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Penguins Winning But Is This Sustainable?
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- Penguins Winning But Is This Sustainable?
Penguins Winning But Is This Sustainable?
SUNRISE, Fla. —The Pittsburgh Penguins weathered 81 shot attempts against Thursday night, but claimed a resilient 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.
The win was their fourth in a row and followed a 5-1 beatdown of the Vancouver Canucks , which followed winning the final two games on the three-game West Coast swing.
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"I'm thrilled for the locker room. Winning is not easy in this league, and they're the ones that are going out there, they're doing it, they're doing it in different ways," said Muse. "Just even the second and third efforts in a game like this, they need to be there. I thought they were consistent throughout. Even when there were breakdowns, I don't think it was for a lack of effort. They're earning the wins, and it's great to see, and we've done it in some different ways."
Indeed, the different ways are also a new wrinkle in this start to the Penguins' season, which is only 10% done.
After all, last season the team imploded out of the gate with a 4-7-1 record in October. The season before, they were 3-6-0. In 2022-23, they were 4-4-1 and ended October on a four-game losing streak. In 2021-22, the team was 3-3-2 in October.
To posit that the Penguins have been terrible starters for the last handful of years would be an understatement akin to proclaiming that Florida has nice weather.
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So, their current 6-2-0 start is a small victory unto itself, much like surviving Florida's relentless attack.
It is common knowledge and discussion that the team has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons, and general manager Kyle Dubas must decide what will comprise a successful season. Will it be the turnover of veterans for more pieces of the next generation, or will the early success of the team illuminate a path toward the playoffs, which is too attractive to ignore?
Before the latter can be answered, among the discussions in Dubas's circle is undoubtedly an ongoing assessment of the team and which of the successful facets of the team game can be sustained.
And which cannot.
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For example, winger Justin Brazeau had a high-danger chance in the second period, but did not score. With five goals in the first seven games, did anyone actually believe he was going to score 50 goals?
*In four games, Tristan Jarry has a .921 save percentage. Arturs Silovs is rocking a healthy .919 stopper rate. Both numbers are significantly above recent season trends.
* Connor Dewar has never scored more than 10 goals in a season, but already has three goals–clutch goals–this season.
*The power play is ranked first in the league and converting at 33.3%.
*And Evgeni Malkin has 12 points (2-10-12) in eight games. Can a 39-year-old Malkin score 120 points this season?
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It is not a matter of if, but when the Penguins' offense will regress. While rookie Ben Kindel is nothing short of a revelation in the middle of the third line, the team has not provided any offense around him to offset the coming decline at the top, as well as the anemic production at 5v5 beside him.
The potential offsets to the obvious falls seem unlikely.
Sustainable
With three points (1-2-3) in eight games, third-liner Tommy Novak is showing sustainable production in line with career norms, but that is not a selling point. Novak had no shot attempts in the hard-fought win over Florida. Fellow third-liner Filip Hallander has played competently but has been quiet offensively.
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The upside of sustainable success would exclusively reside upon the black-and-gold blue line. Ryan Shea will shatter his previous career highs, but that is because the 28-year-old is finally…FINALLY… getting a sweater with regularity.
Shea is playing with the same quality as he has over the past two seasons. Shea has four assists in eight games and 25 points at even strength is more than a reasonable expectation.
Parker Wotherspoon is on the same track as Shea, providing a steady backdrop to Erik Karlsson . Wotherspoon has three assists in eight games.
And Karlsson is playing significantly better hockey than he has in the previous two seasons. His five assists in eight games are greatly enhanced by a lack of delivering a greater amount of offense to opponents.
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In other words, Karlsson is also playing defene.
The uptick in defending, even as mistakes and whiffs remain present, also has the real potential to greatly minimize the likely settling of goaltending numbers.
Hey, a .910 save percentage in this current NHL is a very solid number and that is well within the long-term grasp of both Jarry and Silovs.
Should the defense further solidify, each goal nullified is equal to a goal scored.
While it seems spectacularly silly to anticipate Malkin banking 120 points and Brazeau to net 50, it is well within the realm of expectation and reason to believe the Penguins can maintain the level of defense.
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As for season sustainability, the very pertinent question that is emerging is: Just how bad is the rest of the Eastern Conference?! It's been really, really bad.
Everything is relative.
The post Penguins Winning But Is This Sustainable? appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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