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Updated 26 minutes ago
DENVER — Slowly but surely, it looks like the Penguins might be figuring out how to win more consistently on the road.
Coming into Thursday's game in Denver, the Penguins had won three of their last four on the road, including decisive victories in Montreal, Carolina and St. Louis.
The improvement was much needed. Before that stretch of four games, the Penguins were under. 500 — 8-9-3 — away from home this season.
“It's something we've talked about, and it's one of our key points that we need to work on,” defenseman Trevor Daley said. “We're a team that finds ways to get things done. We seem to be doing a good job finding it.”
For decades, teams had a very strict definition of what it meant to play a “good road game.”
Be conservative. Establish a forecheck. Play a strong, physical style in the defensive zone.
Those directives aren't a perfect fit for the way the Penguins play, so they've had to alter the approach a bit. Their objective is to use their speed to make life difficult for opponents in all three zones.
“It's a little different, but you still don't want to get into a back-and-forth match on the road,” Daley said. “You want to keep the game simple. I think at the start we kind of got away from that a little bit. We were playing like we were at PPG Paints every night.”
Malkin update
Evgeni Malkin took part in morning skate Thursday in a white practice jersey, ditching the gray shirt that was meant to signal to his teammates that he wasn't fair game for contact.
Malkin didn't play Thursday night in Denver, sitting out with a lower-body injury for the sixth straight game, but coach Mike Sullivan said there was a possibility he could play Saturday night in Arizona.
“He had a full-contact practice today. That's his first one,” Sullivan said. “He's obviously making significant progress, so that's real encouraging from our standpoint.”
25 coaches
The Penguins are in the midst of their dads' trip, with a couple dozen fathers of players on the road with the team. Sullivan joked that the trip can be a difficult one for the coaching staff.
“We've got close to 25 coaches on this trip,” Sullivan said with a grin. “Hopefully they'll listen to the coaches in the room, and we'll go from there.”
The comment hit home for rookie Jake Guentzel. His father, Mike, is a longtime assistant for the University of Minnesota who also coached at Nebraska-Omaha, Colorado College and with Des Moines of the USHL.
“He lives for hockey. To have him on this trip, it's pretty unique,” Guentzel said. “I think what he likes most about it is seeing behind the scenes and the lifestyle of it. He's having some fun so far.”
Sweet deal
The latest addition to the list of Penguins-branded food items is a candy bar bearing the name and likeness of defenseman Kris Letang.
The chocolate bars, which come in crisped rice/pretzel and peanut butter varieties, are made by Sarris Candies and distributed by PLB Sports, the same Robinson-based company that produced Bryan Rust-branded root beer.
Thin air
There is some debate about whether the altitude in Denver affects the performance of visiting teams. Sullivan said he consulted strength coach Andy O'Brien before Thursday's game just to be on the safe side.
“Andy certainly does a lot of research on these aspects and how altitude affects physiology and these things,” Sullivan said. “He's assuring us that as long as our shift lengths are appropriate and we don't get overextended, we'll be fine.”
Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter at @BombulieTrib.
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