win every game, especially when a few of these games we lost recently has been one of our best games in a while. It’s for sure frustrating, but we got to look at the positives and have a short memory this time of year.”
“I think we feel like as a group we are close,” said Pens forward Drew O’Connor. “It hasn’t been good enough. I think we’ve been playing some good hockey and I think the results haven’t necessarily shown that at times. I think we have to stick with it here and get through this stretch we’ve been on. Just continue to play for a full 60 and not let up at all. Focus on those third periods and closing games out would be huge for us.”
League-leading PP
It could be described as the engine that makes Edmonton run, the NHL’s best power play. They are converting at 31.7%, far and away the best in the league. They’ve scored a power play goal in 10 of the last 11 games they’ve had an opportunity. 18 times this year Edmonton has scored multiple power play goals, including three games with three. They scored a pair in their 4-2 win over the Flyers on Tuesday.
“They have a lot of talented people on it, that’s obvious,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think their scheme is unique. I think what makes them unique is the talent they have and how instinctive they are. They are similar to our guys in that sense. They have the ability to make something out of nothing.”
“Our penalty kill is at its best when we put our opponents power play under pressure. It has to be done the right way and has to be collective pressure otherwise you can get exposed. I think you have to look to put them under pressure when we have an opportunity.”
“If we give them time and space, the skill they have on it, they have the ability to pick us apart.”
McDavid to Sid
How many players have been compared to Sidney Crosby over the last decade plus. From Claude Giroux to Nathan McKinnon to now Connor McDavid. It’s not a one-for-one comparison, but Pettersson said there are similarities.
“They are both generational talents,” Pettersson said. “Sid is a guy where a lot of players what to compare themselves to, but not a lot of people can. I think Connor is one of those guys. Generational talent, the competitiveness too. You can see how competitive they are when they play each other. They are fun matchups.”