Penguins Get Defensive About How to Win Games

The Pittsburgh Penguins will set many records if they continue to score six goals every time they report to work this season.

You will also win many games.

Probably almost 82 of them.

None of that will happen, of course, because the Penguins won’t be averaging half a dozen goals per game over the next six months.

Not when it’s almost certain that some of their most productive players will be sidelined through injury or illness.

Not when there will be nights when it seems like a force field is keeping pucks off the opposing net.

Not when no team in NHL history has surpassed 5.58 goals per game over the course of a season. (The Edmonton Oilers set that record in 1983-84.)

On the other hand, it would be foolish to suggest that the Penguins’ 6-2 victories over Arizona and Tampa Bay were just the by-product of a productive offense.

While all the goals they scored drew a lot of attention as they prepared for Monday’s game against Montreal at 7:08pm at the Bell Centre, their balanced defensive work was just as impressive.

The goal, scored by lightning forward Brayden Point when the Penguins were comfortably ahead in the third half on Saturday, is the only one they gave up in the first two games in the 5-on-5 game.

That’s another statistic that won’t hold up for the entire season — considering Calgary conceded a league-low 139 such goals in 2021-22, the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t limit other teams to 41 of them — but it’s one a reasonable reflection on how they played against the Coyotes and Lightning in their own ending.

And there are more than a few other stats to back it up.

The Penguins overtook those teams 98-64 and had an even bigger lead on dangerous scoring chances.

That’s a subjective stat — opinions vary as to what really constitutes a high-danger opportunity — but it’s hard to misinterpret the advantage the Penguins gained with both sides at full strength. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, they made 33 of these while only allowing nine.

Factor Tristan Jarry’s 0.938 percent save rate into the defensive equation, and perhaps the biggest surprise should be that the Penguins won each of the first two games by just four margins.

That they did well at both ends of the ice is no coincidence, or even a pleasant coincidence; When a team is effective in one of these facets of the game, they tend to spark a synergy that enhances the other.

“We did a really good job playing on tiptoe and getting ourselves some longer (offensive) zone time,” said Brian Dumoulin, noting that this leads to opponents throwing the puck in the end of the Penguins instead to carry him there.

This makes it easier for the Penguins to regain possession of the puck without being seriously challenged as the other team focuses on getting fresh players onto the ice rather than establishing a significant precheck, giving the Penguins the opportunity , to bring the game back into play End of attack.

Of course, that means more opportunities to generate shots and high-quality scoring chances.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have 80 regular season games left, so it’s far too early to draw any conclusions about them, positive or not. But if they can maintain their commitment to good defense, it should bode well for their prospects of extending their streak of playoff appearances to 17.

“We learn something new with every game,” Jarry said. “Every game is a different situation, different scenarios that we can learn from. We’re doing a great job of putting it into practice and being able to work on things. We came together.”

So far, the numbers of penguins prove it.