PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pens held an optional practice on Monday coming off the loss to Los Angeles on Sunday. Some may think coaches need to punish a team for a third straight loss. Others might say they need a full day off.
Mike Sullivan is trying to use technology, like 'heart rate variability' which measures fatigue, plus his instinct and intuition after decades around the game to manage his group. Sullivan will also do something that puts it on the players themselves, he asks what they think.
Each of them given the option to either practice Monday, or Tuesday morning before playing Washington. He said no one knows their bodies like the individual players, so if it's better for them to skate the day before. Do that. If better to get a full day off, do that.
There aren't many opportunities in the schedule where Sullivan can give his team the option, but by doing so if gives the player ownership over his situation and it gives Sullivan accountability for the results.
"We recognize as a coaching staff the workload the team is going through," Sullivan said. "Tuesday will be the eighth game in 13 days, we are trying to manage that the best we can."
Sullivan and alternate captain Kris Letang each said there aren't excuses, all teams will go through it. Reality is it has been a ton of hockey the last two weeks.
Letang does notice a little fatigue with his group and mistakes are compounding it.
"I think we do, a little bit, but it's the same for everybody," Letang said of tired play. "Maybe lately we have been chasing the game a little bit more. You have to exert yourself (more) to either come back in the game or when you go back-and-forth. You are pushing through fatigue."
"We are playing a lot of West Coast teams, bigger teams. Maybe we haven't managed the game the right way, which put us in trouble. We've had to put more energy on the ice lately."
Again, Letang said they just have to grind through it. Tough stretches are part of the game, but in the fine line of winning and losing just the smallest mistakes turn into costly ones
"We gave odd man rushes, we gave up (some) early in the year, but not the same amount," Letang said of recent play. "It makes it tough for a team like us that likes to play in the offensive zone and try to grind teams down when you are going back-and-forth. You don't have the energy to forecheck."
"The other line going on the ice doesn't have a good angle on the puck, so they have to retreat and are getting attacked. We should simplify and give less odd-man rushes."
Simplifying and attention to details is the message Sullivan always pushes, but more-so on Monday.
"We emphasize it through our discussion, through examples," Sullivan said. "That was part of the video we had this morning with our group. Identifying areas of our game where we can get better and improve. Some of those areas we've been very good at and lately we've let it slip."
"We've tried to heighten the awareness, raise the attention to detail and use the film as a learning opportunity for us. That way we can hit the reset button a little bit with our attention to detail and our commitment to the discipline of details shift-in and shift-out. I think when we do that it gives our team the best chance to be successful."
All of that will help, but maybe what this team can really use is some time off. That is coming, but not before an important matchup with the Capitals Tuesday night.
Who's Option
Most players skated on Monday in Cranberry instead of a morning skate on Tuesday. All on the ice except for Danton Heinen (day-to-day with upper body injury), Marcus Pettersson, Mike Matheson, Brian Dumoulin (took shot off his foot Sunday), Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter.
