Penguins' top 5v5 shot attempt shares
• Nov. 11 vs. Sabres: 68.4 percent (67 for, 31 against)
• Dec. 20 vs. Rangers: 63.3 (57 for, 33 against)
• Nov. 23 vs. Rangers: 63.2 (55 for, 32 against)
• Oct. 27 vs. Islanders: 62.9 (61 for, 36 against)
• Feb. 2 vs. Flames: 62.8 (49 for, 29 against)
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Updated 2 hours ago
Part of why so many Penguins believed the team “deserved” better than a 3-2 shootout loss Tuesday against Calgary stemmed from the degree to which it controlled territory and limited the Flames' scoring chances.
Evidence supported what they suspected: Every skater finished with an even or positive five-on-five shot attempt differential, which meant the Flames failed to generate more shots than they allowed no matter which Penguins defensive pairing or forward line they faced. Not since Dec. 23 against New Jersey had that happened, according to hockeystats.ca.
With Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin healthy and back as the Penguins top defensive tandem, there's reason to believe more of these performances — and better results — might come in the next few weeks. Continuity exists after injuries wreaked havoc on the back end's six mainstays for about two months.
A season ago, with a full complement of defensemen, the Penguins regularly dictated play from early February through the playoffs. Their shot-attempt differentials served as better and earlier predictors of their eventual success than their goal differentials.
Following the All-Star break, coach Mike Sullivan said he intended to push his players to rediscover what made them so effective down the stretch in 2016. Particularly for the Penguins defensemen, Tuesday's performance served as one of the best responses yet to the challenge of becoming “harder to play against.”
“It's about being in their face, taking time and space away,” defenseman Trevor Daley said. “Probably the chance you get to do it the most is down ice (in the offensive zone), when you have a great gap. And then the other thing is being strong in front of the net, not giving up freebies or giving guys an easy path to the front.
“We're not a heavy defense by any means. We're more of a skating defense. So the more that we preach on things that we're not that great at and don't do naturally, I think the more we're going to get out of it.”
Daley, at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, still found a way to thrive when the tension and tenacity of high-stakes hockey arrived a season ago. So did Olli Maatta, another defenseman known more as a peaceful puck-mover than a brute.
When the Penguins have put Daley and Maatta on the ice this season together or even separately, they've rarely generated more shots and scoring chances than they've allowed. How they define “hard to play against” might determine how well they meet the team's needs in the coming months.
Maatta, like Daley, mentioned the importance of erasing opponents' time and space.
“It (happens) all over the place,” Maatta continued. “It's in the corners in our end, in front of our end, at the blue line at the other end.
“It's a lot about puck battles. You don't always have to hit people to kill them. You can hit them just to take their speed away and stop them.”
At 6-4, 207, Dumoulin blends physicality and finesse. He made that apparent as he ascended to the top pair in the 2016 playoffs.
Like Maatta and Daley, Dumoulin continues to look for ways to restore what worked so well last spring. He considers the net front an area where he hopes to frustrate more opponents going forward.
“A lot of times, if they have position in front of the net, it's just about getting to sticks and making sure the goalie can see and that there's not a second opportunity,” Dumoulin said. “For boxouts, it's important to start them in the corner. Most of the forwards are coming out of the corner of the zone. … If you're trying to battle with a guy when he's already on top of the goalie, that sometimes creates two screens. So it's give and take.”
For the Penguins to prosper the way they did last February and March, they'll need to give less and take more.
Bill West is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at wwest@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BWest_Trib.
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