Penguins focus on limiting odd-man rushes by opponents
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The Pittsburgh Penguins had a prolonged focus roughly midway through their Monday practice session in Cranberry.
Two-on-one rushes and how to defend them.
A pair of forwards would attack a solitary defenseman, who tried to impede their progress while a duo of defending forwards trailed the play. After the attacking forwards attempted a shot, the defending forwards would transition to their own attack against a single blueliner.
It was a refresher the team needed after yielding so many odd-man rushes during an unappetizing 4-2 road loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
“You don’t want to give them a cross-ice pass,” Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves said when asked how he tries to defend two-on-one rushes. “And if you do, you want to make sure it’s low. So if they sauce (elevate) over you, it’s slower and gives the goalie more time to get over. You’re initially just making sure it doesn’t go across you. Eventually, you want to pressure the puck carrier to make him shoot from a little bit further out and just try to not let it go through you. If it does, make it a slow pass.”
Of course, the best way to not allow any offense on an odd-man rush is to cut down on those types of scenarios.
No hard data exists to tabulate how many odd-man rushes the Penguins allowed to the Blues (at least publicly), but they were plentiful per those who were able to view the contest, including the participants.
“Just realize the way we play isn’t going to work out for us,” forward Rickard Rakell said. “Giving up all those odd-man rushes isn’t going to be a recipe for success moving forward. We talked about it today. Everyone is committed to playing just a better hockey game moving forward.”
Looking forward, the Penguins (2-3-0) have a home contest against the Dallas Stars (3-0-1) on Tuesday. They clearly hope their malfunctions in St. Louis did not trek home with them.
“Obviously, it’s a game we want to forget,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “But learn from it. We all know we have capabilities of scoring goals and bringing some offense. But we have to do it in a responsible way and not give the opponent (grade-A opportunities) all over the ice. That’s the main thing we have to focus on.”
Still, odd-man rushes are going to happen for any team, especially for one that traditionally likes to be as aggressive as the Penguins.
Is there a one-size-fits-all way to defend a two-on-one attack?
Not really.
The methods a right-handed such as defenseman Letang (6-foot, 201 pounds) would use are going to differ from his partner, the left-handed Graves (6-5, 220).
“First of all, you have to know who’s coming in front of you,” Letang said. “The hand of the shooter, the passer, who’s coming, their tendencies. You have to do it in quick time. But good players, that’s what they do. The time on the clock. If there’s two or three minutes left and the ice is bad, you want to force a pass.”
Letang went into great detail when asked how he, hypothetically, would defend a two-on-one rush against teammates Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.
“Let’s say Sid has the puck. I would let Sid shoot the puck,” Letang said. “I would try to give him the (worst) angle possible. But at the same time, I want to deny him to make a pass through to Jake because Jake is probably on a one-timer. If Sid comes in on his left — left-handed, strong side — and Jake is on his one-timer, I have to defend the one-timer. But if Sid comes with the puck on the shooting angle and Jake is his forehand, now I’m going to have to try to force Sid a little bit more outside because his stick is inside.
“It’s a lot. You have lefty-lefty, lefty-righty, who’s on the right, who’s on the left, who’s coming at you. Some guys like to pass more than shoot. If you have (Washington Capitals All-Star forward Alex Ovechkin) in front of you, obviously, you’re going to cover him instead of (his linemate).”
Ultimately, the Penguins can be perfect at defending such rushes. They’d rather be perfect in not allowing any of them.
“Giving up all those chances isn’t how we want to play,” Rakell said. “We realized that. We’ve got to be way stronger in the offensive zone and cover for our (defensemen) when they’re (attacking in the offensive zone). Just play better structure.”