Mark Madden: Penguins are ill-equipped for heavy hockey

The Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 2 over the New York Islanders. That’s most important.

But Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech slammed Jake Guentzel to the ice with a check that was a bit late. Who rushed to Guentzel’s aid? The last person who should have to: Sidney Crosby.

Brian Dumoulin got pushed awkwardly into the boards by the Islanders’ J-G Pageau. Big impact. But retaliation by the Penguins was minimal.

Brandon Tanev collided with Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov. That nearly touched off the Spanish Inquisition. The Islanders erupted. A prone Tanev absorbed a stiff cross-check.

The Penguins don’t back down. They’re not bullied. They “just play,” which is what coach Mike Sullivan wants. Perhaps that’s best, because the Penguins are ill-equipped to do otherwise.

But if you’re watching the other playoff series, it’s clear the NHL trend toward big and heavy has veered into something uglier.

Washington and Boston appear to be using prison rules. Even fun-sized Capitals winger Conor Sheary (ex of the Penguins) got into a fight Monday. (OK, roughing. But it’s still Sheary. He’s 5-foot-nothing.)

A big scrum punctuated the end of Monday’s Colorado-St. Louis game. The goalies nearly fought.

The referees aren’t calling a lot. There were just three power plays in Tuesday’s Penguins-Islanders game. One was for Bryan Rust inexplicably catching and throwing the puck.

When Washington’s Tom Wilson got away with his felonious shenanigans against the New York Rangers earlier this month, the rest of the league clearly noticed.

Old-school fools who revel in meathead hockey are ecstatic. That doubtless includes several of the NHL’s administration. “That’s real hockey!”

But liking it or not isn’t relevant. Teams need to be prepared for it.

The Penguins aren’t. The Penguins “just play.”

For a while, the Penguins dictated what was important in the NHL. When they won Stanley Cups in 2016 and ’17, the Penguins were fast. So the league turned to speed.

But Washington and St. Louis won the next two Cups: Two so-called “heavy” teams. That started the NHL shifting in that direction, and that trend shows no sign of slowing.

Brian Burke, the president of Penguins hockey ops, embraces that sort of hockey. (Witness his Anaheim team, the ’07 winners.) GM Ron Hextall certainly isn’t opposed to it.

Sullivan is. He used big, rugged winger Ryan Reaves sparingly when the Penguins got him in 2017. So little, in fact, that Reaves didn’t even last one full season in Pittsburgh. Reaves would certainly look good wearing a flightless bird right now.

Hextall and Burke will make the Penguins heavier and tougher. There’s no doubt.

What will Sullivan do? Will he adapt?

If not, will there be conflict. Sullivan won two Stanley Cups for the Penguins, but none for Hextall and Burke. They owe him nothing.

Short of winning this year’s championship, the Penguins must adjust. Sullivan, too. The coach and his core players prefer a certain style, but they don’t get to dictate. Not anymore.

Crosby and Kris Letang are too often the players involved in scrums. I can’t imagine what the other Penguins on the ice must be thinking.

But it’s easy to guess what Hextall and Burke are thinking.

Meantime, the Penguins must play the cards they got. They did that very well Tuesday, preserving their 2-1 lead after two periods via an impressive display of skating and forechecking in the final 20 minutes. There’s more than one way to exhaust a foe.