2. D-ZONE DUTY
Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan has found a line in which he has absolute trust in the defensive zone: rookie Tom Kuhnhackl, Matt Cullen and either Bryan Rust or Eric Fehr.
Cullen, 39, has lined up for 103 faceoffs in the defensive zone, which ranks second among forwards to Alexander Steen of the St. Louis Blues (121).
With 11 faceoffs, Cullen has an offensive-zone start percentage of 9.7. The Nashville Predators are the only team with a line used less frequently in the offensive zone; Paul Gaustad and Miikka Salomaki are at 3.8 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively, entering Game 7 against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Starting in the defensive zone so frequently means the Penguins have been outshot 156-85 with Cullen on the ice. His SAT of minus-71 is the second-worst in the NHL behind Nikolay Kulemin of the New York Islanders (minus-75).
3. LEAVE IT TO LETANG
An elite performance from a team's No. 1 defenseman has been a necessary ingredient to postseason success, and that's exactly what Pittsburgh has received from Kris Letang.
The Penguins have outscored opponents 22-9 with Letang on the ice, the largest margin among NHL defensemen.
Letang leads defensemen with a plus-7 rating, ranks fourth with an average of 29:26 of ice time per game, and is sixth with eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 10 games.