Mike Sullivan: Penguins' penalty kill must improve

There was quite a bit to like about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2020-21 regular season.

The East Division banner they will get to hang from the ceiling of PPG Paints Arena is evidence of that.

But there were some blemishes.

And arguably, the biggest wart was the penalty kill.

With a conversion rate of 77.4%, the Penguins were 27th out of 31 teams in terms of penalty-kill success.

Coach Mike Sullivan didn’t try to sugarcoat the performance of that unit when asked about it recently.

“Our penalty kill has to get better,” Sullivan said bluntly. “There’s no question about that. That’s something that we’ve identified early on (in training camp).”

Sure enough, the Penguins focused on their penalty kill during the team’s ongoing camp, devoting a handful of practice sessions to it last week, even before they began to fine-tune their power play.

“Last year, we didn’t have a great start to it,” said defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who led the Penguins in short-handed ice time last season with an average of 2 minutes, 45 seconds per game. “We had consecutive games where we let in goals. Coming into this year, that’s something that we’re really, really focusing on, all being on the same page. We’ve been practicing a bit more, too … just getting some more guys familiar with it. We have some new (penalty killers) that are coming into this year. It’s just familiarity and getting some reps and practicing it until we get into regular-season action and executing our options.”

The Penguins are missing some of their leading penalty killers from last season. Defensemen Cody Ceci (2:32 of short-handed ice time per game) and forward Brandon Tanev (2:24) were jettisoned this offseason. Additionally, forward Zach Aston-Reese (1:52) has been in isolation for more than a week after testing positive for covid-19.

That has forced them to incorporate some new faces into their penalty kill, particularly among the forward ranks.

While forward Brock McGinn, the team’s most prominent offseason addition, was acquired in part because of his acumen on the penalty kill, the Penguins have given extended looks to forwards Brian Boyle (3:17 per game), Danton Heinen (1:54) and Drew O’Connor (1:29) in short-handed scenarios through the team’s first four contests of the preseason.

Boyle, a 13-year veteran, has carved out a lengthy existence in the NHL in part because of his work on the penalty kill. Meanwhile, Heinen has been deployed in short-handed situations sparingly throughout his five-year career, and O’Connor has all of 10 NHL games on his resume.

“We know Brian Boyle is a good penalty killer,” Sullivan said. “That’s one of the things that attracted us to him as a player. A guy like Danton Heinen hasn’t killed a ton in his career. The second half of the season last year, he killed probably more than he ever has. He’s a guy that’s intriguing for us if that’s an aspect of the game that we could add to his role.”

As for finding a replacement for Ceci, the leading candidates would appear to be fellow right-handed defensemen Chad Ruhwedel (3:33 of short-handed ice time per game), John Marino (2:18) and Kris Letang (1:30).

Regardless of who steps on the ice in short-handed scenarios this upcoming season, one common theme that has been stressed with regards to improving the Penguins’ penalty kill is continuity, particularly with pressuring opponents when they have the puck.

“Just being on the same page, being aggressive,” said forward Teddy Blueger, who led the team with 110 short-handed faceoffs last season. “When we’re making reads, just making sure that we’re reading off one another so if one guy pressures and he gets beat, the next guy is right there as to not let (the opponent) off the hook.”

By hook or by crook, the Penguins can’t be as poor as they were in killing penalties last season, especially with the offensive firepower of franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin absent to open the campaign because of injury.

That’s been stressed in very clear terms.

“Obviously, it’s been a point of emphasis (earlier in) training camp because that’s an area where we know we need to improve,” Sullivan said. “We need to get better.”