"At the end of a game like that, there's a lot at stake," Teddy Blueger said. "I think the pressure is on there to get it done."
That's exactly what the Penguins did.
They started with the trio of Brian Boyle, Zach Aston-Reese and John Marino before Blueger, Brock McGinn and Chad Ruhwedel finished it off - with those groups doing a terrific job of defending against Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad.
And of course, as the saying goes, your goalie has to be your best penalty killer, and when the Panthers did get their chances, Tristan Jarry was right there to come up with the big stops. Pittsburgh's penalty kill allowed their team to advance to a shootout, where they ultimately prevailed to get two huge points.
"It says a lot about our team," Marino said. "Guys blocking shots, obviously Jarry playing unbelievable…he's been making saves every night for us giving us a chance."
What also says a lot about their team is how they've orchestrated such a dramatic turnaround on the penalty kill. After ending the year 27th in the league, Pittsburgh's PK currently ranks first in the NHL with a 93.3% success rate. The Penguins have allowed just two - yes, two - power-play goals against through 12 games, which is absolutely incredible.
The Penguins all point to a bit of an identity crisis after assistant coach Mike Vellucci replaced Jacques Martin and took over the penalty kill at the start of the 2020-21 campaign. "It was a little bit more of a learning process for us, between coaches and players and kind of what he wanted," Aston-Reese said.
The Penguins did get better with time as they made adjustments to different areas, and during the offseason, the coaching staff regrouped - taking a look at what worked, and figuring out what needed to be tweaked.
They came up with a clear foundation for how to have success on the penalty kill, and what players could help them best accomplish their goals. And while it was tough to lose someone like Brandon Tanev with his speed, adding shorthanded specialists like McGinn and Boyle helped make up for that.
"It was an area that we recognized we needed to be better, we needed to improve at that area," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "It starts with the coaching staff. We've got to do a better job as a staff, and then we've got to find players that are going to help us have success when they get on the ice."
And placing such a huge emphasis on it from Day 1 of training camp turned out to be hugely beneficial for the players, as it helped them all get on the same page a lot quicker. Because Blueger said for them, the key is being aggressive, but making sure that they're being predictable for each other. That way, if someone goes to pressure, the next player is right there and knows when to jump.
"This year we came out with a plan right off the bat, right out of preseason. We were practicing it, and I think that helped a ton," Jarry said. "Just knowing what guys work well together and which guys are doing the things that they need to do together - I think that's the whole thing about penalty kills, working collectively as a group and just making sure that we get the job done."
Special teams tend to have plenty of ebbs and flows throughout the course of an 82-game season, and there's still a long way to go. But Sullivan said the PK will continue to be an emphasis so they can continue to try and have success.
"I think the results speak for themselves in terms of how things have gone," assistant coach Todd Reirden said. "Still areas to improve there, and it's early in the season, but we like the start."
