Musings: Special Teams the Difference in Anaheim

Special teams was the story in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 loss to Anaheim on Sunday.

The Ducks scored essentially three of their goals on the power play to take a 4-0 lead, while the Penguins didn’t capitalize on timely opportunities, including a lengthy 5-on-3.

But Pittsburgh kept battling and chipping away, getting within striking distance during a dominant third period. They found goals from Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell on 6-on-4 advantages, with Arturs Silovs on the bench for the extra attacker. It was just a bit too little, too late.

“I mean, we have chances to score, we play hard, and I think it's a big moment to play 5-on-3, almost a minute and a half,” Evgeni Malkin said. “If we score, maybe game changes. It’s tough loss, and just play better. Power play and PK, it’s very important.”

Despite playing the night before in Los Angeles, the Penguins had their legs early. They put together some good shifts and had offensive-zone time.

But when Anaheim’s No. 2-ranked power play went over the boards 6:27 in, it went to work, and captain Mikael Granlund found a goal immediately after a penalty to Kaedan Korczak expired. Less than a minute later, Sidney Crosby went to the box, and this time, the Penguins successfully kept the red-hot Ducks from converting. That group came into this game having scored in seven straight, with multiple goals in four straight.

When the Penguins got a man-advantage of their own, Andrei Kuzmenko had a couple of good looks. He slotted in for Ville Koivunen, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Overall, the Penguins created some high-quality chances in that opening frame, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

In the second period, Leo Carlsson took a penalty just 20 seconds in. And not long after, Alex Killorn high-sticked Tommy Novak and drew blood, giving the Penguins 1:38 of 5-on-3 time within a four-minute power play. Erik Karlsson had a glorious chance on an open net, but Jackson LaCombe’s skate blocked his shot. Other than that, the Penguins didn’t generate much.

It was déjà vu from a similar opportunity against Vegas last week, when the Penguins had 1:22 of 5-on-3 time late in regulation with the score tied 2-2, but failed to convert in an eventual 3-2 loss.

“It’s one of those situations you’re not in a lot, but we got to be ready for it when it does come,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “There is a plan in place. We got to continue to look at it, though, and we’ll go back and revisit it and see if we want to make any tweaks in terms of what we’re looking at there.”

Instead, the Ducks built momentum with a strong penalty kill, and then capitalized when they went back to man-advantage soon after. Cutter Gauthier has been the engine driving their success, as he leads the NHL in power-play goals, and he added to his total with a tally there. He then scored at even strength to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead just under the midway point of the second.

Just over five minutes into the third, the Ducks improved to 2-for-4 on the power play with Blake Lizotte, one of Pittsburgh’s best penalty killers, in the box.

“Everyone can move the puck there. They’re a fast team, so everyone's a threat down there,” Silovs said. “I think that's the main issue. Anyone can shoot, anything can do anything.”

But the Penguins kept plugging away, and Letang got his first of the season. It came – yep, you guessed it – on special teams. With Pittsburgh on another power play, the coaching staff pulled Silovs to have a 6-on-4 advantage, and Letang blasted a shot home.

After the Penguins drew another penalty, the coaching staff went back to what worked, once again sending their goaltender to the bench – and once again scoring a goal. Silovs spent a decent amount of time watching from there instead of in his net, as the Penguins were buzzing and creating in the offensive zone.

“We fight all 60 minutes. We have hard push in last five minutes, and we try to score,” Malkin said. “And again, we should play better 5-on-3, 5-on-4.

“We play against good team. Tough loss, but we need focus and fly to San Jose and play hard in San Jose (on Wednesday).”