WASHINGTON -- "Once again, it’s hard evidence that, when we play the game a certain way, this group of players can compete against anyone."
Those were the words of Mike Sullivan, beaming at a podium situated on the Washington Wizards' practice court, about 15 minutes after his Penguins topped the Capitals, 2-0, at Verizon Center to avert what would've been a painful series collapse and to reach the halfway point on their climb to a repeat.
"It definitely was an accomplishment," said Brian Dumoulin, who grinded through a team-high 23:04 of ice time to celebrate the Penguins' fifth conference final berth in 10 seasons.
Speaking of basketball, it's often said an NBA game doesn't truly start until the fourth quarter. That's far from the case in hockey, where goals are valuable currency and inflection points can be found from the first minute to the 60th.
In the case of Wednesday's titanic Game 7, the course of the night turned definitively in the Penguins' direction when Bryan Rust deposited a patient feed from Jake Guentzel 8:49 into the second period for the only goal a stout Marc-André Fleury would need:
Fitting that this one held up as the game-winner, because it illustrated a few of the adjustments the Penguins made following an abhorrent Game 6 performance at PPG Paints Arena on Monday.
Game 7 was different for the Penguins, and that was evident rather quickly. After getting caved in by the Capitals for most of the first six games, Sullivan and his staff thought it prudent to double down on the tenets of what they define as Penguins hockey. In short: Apply pressure as a five-man unit and make smart decisions with the puck.
"I thought we pressured them hard," Dumoulin said. "As a team, we can't sit back. That's not our game. ... I think we're a team that learns from our mistakes."
Apparently, the sting of back-to-back losses prepared the Penguins well for the start of Game 7. Then, getting the first goal provided the encouragement to keep them on the straight and narrow.
As you can see in the GIF above, Sidney Crosby and Rust close in on Matt Niskanen as he skates behind the net and heads up the side wall. Rust's presence, in particular, forces Niskanen to move the puck. His pass jumps past Alex Ovechkin, who was trying to tip the puck to Jay Beagle or Daniel Winnik out in the neutral zone. Ian Cole had other ideas, disrupting the play and one-touching it directly to the best player on the planet:
"He did a really good job of just holding the line," Crosby said of Cole's read. "That's a really good example of (being) smart. We were a little more aggressive. He holds the puck in, gets a turnover, and Jake makes a great play to Rusty there, and he buries. That was kind of more of the way we need to play."
I asked Cole to describe his thought process on holding his ground instead of retreating:
"We want to have tight gaps and kill plays as quickly as we can," Cole said. "They've been trying to redirect pucks through the gut in recent games, so (I) was able to spy that a little bit."
The goal itself was the result of Crosby and Guentzel putting their playmaking abilities on display, with new linemate Rust beating Ovechkin to the slot to tidily finish his eighth goal in 12 career elimination NHL playoff games:
Didn't look like a line just put together for Game 7, did it? Sullivan shuffled his forward lines, electing to load up more on his top two than in Game 6.
Rust was the beneficiary of that particular bit of offensive magic, although he had to remind himself to keep his stick down when he saw Crosby drive the net, forcing Niskanen to vacate the low slot.
"At first, I thought Sid and Guentz were going to make a really nice tic-tac-toe play, but Guentz held onto it," Rust said.
Hockey's a fluid game, so let's not forget the hit Dumoulin laid on Ovechkin just 10 seconds prior to the goal, way back in the Penguins' zone:
"He's hit me before, so it was good to be on that side of it," Dumoulin said of the collision, which concluded with the puck in Crosby's clutches.
Away they went from there. And the rejiggered top line wasn't the only personnel move that worked out for the Penguins' coaching staff.
Scott Wilson and Carter Rowney were inserted to man Matt Cullen's wings on the fourth line, and they added some fight and feistiness right from their first shift. Rowney didn't connect on this backhand yank pass from Wilson, but it helped the Penguins dig their skates in when the Capitals threatened to strike first:
With the revamped fourth line playing a prominent role, the Penguins had better luck retrieving pucks on the forecheck and playing below the Washington goal line than they had in the previous six games. It was mostly a matter of eliminating the mindless dump-ins that have plagued their game throughout the playoffs.
"Playing a little bit smarter with the puck, that's been our key," Rust said. "We weren't placing pucks very well. We were doing a lot of rims to the goalie and it wasn't helping our forecheck. That's big, keeping pucks away from the goalie and in areas where we could have two, three guys on them."
So, the Penguins had the first goal and they had re-established their forecheck game, but they still had many miles to navigate before the finish line.
How did they do it? Firstly, working with the lead encouraged them to stick with the game plan.
"It gave us a lot of confidence, especially since we had lost those last two and we were playing in their building," Rust said. "Just to get to playing our game a lot better than we had been. We were able to weather the storm and get to our game."
Secondly, the Penguins were a touch more patient on their breakouts, finding avenues through the middle more often than before. Credit the defensemen primarily for this, but the forwards made the adjustment as well.
According to Patric Hörnqvist, who scored a critical insurance goal early in the third, the very act of executing well for several minutes made it easier to continue all the way through:
"We played more like a group of five out there tonight," Hörnqvist said. "Our 'D' kept great gaps and we kept the pressure on them. The last three, four games, it felt like we were one and done."
Not the case Wednesday night, as evidenced by this shift from the Crosby line even in the latter stages of the third, and many more like it:
Might not seem like much -- especially compared to the several fruitless odd-man rushes they generated late -- but compare this third period to the one from Game 4 in Pittsburgh, when the Penguins relied way too much on their defensive-zone play for anyone's liking.
On this night, they didn't protect the lead. They built on it, or at least tried to do so. Even as Braden Holtby stoned them time and again on incredible third-period chances, the visitors were still pushing the accelerator to the floorboard.
Those were the words of Mike Sullivan, beaming at a podium situated on the Washington Wizards' practice court, about 15 minutes after his Penguins topped the Capitals, 2-0, at Verizon Center to avert what would've been a painful series collapse and to reach the halfway point on their climb to a repeat.
"It definitely was an accomplishment," said Brian Dumoulin, who grinded through a team-high 23:04 of ice time to celebrate the Penguins' fifth conference final berth in 10 seasons.
Speaking of basketball, it's often said an NBA game doesn't truly start until the fourth quarter. That's far from the case in hockey, where goals are valuable currency and inflection points can be found from the first minute to the 60th.
In the case of Wednesday's titanic Game 7, the course of the night turned definitively in the Penguins' direction when Bryan Rust deposited a patient feed from Jake Guentzel 8:49 into the second period for the only goal a stout Marc-André Fleury would need:
Fitting that this one held up as the game-winner, because it illustrated a few of the adjustments the Penguins made following an abhorrent Game 6 performance at PPG Paints Arena on Monday.
Game 7 was different for the Penguins, and that was evident rather quickly. After getting caved in by the Capitals for most of the first six games, Sullivan and his staff thought it prudent to double down on the tenets of what they define as Penguins hockey. In short: Apply pressure as a five-man unit and make smart decisions with the puck.
"I thought we pressured them hard," Dumoulin said. "As a team, we can't sit back. That's not our game. ... I think we're a team that learns from our mistakes."
Apparently, the sting of back-to-back losses prepared the Penguins well for the start of Game 7. Then, getting the first goal provided the encouragement to keep them on the straight and narrow.
As you can see in the GIF above, Sidney Crosby and Rust close in on Matt Niskanen as he skates behind the net and heads up the side wall. Rust's presence, in particular, forces Niskanen to move the puck. His pass jumps past Alex Ovechkin, who was trying to tip the puck to Jay Beagle or Daniel Winnik out in the neutral zone. Ian Cole had other ideas, disrupting the play and one-touching it directly to the best player on the planet:
"He did a really good job of just holding the line," Crosby said of Cole's read. "That's a really good example of (being) smart. We were a little more aggressive. He holds the puck in, gets a turnover, and Jake makes a great play to Rusty there, and he buries. That was kind of more of the way we need to play."
I asked Cole to describe his thought process on holding his ground instead of retreating:
"We want to have tight gaps and kill plays as quickly as we can," Cole said. "They've been trying to redirect pucks through the gut in recent games, so (I) was able to spy that a little bit."
The goal itself was the result of Crosby and Guentzel putting their playmaking abilities on display, with new linemate Rust beating Ovechkin to the slot to tidily finish his eighth goal in 12 career elimination NHL playoff games:
Didn't look like a line just put together for Game 7, did it? Sullivan shuffled his forward lines, electing to load up more on his top two than in Game 6.
Rust was the beneficiary of that particular bit of offensive magic, although he had to remind himself to keep his stick down when he saw Crosby drive the net, forcing Niskanen to vacate the low slot.
"At first, I thought Sid and Guentz were going to make a really nice tic-tac-toe play, but Guentz held onto it," Rust said.
Hockey's a fluid game, so let's not forget the hit Dumoulin laid on Ovechkin just 10 seconds prior to the goal, way back in the Penguins' zone:
"He's hit me before, so it was good to be on that side of it," Dumoulin said of the collision, which concluded with the puck in Crosby's clutches.
Away they went from there. And the rejiggered top line wasn't the only personnel move that worked out for the Penguins' coaching staff.
Scott Wilson and Carter Rowney were inserted to man Matt Cullen's wings on the fourth line, and they added some fight and feistiness right from their first shift. Rowney didn't connect on this backhand yank pass from Wilson, but it helped the Penguins dig their skates in when the Capitals threatened to strike first:
With the revamped fourth line playing a prominent role, the Penguins had better luck retrieving pucks on the forecheck and playing below the Washington goal line than they had in the previous six games. It was mostly a matter of eliminating the mindless dump-ins that have plagued their game throughout the playoffs.
"Playing a little bit smarter with the puck, that's been our key," Rust said. "We weren't placing pucks very well. We were doing a lot of rims to the goalie and it wasn't helping our forecheck. That's big, keeping pucks away from the goalie and in areas where we could have two, three guys on them."
So, the Penguins had the first goal and they had re-established their forecheck game, but they still had many miles to navigate before the finish line.
How did they do it? Firstly, working with the lead encouraged them to stick with the game plan.
"It gave us a lot of confidence, especially since we had lost those last two and we were playing in their building," Rust said. "Just to get to playing our game a lot better than we had been. We were able to weather the storm and get to our game."
Secondly, the Penguins were a touch more patient on their breakouts, finding avenues through the middle more often than before. Credit the defensemen primarily for this, but the forwards made the adjustment as well.
According to Patric Hörnqvist, who scored a critical insurance goal early in the third, the very act of executing well for several minutes made it easier to continue all the way through:
"We played more like a group of five out there tonight," Hörnqvist said. "Our 'D' kept great gaps and we kept the pressure on them. The last three, four games, it felt like we were one and done."
Not the case Wednesday night, as evidenced by this shift from the Crosby line even in the latter stages of the third, and many more like it:
Might not seem like much -- especially compared to the several fruitless odd-man rushes they generated late -- but compare this third period to the one from Game 4 in Pittsburgh, when the Penguins relied way too much on their defensive-zone play for anyone's liking.
On this night, they didn't protect the lead. They built on it, or at least tried to do so. Even as Braden Holtby stoned them time and again on incredible third-period chances, the visitors were still pushing the accelerator to the floorboard.
"To not sit back and defend the lead," Sullivan said, describing his message to the team during the second intermission. "To play on our toes and get the next goal."
Consider this: With the Capitals trailing and their Presidents' Trophy season on the line, the Penguins out-attempted the boys in red, 14-11, at even strength in the third period. That's difficult to do, and it was puck-possession form they hadn't showed in their first 10 playoff games.
"That period was the best we played all series," Dumoulin said. "I'm glad we saved it for last. We were getting some chances and some odd-man rushes. We knew they're an aggressive team, so if we weathered it, chipped pucks out and chipped pucks behind them, we could get chances."
Dumoulin also credited the Penguins' forwards for running interference on Washington forecheckers while tracking back for pucks in their own zone, taking some of the steam out of the Capitals' comeback effort. We can debate whether it should be permitted by the officials, but "chipping bodies" is one of several bullet points Sullivan emphasizes constantly, in order to achieve his on-ice vision for this group.
As the coach often puts it, the Penguins were once again "tough to play against" Wednesday night, perhaps truly for the first time since Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final last June in San Jose. The result was the same, with the stakes only slightly lower.
But why did the switch flip at the most opportune time?
“I just think it’s the leadership,” Sullivan answered. “You could hear them on the bench, supporting one another, talking about making sure we stay aggressive and stay on our toes and play in their face. That’s the identity of this group. That’s when this team is at its best. That’s the type of mindset we have. It’s a collective effort of five guys on the ice. And so, I thought we did that as well as we have in a long time in this game. This was hands down the best game that we’ve played in the playoffs to this point."
Of course, the trick now is to maintain these winning details when the Eastern Conference final opens Saturday in Pittsburgh. The Senators might not be the caliber of opponent these Capitals were, but the Penguins' formula should remain the same.
Although it's probably time to start taking it easier on their goalie, they've established another high-stakes memory to draw from in the future.
"There's a certain level of trust and belief, but you still have to go out there and do it," Crosby said. "From Flower, to the 'D,' to the forecheck, we did everything we needed to do tonight."
Comments