One of the criticisms bantered about during the Penguins' recent 1-7-2 skid was that they lost their speed.
What was once a part of the team's identity, and key focal point under head coach Mike Sullivan, that speed. And it appeared lacking as the club sunk into last place in the NHL over the past month.
What lack of speed?
Sullivan refuted that argument on Tuesday afternoon following the team's practice session.
"When you look at the core of our team, our team can still skate," Sullivan said. "We are by no means a slow hockey team. I think when you look at some of the players we have, we have the ability to move the puck. There's no better speed game than your ability to change the point of attack because you can move the puck."
As if on cue, the Penguins showed the world that the rumors of their diminished speed were vastly overstated. Pittsburgh skated circles around the Dallas Stars en route to a dominating 5-1 victory Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena to pick up its first win in five games.
"We need points. We need wins," captain Sidney Crosby said. "We played a really good game tonight."
In a stretch where nothing has gone right for the Penguins, everything went right tonight. Pittsburgh's star players set the tone by scoring, the team controlled the possession time, the number of high-quality scoring chances against could be counted on one hand, and when there was a great chance against the Pens received the timely save from their goaltender.
"It was a great blueprint for success," Sullivan said. "We were much harder to play against. The quality of chances we cut down significantly. We got a big save from (Casey DeSmith) on the breakaway.
"They should feel good about themselves and their effort tonight. I believe that we're getting better as a team. We'll feel good about it tonight, but tomorrow we'll go back to work and get ready for the next one."
The Pens' speed was on full display. There are two types of speed: individual speed and team speed. The Pens have plenty of individual speed in players like Crosby, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel to name a few.
But team speed comes from good puck movement, particularly on the breakout. When the Pens can make that first pass, it allows them to hit the neutral zone in full stride and force opponents to back up. That creates space and lanes for the Pens to take advantage.
Lacking that execution lately, Pittsburgh would hit the neutral zone at a near stop and couldn't generate speed as teams clog up their lane options. That wasn't the case tonight, and it started at the top.
Crosby, playing in his first game since missing three contests with an upper-body injury, led the charge from his very first shift. Crosby was weaving through traffic, flying on the ice and making those head-scratching plays that only he can make.
Crosby scored a goal on an amazing individual effort and added two assists for a three-point night. Evgeni Malkin, Guentzel, Patric Hornqvist and Tanner Pearson all added goals, as the big guns were shooting markers.
Most importantly, Crosby set the tone. His effort inspired the bench and his teammates followed their leader. Crosby looked possessed, and ready to carry this team to a win on his back. Instead, 19 other guys joined the charge.
"I think our team gets a foot taller when he's in our lineup because of the inspiration that he is for our group," Sullivan said. "I thought his game was inspiring."
The Pens built a 4-1 lead against Buffalo on Monday, only to watch it slip away into a 5-4 overtime loss. And it seems during this stretch the Pens haven't been able to maintain momentum in games because of a backbreaking goal against. The team needs their goaltender to make timely saves.
They got that from Casey DeSmith tonight. He stopped Tyler Seguin from point blank in the first period and on a breakaway in the second period.
Perhaps the turning point in the game occurred with Pittsburgh leading 3-0. DeSmith stretched out his pad to make a split save on Mattias Janmark to keep it 3-0. Seconds later Pearson scored at the other end to make it 4-0 and a runaway win. If DeSmith gets beat on that play and it's a 3-1 game, who knows how the final result turns out.
The win was nice. The team can breathe a sigh of relief. But now it's off to Boston. This win means nothing if they can't follow it up with another W against the Bruins. And that's exactly where their focus is.
"I don't think you can think about December," Crosby said. "I think you have to think about Boston. That's how you approach it. I don't worry about projections and things like that. You can only focus on each game.
"It's definitely a tall order, but we've been through a lot. I think we feel confident we can get ourselves back on track and that's what we're going to try to do."
