Swagger and Urgency
Those two things that Mike Sullivan told his team to bring to Montreal kick off today's Three Things
1. Swagger and urgency
After the session wrapped up, head coach Mike Sullivan gathered his players at center ice and told them they needed to bring two things with them on the road.
"We got to bring swagger, and we got to bring urgency," Sullivan said. "And when we bring those two things, we're a pretty competitive team, and we can compete against anyone. I think that's where our focus needs to be."
After last night's 2-1 loss to Buffalo, which was Pittsburgh's third straight setback, Sullivan said he has never been a big fan of the word desperation. Instead, he prefers urgency, describing it as playing an assertive game and ratcheting up the intensity level.
And the Penguins had it for much of their matchup with the Sabres, unlike their games against Ottawa and Washington over the weekend. They played a solid first two periods and had a terrific third, where Pittsburgh outshot Buffalo 20-3 as they battled for the equalizer. As Sullivan said afterward, if they continue to play like that, they'll win a lot of games.
"This is a confident group. This is a mature group. I think they get it," Sullivan said. "They understand the circumstance. We just got to make sure that that we keep our heads up, we get ready for the next one, and we got to get the result."
And the Penguins are well aware they have to start collecting points quick, starting with this swing through Canada with stops in Montreal on Thursday, Toronto on Saturday and Winnipeg on Monday.
"None of the guys in the room are saying 'It's only November.' There's not one guy that thinks that," Jason Zucker said. "We're a team that wants to win and we're a team that takes these games in October, November, December as seriously as March and February and down the line. For us, we want to win these games as bad as any, and for us, this isn't acceptable. But (this game) was a step in the right direction, and we'll get after these guys this next trip here."
2. Sullivan out against Canadiens
Sullivan will be unable to coach on Thursday in Montreal due to the Canadian government's mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement following his previous positive test for COVID-19. The team announced on Nov. 4 that Sullivan had entered the protocol, and he made his return behind the bench on Nov. 14 in Washington.
The coaching staff will go back to the same workflow they used during the first five games Sullivan missed. Assistant coach Todd Reirden will oversee everything while also running the forwards; assistant coach Mike Vellucci will handle the defense; and skills and skating development coach Ty Hennes will help with systematic details and speaking with individual players when they come off the ice.
"Then I'm going to WebEx into those guys, I'll be with them in-between periods," Sullivan said. "We'll have kind of the same thing that we had when I was out with COVID."
Fortunately, all of the players who recently completed their COVID-19 protocols - Sidney Crosby, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel - are all eligible to play.
3. Malkin update and workflow
Sullivan said that Evgeni Malkin, who is out for at least the first two months of the season after undergoing offseason knee surgery, is doing well as he continues to skate on his own.
"We're excited. I had an opportunity to see him the other day, and was really encouraged with his strength on the ice and how he's progressed," Sullivan said. "He's on track to where we think he's going to trend to a return to play. We're really encouraged with the progress that he's made."
Sullivan noted that the schedule the medical staff has built for Malkin includes days on the ice, days off the ice, and a few days off altogether so that he can get a well-deserved break.
"He's been training so hard for so long, and it's a tedious process," Sullivan said.
Right now, Malkin is the only player sidelined for the Penguins (knock on wood). All healthy players were present at practice. The team stuck with the same combinations they used for the majority of the last game:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
Heinen-Rodrigues-Simon
Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
Boyle filled in on a D pairing alongside Friedman.
They made one tweak to the power-play units, having Matheson rotate in with Marino:
PP1) Letang, Crosby, Carter, Guentzel, Rust
PP2) Matheson/Marino, Zucker, Kapanen, Rodrigues, Heinen
