SAN JOSE, California - The Pens are halfway through their 12-day, five-game road swing through the western half of America. The length of the trip provided both challenges and opportunities.
"I think it's a big responsibility I have as the coach," Mike Sullivan said, "to make sure that we think these travel days through thoroughly so we put our team in the best possible position to have success."
Road trip has challenges, opportunities for Pens
The team mapped out an intricate plan for this long trip, which includes stops at Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Arizona and Vegas. Aside from the five games, four of which come on a pair of back-to-back nights (Anaheim and Los Angeles; Arizona and Vegas), the team will hold three practices, one off-ice workout and one complete day off.
Pittsburgh is trying to find a balance between games, practices, rest and recovery.
"We've gone over this in the summertime before the season started countless times," Sullivan said, "on trying to pay attention to every little detail with how we travel and where we stay, when we practice, all of those things."
Such an extensive job was done on the current trip. The team's first game wasn't until Friday at Anaheim. Rather than practicing in Pittsburgh and then flying out the day before the game - as is the usual custom for road travel - the Pens left Wednesday.
Leaving two days prior to the game allowed the players to adjust to the time change. A practice in the new time zone also helped with this adjustment.
But perhaps the best strategy was in how the team mapped out its hotel stays. The proximity of Anaheim and Los Angeles gave Pittsburgh an opportunity to set up a "home base." The Pens stayed in the same hotel for six days - Wednesday to Monday.
The hotel was conveniently located close to the Staples Center and the Kings' practice facility, which the Pens utilized. Being able to stay in one location has many advantages of giving the team a sense of grounding, as opposed to constantly moving from place to place.
The main challenge occurred on Friday's game day in Anaheim, as the hotel was a 40- to 50-minute drive (with light traffic) from the Honda Center, home of the Ducks. The team rented "day rooms" at a nearby hotel so the players could eat and nap in the afternoon prior to the game.
The players boarded a bus at 9:30 a.m. (a half hour earlier than a normal road game) on Friday morning, many bringing day bags or backpacks. They rode to Honda Center and hit the ice at 11:30 a.m. for their morning skate. After, the players headed to their afternoon hotel to eat and nap. Since this hotel was close to the Honda Center, they were able to board the bus for the game at a normal time - keeping their superstitions and game-day routines intact. After the game - the team road back to their "home base" hotel.
Pittsburgh played at Los Angeles on Saturday with the next leg of its trip to San Jose for a game on Tuesday. Instead of leaving after the LA game for San Jose, another normal custom during road trips, the Pens waited until Monday. This allowed them to have a complete and relaxing day off on Sunday, and an extended stay at one hotel.
Pittsburgh flew to San Jose on Monday, landed at the airport and then took a bus straight to the SAP Center for an afternoon practice.
The team will leave immediately following the game against San Jose for Arizona, where it will stay until facing the Coyotes on Friday night. This gives the Pens another chance to remain in one place for three days, as opposed to the constant moving from hotel to hotel, city to city, pack, unpack, repack.
"I think at the end of the day we're trying to control everything we can to try to give our team a competitive advantage," Sullivan said. "There's such a fine line between winning and losing, we're going to leave no stone unturned to pay attention to those details."
Most long road trips can really be a grind. The team eased that grind by eliminating as much of travel and upheaval as possible.
The way the Pens' strategically sketched out this trip - particularly giving the team a chance to stay in once place for half of the trip - shows the painstaking detail it takes to find every possible advantage in such situations.
"We try to think them through. In the summer time we spend a lot of hours on our schedule from start to finish," Sullivan said. "The travel part of it is an important part of it.
"We spend a lot of time with it, myself, our coaching staff, (general manager) Jim Rutherford, we're all involved, we're all apart of it. We try to make the best decisions so that we put our team in the best possible position to have success."
The Pens' road itinerary…
Wednesday - Fly to California
Thursday - Practice in El Segundo
Friday - Game day at Anaheim (day room stay)
Saturday - Game day at Los Angeles
Sunday - Day off
Monday - Fly to San Jose; practice in San Jose
Tuesday - Game day at San Jose; fly to Arizona after the game
Wednesday - Off-ice workout
Thursday - Practice in Glendale
Friday - Game day at Arizona; fly to Vegas after the game
Saturday -Game day at Vegas; fly to Pittsburgh after the game
Sunday - Land in the early morning EST hours in Pittsburgh
