Historically, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been known for their offense. But this season, they’re relying heavily on an impressive defense.
Throughout their history, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been associated with offensive firepower. That has been the case for the majority of the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era as well.
34 games into the 2019-20 campaign, the Penguins have found a happy medium and evolved into a defensive stalwart. After the 20 game mark, I wrote that the Penguins had not played at this kind of level (in terms of controlling territory) since their 2016 championship run.
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Today, we are going to look at just how little offense Pittsburgh’s opponents are generating. All data is courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and rated for every 60 minutes of even-strength ice time.
- Shot Attempts Against: 50.24 (1st)
- Shots Against: 28.53 (4th)
- Goals Against: 2.43 (7th)
- Expected Goals Against: 2.02 (1st)
- Scoring Chances Against: 22.91 (2nd)
Now, there are many driving factors behind this defensive transformation. The fleet-footed Olli Maatta and Erik Gudbranson are no longer on this roster. Teddy Blueger has been an upgrade relative to the 42-year-old Matt Cullen. Phil Kessel’s questionable desire to playing defense is no longer a factor here as well.
On the current blueline, Kris Letang has 24 points in 26 games. He continues to perform at an elite level. In the 15 games that he and Brian Dumoulin have played together, Pittsburgh has generated 60% (!!) of the even-strength shot attempts and scoring chances with this pair on ice.
As a rookie, John Marino is helping the team suppress chances and shots against at an elite rate. Nothing seems to phase Marino, he is as cool as a cucumber. His performance thus far has been the story of the season for me. Marino has played a key role in Jack Johnson becoming a serviceable defender to this point of the season.
With the exception of Juuso Riikola, Marcus Pettersson has helped drive offense and puck possession regardless of who his partner is. Justin Schultz has been a slight disappointment but when the Penguins are healthy, a second defense pair of Pettersson and Schultz is sufficient.
Pittsburgh’s defense core ranks as the third-best in the league according to CJ Turtoro’s goals above replacement model. Only Minnesota and Nashville have had better bluelines thus far. Despite missing Sidney Crosby for the past month, their forwards rank fifth. Jared McCann and Bryan Rust have played a crucial role in jumping up and down in the lineup.
Pittsburgh was struggling to win games in October and November. They were consistently outplaying opponents but got a stretch of poor performances from Matt Murray. The strong process and inconsistent results on the team level were not aligning. It was costing them points in the standings.
Things have changed over the last couple of weeks. Tristan Jarry has taken over the cage and played a pivotal role in leading the Penguins to victories during this winter hurricane of injuries. As you will see below, the biggest thing that really changed was the performance of Jarry compared to Murray.
The Penguins have played a consistent and responsible brand of hockey regardless of who is between the pipes. Pittsburgh has held their opponents to the perimeter and made the workloads for Murray and Jarry easy relative to the rest of the league. Considering all of the injuries this team has endured, that is very encouraging.
Reinforcements will be on the way soon. Sidney Crosby, Patric Hornqvist, and Nick Bjugstad are all expected to return to the lineup around the new year. Brian Dumoulin remains sidelined until at least February with an ankle injury.
This is a reminder that the Penguins have played one game with their fully constructed roster this entire season: November 2, 2019, vs Edmonton. Pittsburgh generated 74% of even-strength shots, 65% of the scoring chances, and had a 71% expected goals share in a 2-1 overtime loss. That was a dominant performance despite the outcome.
If and when this roster gets fully healthy, Pittsburgh will be a force to be reckoned with. Thanks for reading!