Since the season started in October, the 2021-22 Pittsburgh Penguins have had some pretty bad luck. From injuries to Covid to lawsuits. They have managed to take advantage of the luck. They may have got overhyped after dominating Tampa in Game 1 but they are still that systems based well-coached team from Steel city. The Penguins currently sit with a record of 4-3-4. You can give the last column of losses to Tristan Jarry who seems to struggle on shootouts but not breakaways. Odd how that works but with a new goalie coach who may have had something to do with fixing his high glove, anything is possible in his development. Pittsburgh Penguins hockey is just getting started.
2021-22 Pittsburgh Penguins Perform Through Adversity
Offence
Although they haven’t had much firepower up front, the 2021-22 Pittsburgh Penguins have managed to be one of the top teams in the NHL offensively. They generate chances and are solid at creating quality and quantity out of the shots they take. The season started with newcomer Danton Heinen being the big producer but as expected the time for Kasperi Kapanen and Jake Guentzel has started to shine. Compared to teams who have had blazing starts such as Florida and Calgary, the Penguins haven’t had any shooting help. They’ve taken what’s come at them and have run with it. If the Pittsburgh Penguins can pull this off without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, imagine what they can do with them. The Penguins are undoubtedly a top-ten team due to the way they generate offence.
Penalty Kill
Going in the whole opposite direction from the powerplay’s performance, we can positively talk about the Penguins penalty kill. The Penguins by far have had the league’s top penalty kill this year. It includes Teddy Blueger, Brock Mcginn, Brian Boyle, and Zach Aston-Reese. The Penguins excel at the 1-3 neutral zone penalty kill formation as they cover all the cracks making it hard for the opposition to break through. While shorthanded the Penguins shine in shot suppression along with general chance generation proven by having just over six expected goals against per 60 but having only 2.32 goals against per 60 while on the penalty kill. Maybe we see the Penguins take on the power kill attitude.
Powerplay
Well with most contending teams you need a solid powerplay. Take Carolina for example. In the 2020-21 season they’d let you play the whole 60 minutes shorthanded because their powerplay was so good. The Penguins have struggled immensely on theirs. It’s overall horrible to even watch as they don’t create many chances or even cycle the puck effectively. The Penguins are more likely to get scored on while on the powerplay rather than score a goal themselves. The discussion of missing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is valid but, without them the Penguins should be able to score with this lineup. Thankfully we saw some new sprung hope in the 5 on 4 play vs Florida as they generated chances consistently.
Tristan Jarry
After a very rough playoff series along with some hate, Tristan Jarry has managed to replicate his 2020-21 season stats. One major thing to note is his high glove side has definitely improved. New goaltending coach Andy Chiodo may have something to do with it. An improvement you can hope to see as the season continues is his shootout work. The Surrey native hasn’t been the greatest in the shootouts although having to face some pretty sweet highlight-reel moves. Enough of the criticism though, Jarry has been great for the first chunk of the season. Jarry has gotten the majority of the starts while gaining back some confidence notably in his ability to play the puck. He’s been a top goalie in the NHL with 3.8 goals saved above expected (GSAX) while also being one of the best goalies at rebound control with only 0.028 rebounds per save.
Stats Credits: Evolving Hockey, Hockey Viz, MoneyPuck
